CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, July 16
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
According to today’s LA Times, California Catholic officials are waging an expensive lobbying campaign against a bill that would expose predators, help victims, protect kids and deter wrongdoing.
Since the early 1990s, America’s bishops have claimed they’ve adopted tough new procedures, policies and protocols to prevent abuse. If that’s true, why are they now still so dreadfully afraid of child sex abuse and cover up cases.
Here’s why the bill focuses on private institutions, not public ones: because that’s where the problem largely is. When abuse happens in a public school, a parent can file a Freedom of Information Act request, speak up at a school board meeting, campaign against board members, run for the board, and fight against bond issues and tax levies. So there are some “checks and balances” and some avenues for redress.
When abuse happens in a private school, no such remedies exist. And private schools depend heavily on their reputations so are more apt to cover up abuse cases.
Once real strides are made to clean up private institutions, we hope lawmakers will focus more on public institutions.
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