DALLAS (TX)
Morning News
May 18, 2019
When they showed up to Catholic diocese office doors with search warrants in hand Wednesday, the Dallas Police Department seemingly broke with tradition.
Except in rare occasions, priests in recent decades have avoided prosecution in Dallas and across the country for sexual abuse — even when criminal evidence came to light as a result of civil lawsuits.
Zach Hiner, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, said he believes police and district attorneys have generally respected the wishes of local church leaders to handle their own dirty laundry.
“Historically, there has been a lot of deference paid to religious institutions by our secular officials,” Hiner said. “They haven’t really wanted to get involved.”
And even if authorities did so, Hiner said, “they didn’t have all the information they needed.”
But increasingly, law enforcement agencies across the country are no longer sitting on the sidelines. And they’re not waiting for church higher-ups’ cooperation — a change that has heartened victims’ advocates and prompted cries of, what took so long?
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