NY--Second abuse case filed vs. priest still on the job

By David Clohessy
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
April 26, 2016

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ny_second_abuse_case_filed_vs_priest_still_on_the_job

Long Island’s Catholic bishop must suspend a priest who now faces two pending child sex abuse lawsuits. Or other church officials must discipline and denounce him for his recklessness.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/lawsuit-second-lier-claims-sex-abuse-by-catholic-priest-1.11732127

Today, a second civil case has been filed charging that Fr. Gregory Yacyshyn molested a second child a few years ago.

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ny_new_lawsuit_says_accused_predator_priest_is_in_long_island_parish_now

We know of just one other priest – Fr. Alex Anderson of St. Louis - who is still in a parish despite multiple accusers. (Three men say he molested them but only one has sued, however.)

http://www.snapnetwork.org/usa_accused_predator_priests_still_on_the_job

However, we have learned recently that two US priests who are convicted sex offenders are being put back on the job – Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul and Fr. Jose Alexis Davila.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/church-put-teen-rapist-charge-india-diocese-suit-article-1.2607753

http://theworthyadversary.com/4206-convicted-sex-offender-priest-resurfaces-in-oklahoma

http://kfor.com/2016/04/23/priest-convicted-of-sex-crime-finds-home-in-lawton-parish/

Bishop Murphy was one of disgraced Boston Cardinal Bernard Law’s top deputies. He’s acting just like his mentor. Again, for the safety of kids, at a bare minimum, Murphy should suspend Fr. Greg and aggressively seek out others  he may have hurt.

Are false allegations against priests possible? Sure. Are both of these accusers wrong? Nope.

But we urge parishioners to check out independent sources, like BishopAccountability.org, which finds that "Fewer than 2 percent of sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic church appear to be false" and the dean of a Catholic law school who said that he had defended Catholic dioceses against more than 500 sexual-abuse lawsuits in more than 500 cases and had concluded that 'fewer than 10' of those cases were based on false accusations." 

A 2004 report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and written by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice which analyzed 5,681 diocesan investigations of abuse allegations in 1950-2002 and concluded that 1.5% were deemed false.

Even Catholic officials admit this. The first head of the Office for Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has summarized the findings on false allegations: "False reporting of sexual abuse by children is very rare." 

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/data.htm#falseallegations

We applaud the brave youngsters who are exposing a dangerous priest and his complicit colleagues. We hope others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cove ups on Long Island will step forward and call independent sources of help, like police, prosecutors, therapists or support groups like ours.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.