FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
A Venice Catholic official gave a clergy sex abuse victim a damning document about a predator priest, a document which has now been made public. It clearly shows that the victim told the truth and the priest told lies.
We are grateful to the church official who was brave and caring enough to provide this nine-page ruling by a church court to a man who was sexually assaulted as a child by Fr. Jean Ronald Joseph in Ft. Myers. (We don’t know the church official’s name.)
Fr. Jean Ronald Joseph was accused of molesting a boy and “sleeping with young boys multiple times.” Last year, a church panel found that Fr. Joseph “touched genital area and penis” and “did not cooperate with attempts of reformation by the diocese.”
In 2009, in a horribly mean-spirited move, after church officials disclosed he was accused of abuse, Fr. Joseph publicly released the name of his victim at a news conference and called him a liar.
Not a single Catholic official or employee in the Venice diocese – from bishop to bookkeeper – disciplined or even denounced Fr. Joseph for such a hurtful and intimidating move. Nor did a single church staffer call the police about these alleged heinous crimes. Shame on them.
What now?
Venice Bishop Frank Dewane should publicly apologize for tolerating Fr. Joseph’s cruel but shrewd media stunt in 2009. He should also personally visit each parish where Fr. Joseph worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call law enforcement. Finally, Bishop Dewane should write to his colleagues in Haiti, where Fr. Joseph allegedly lives now, and insist that they warn their flocks about this dangerous cleric.
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