OHIO/CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, April 14, 2016
Statement by Judy Jones of St. Louis, Associate Midwest Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (636 433 2511, SNAPjudy@gmail.com)
We’re grateful that a sexually troubled Ohio seminarian has pled guilty to child sex crimes and hope, for the safety of children, that he’s given the longest sentence possible.
We also worry there may be other kids he’s hurt and deplore how little his former church supervisors are doing to find other victims, witnesses or whistleblowers.
[KRQE]
After initially claiming he was innocent, Joel A. Wright admitted his guilt in court yesterday. Catholic officials who recruited, accepted, taught and assigned him, however, insist they did nothing wrong.
[SNAP]
Two Ohio prelates – Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton of Steubenville and Bishop Frederick Campbell of Columbus – should do aggressive outreach, using church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements.
Church officials in Kentucky (where Wright also attended a Catholic college) and Vermont (where Wright is from) should do likewise.
Bishop Campbell continues to largely being silent and passive about Wright, even though Wright was a student at The Pontifical College Josephinum, just north of Columbus, and within the boundaries of Bishop Campbell’s diocese. (Bishop Campbell in fact has taught at the Josephinum.)
In cases like this, bishops distance themselves from and pretend to be powerless over Catholic institutions in their dioceses, instead of stepping up, admitting responsibility and aggressively helping law enforcement. (According to Catholic church practice, custom and law, a bishop is responsible for the safety and well-being of his entire flock.)
If Josephinum staff were ripping off Columbus Catholics financially, Bishop Campbell wouldn’t be passively sitting back and keeping quiet. He can and should do more.
The only prudent assumption is that Wright has assaulted or exploited kids elsewhere. And Columbus Catholic officials have the ability and duty to see if that’s true by using their resources to beg others with information or suspicions about Wright to call police.
should do outreach seeking other victims of Wright.
News accounts show that Ohio Catholic officials had at least three warnings about Wright. But it seem clear that they did little or nothing to heed those warnings.
1) An informant for Homeland Security called and wrote to Josephinum staff about Wright and his efforts to buy infants or toddlers so he could abuse them.
2) Franciscan University officials in Steubenville reported to police that Wright had offered to pay $150 to babysit young kids alone (but the university may not have told Josephinum officials).
3) Wright’s mother admits that more than 40 seminaries across the US had rejected her son’s applications for enrollment. (She claims it was because of his physical disabilities, but SNAP leaders don’t believe this is true.)
When he was arrested in San Diego en route to Mexico to obtain youngsters, Wright’s studies were sponsored by Bishop Montforton. Wright spent some time in the Steubenville diocese.
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