LOUISIANA
The Advocate
BILLY GUNN AND RICHARD BURGESS| BGUNN@THEADVOCATE.COM RBURGESS@THEADVOCATE.COM
Sept. 07, 2014
LAFAYETTE — Diocese of Lafayette Bishop Michael Jarrell has steadfastly refused to reveal the identities of clergymen who sexually preyed on south Louisiana children decades ago.
Jarrell has questioned what good would come in releasing the names he alluded to in a 2004 diocese report, which acknowledged there had been 15 priests the Lafayette Diocese knew had sexually abused 123 children in the years prior to 1985.
But advocates for people abused by priests say that position is shortsighted, saying now-grown victims who have remained silent — who have kept the secret that their parish priest raped them — would find affirmation if they saw the name of their attacker released.
“They will say ‘I’m not crazy. I’m not the only one this happened to,’ ” said Barbara Dorris, the victim outreach coordinator for the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It helps them to deal with the issue.”
Dorris said abuse victims often bury the attacks deep in their subconscious, with memories returning as long as decades later. Listing the names of the priests, she said, could help them and others.
Jarrell, the bishop in the Lafayette Diocese since 2002, has company when he declines to name names.
Like Lafayette, other Catholic communities in Louisiana, such as the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and the Archdiocese of New Orleans, do not publish the names of priests known to have molested youths years ago.
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