Predator Priest Is Found Guilty; Victims Respond

SNAP
June 29, 2016

http://www.snapnetwork.org/nj_predator_priest_is_found_guilty_victims_respond

We’re relieved and grateful that a Paterson priest has been found guilty of child sex crimes. We applaud the brave girl who reported her suffering and hope this verdict brings her and her family some well-deserved consolation.

[northjersey.com]

We also hope this verdict will bring solace to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or cover ups in Paterson, by Fr. Jose Lopez or other clerics. And we hope these individuals will find the strength to speak up, expose wrongdoers, call police and start healing.

Finally, we hope Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli will

--aggressively use church bulletins, pulpit announcements and parish websites to find others with information or suspicions about Fr. Lopez and beg them to call law enforcement. It's important that courts, prosecutors and cops know as much as possible about criminals before they’re sentenced.

--insist that his flock stop publicly rallying around a now-proven predator. That kind of callousness only deters other victims of horrific sexual violence into staying silent, which enables child molesters to hurt more kids.

No matter what 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.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com), Barbara Dorris(314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org), Mark Crawford, SNAP New Jersey Director, 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net

Former Passaic priest is found guilty of luring in case involving teen parishioner

BY KIBRET MARKOS - STAFF WRITER - THE RECORD, June 28, 2016

A former Passaic priest faces up to 10 years in prison after being convicted Tuesday of sex charges in a case in which he was accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl, though he was acquitted of the most serious charge against him.

Jose Lopez, 37, showed no emotion as a jury in Superior Court in Paterson found him guilty of luring, child endangerment and criminal sexual contact. The panel found him . . .