Catholic Officials Let Predator Secretly Be near Kids but No One’s Punished

SNAP
July 22, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/nj_catholic_officials_let_predator_secretly_be_near_kids_but_no_one_s_punished

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 Newark archdiocesan priest secretly let a suspended predator priest live in a parish across the street from an elementary school. He did so with the approval of his church supervisors.

Yet no one is being punished. The priest is just being moved to a new parish. The supervisors aren’t even being identified. And the predator remains on the payroll.

Without consulting with or telling St. Joseph’s parishioners, Fr. Thomas Iwanowski let Fr. Chabak live in the rectory for five months. Fr. Chabak is a credibly accused child molester. He’s suspended from ministry.

So Newark Catholic officials again quietly put kids in danger.

That’s incredibly reckless and callous.

As he’s done time and time before, Newark’s Archbishop John Myers did nothing until this inexcusable move became public. And when it did, Myers did next to nothing.

He’s moving Iwanowski to a new parish.

No wrongdoer is facing real consequences. And we don’t even know who some of the wrongdoers are. Did Myers himself personally tell Iwanowski it was OK to let a suspended pedophile priest live in a parish? Or was it another archdiocesan supervisor?

It’s completely bogus for Myers to claim, though one of his public relations professionals, that Catholic officials were acting “compassionately.” The church is an enormous global institution. Myers could have found hundreds of housing options for a child molesting cleric besides putting him in a parish. What's more, like other pedophile priests who can’t yet be criminally charged, Chabak belongs in a remote, secure, independently-run treatment center far away from children. But Myers refuses to do this, too.

And Chabak belongs on a thorough, public list of all proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests in the Newark Archdiocese. But Myers refuses to do this, too.

How easy it would be for Myers to announce today “I’m demoting and disciplining a pastor who put kids in harm’s way and those in my inner circle who approved this recklessness.” But tragically, that won’t happen. And as a result, more recklessness will happen.