NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, June 19, 2014
For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Church lawyer says that priest is defrocked
Victims blast Myers for violating church policy
SNAP to Newark archdiocese: “Stop the secrecy”
Catholic officials let pedophile legally change his name
Then, they sent him from NJ to “unsuspecting families” in MO
A lawyer for the Newark archdiocese disclosed yesterday that a twice-convicted predator priest who pled guilty this week to sexually assaulting three Missouri boys has been formally defrocked by the Vatican.
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is blasting Newark archdiocesan officials for keeping this news secret for almost two years and begging them to “aggressively seek out” others who may have “seen, suspected or suffered” the cleric’s crimes.
In an email to the director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, attorney Charles Carella of Roseland (973 994 1700, CMCarella@carellabyrne.com) said Fr. Carmen Sita (Jerry Howard) was permanently ousted from the priesthood in September of 2012 by then-Pope Benedict.
(Here’s a link to the actual defrocking
[SNAP]
“Catholic officials – in both New Jersey and Missouri – callously kept this fact hidden from parents, police, parishioners and the public, which essentially rubbed even more salt into the already-deep wounds of this serial predator’s victims and their families,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “It would have been a real comfort to many victims and to many concerned Catholics to know that Fr. Howard was off the payroll and kicked out by the Vatican. But instead of sharing this information, two prelates – Archbishop John Myers and Bishop John Gaydos – hid it.”
SNAP also charges that the bishops’ secrecy “clearly violates the U.S. bishops formal and allegedly binding national abuse policy, which mandates ‘openness and transparency’ in clergy sex abuse cases.”
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