Survey of Springfield Catholics Is Online, SNAP Responds

SNAP
September 26, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/il_survey_of_springfield_catholics_is_online_snap_responds

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

A survey of more than 900 Springfield area Catholics shows that the church's on-going child sex abuse and cover-up crisis is one reason many people stopped attending mass.

We're not surprised. During the past year or so, Springfield Catholic officials:

– let an accused child molesting cleric, Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand, resign from his posts, instead of suspending him, after delaying for a week after the diocesan abuse panel quietly urged them to oust Fr. DeGrand. They used vague, misleading language – like “misconduct” - to describe alleged child sex crimes, hoping to soften the horror of sexual assaults on children by clergy.

– put Fr. Thomas Donovan back on the job after he'd been found by police to be wearing an orange jumpsuit and “a leather bondage-type mask with a bar in his mouth” (A church therapist allegedly diagnosed him as having engaged in "non-sexual self-bondage.")

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki can and should take steps to renew his flock's faith in the church and its leadership.

He can start by making kids safer and post the names of all credibly accused child molesting clerics on his diocesan website. Roughly 30 other bishops have taken this simple public safety step.