KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, March 11
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org )
A noted Vatican observer and blogger, Rocco Palmo, says that tomorrow the Vatican will name a new Catholic bishop for the Lexington Diocese.
We call on him to immediately take practical steps to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose and punish those who commit and conceal clergy sex crimes and misdeeds. Specifically, we hope he will permanently and prominently post, on diocesan and parish websites, the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric who lives or works (or has lived or worked) in the diocese in any capacity.
Roughly 30 US bishops have done this. It’s a bare minimum public safety step. It should have happened long ago in Lexington. We hope it will happen soon.
Bishop Ronald Gainer, Lexington’s last prelate, has a dismal record on children’s safety.
[SNAP]
But Lexington citizens and Catholics should not assume the new bishop will be better. Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects kids.
No matter who fills this slot, we urge anyone who sees, suspects or suffers clergy sex crimes or cover ups in eastern Kentucky to call the independent, experienced professionals sin law enforcement, not the self-serving amateurs in church offices.
According to BishopAccountability.org, an independent, Boston-based archive group, there are seven publicly accused Lexington diocese predator priests: Fr. William J. Fedders, Fr. Stephen Gallenstein, Fr. John B. Modica, Edward Francis Murray, Fr. Leonard B. Nienaber, Fr. William G. Poole, and Fr. Carl C. Schaffer. We suspect there are at least a dozen more whose crimes remain hidden.
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