OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Statement by Joelle Casteix of Orange County, SNAP volunteer western regional director, 949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com
Oklahoma’s top Catholic official should tell his flock if he’s imported other proven, admitted or credibly accused predator priests into his archdiocese. And an Oklahoma pastor should apologize to his flock for three self-serving or misleading comments he made about a proven predator.
Both should also urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered any misdeeds or crimes by the convicted criminal, Fr. Jose Alexis Davila, to call police.
Fr. Michael Chapman pastors Blessed Sacrament parish in Lawton, where Fr. Alexis Davila has been worked.
About Fr. Alexis Davila, Fr. Chapman said he “believes Davila when he tells him the contact was inadvertent,” “believes Davila pleaded guilty to minimize embarrassment to himself and the church” and should be given “a second chance,” according to KFOR TV.
[KFOR]
This kind of reckless attitude – believing a criminal’s “spin” and giving every conceivable benefit of the doubt to a proven sex offender – is a key reason why priests keep assaulting kids, teens and adults and keep getting second, third and fourth chances to hurt others in the church.
Would a woman, the police and the prosecutors pursue criminal charges over “inadvertent” contact? Would you plead guilty to two sex charges just to “minimize embarrassment” to yourself and your colleagues? That defies common sense.
In fact, a San Diego prosecutor said in court that Fr. Alexis Davila is accused of “touching the victim in three areas against her will when they were alone. He reportedly touched her buttocks, her breast and “put his finger in her vagina.”
Fr. Chapman’s comments rub even more salt into the already-deep and likely still-fresh wounds of the 19 year old Fr. Alexis Davila assaulted in San Diego.
He should apologize for his insensitive siding with an admitted criminal over that criminal’s victim and for making comments that will likely deter others who see, suspect or suffer child sex crimes and misconduct from reporting to authorities.
But the bigger culprit here is Archbishop Paul Coakley.
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