UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Sunday, Sept. 27
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
Is a child anywhere on earth safer now that a pope, for maybe the seventh or eighth time or ninth time, has briefly chatted with abuse victims? No.
A smart public relations move. That’s what this meeting is. Nothing more.
It fits church officials’ carefully-crafted narrative. Years ago, prelates pretended the abuse and cover up weren’t happening. That no longer works. So now they pretend it’s not happening NOW, that it’s all “in the past” and only healing remains to be done. They know, however, this is deceptive and dangerous.
To give some perspective, let’s assume that roughly the same percentage of priests molest the same percentage of kids across the globe. In the US, in 2012, two church experts estimate 100,000 kids in the US.
The US is about 6% of the world’s population. If you do the math, that means there are more than 1.5 million men and women on this planet who have been raped, sodomized or molested by Catholic priests.
(And remember, we’re basing this on estimates from church officials which are, of course, notoriously low. More than 20 years ago, sociologist and author Fr. Andrew Greeley made the same estimate – 100,000 US victims of predator priests – in the Jesuit magazine America.)
And literally countless kids are now vulnerable to abuse by clerics today. That’s where Francis should focus: stopping abuse and cover up now and in the future, not conveniently implying that only healing is needed now. He could meet with a thousand victims. But that wouldn’t safeguard a single child.
A doctor’s first rule is to do no harm. That should be a pope’s first rule too. Stop current sexual violence and cover ups now. Prevent future ones. Then worry about ‘healing.’ Symbolic gestures can come years down the road.
We noted before that Bernie McDaid of Boston, a survivor who met with Pope Benedict, now feels deeply disappointed and betrayed. calling the meeting “self-serving.” (see below)
Yesterday, we heard from an abuse survivor who met with Francis last year, Mark Vincent Healy of Ireland. He told us, in an email, that “since my meeting with Francis last July 2014, nothing has been delivered on in any substantive program in response to the life-long suffering and enormous distress which is inflicted mentally, physically, socially and economically.”
The first time Francis met with survivors, his top spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi said “The most important thing the Pope hopes to come out of this occasion, is that the victims themselves felt welcomed and listened to.” Francis is a charming man and superb communicator. He’ll accomplish this in the US too. But let us not forget that by doing so, he helps no children at all.
[CNN]
In Argentina, over the years, some brave victims have stepped forward. They are the ones Francis could have helped most. But he rebuffed them. (As best we can tell, and based on research from BishopAccountability.org, he refused to meet with victims during the entire time he headed the Buenos Aires archdiocese.)
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