FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Sunday, May 8, 2016
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
A serial predator priest who was found guilty of abuse by a Minnesota jury has quietly moved to Florida where he at least once visited a St. Petersburg area parish.
This is an outrage. It shows that despite decades of pledges and promises, Catholic bishops continue to do be secretive and reckless about their thousands of child molesting clerics.
St. Pete Bishop Robert Lynch (727-344-1611, communicate@dosp.org) and Minnesota Archbishop Bernard Hebda should aggressively reach out to anyone who may have been hurt by Fr. Kapoun. They should use church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements to beg those with information or suspicions about Fr. Kapoun to call police. We believe he can be prosecuted, convicted and jailed, which will safeguard kids and prevent horrific devastation to young lives.
And we believe that Catholic officials in both cities have a duty to make this happen.
Hebda should insist that Fr. Kapoun immediately move to a remote, secure, independent treatment center so kids can be safer. Or Hebda should end all financial support for this dangerous predator.
Lynch should insist that warnings about Fr. Kapoun be read aloud at every mass in the diocese for a month. He should also demote everyone at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Palmetto who played a role in letting this repeat sex offender cleric come to that parish or who kept it secret.
No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.
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