NEBRASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 10
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com,SNAPclohessy@aol.com)
For more than a dozen years, Lincoln Catholic officials have violated the weak, vague and ineffective US church abuse policy. So it’s hard to get excited that Bishop James Conley is belatedly complying with one part of that policy.
If Conley really wants to protect kids, he’ll do what 30 of his colleagues have grudgingly and belatedly done: post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on church websites. He’ll visit each parish where a predator priest worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call law enforcement. He’ll turn over every single document he has about these predators to police and prosecutors.
He’ll scour priests’ personnel files and demote or discipline every cleric who concealed crimes or suspected crimes by another cleric. He’ll join with victims in advocating, not opposing, better secular child safety laws.
Today’s move is a tiny and ineffective one, designed, we suspect, to generate positive public relations more than to make a real difference.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.