Victims Want Answers from Duluth Bishop

Minnesota SNAP
October 8, 2013

http://mnsnap.wordpress.com/8873-2/

Victims want answers from Duluth bishop

He’s accused of mishandling abuse in St. Paul

And he’s hid local abuse report for over a year, SNAP says

Group calls for prosecutors to investigate clergy sex cover ups

WHAT             

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will blast Diocese of Duluth bishop for his role in two clergy sex abuse cases that have surfaced this month (one in Duluth and one in the Twin Cities).

They will also

   — urge Duluth area prosecutors to investigate the diocese,

   — urge the bishop to disclose the names of every child molesting cleric in the diocese and permanently post their names on his website, and

   –beg every person who saw, suspected and suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Minnesota (especially current and ex-Catholic employees) to come forward, call police, protect others and start healing.

WHEN

TODAY, Tuesday October 8 at 11:15 a.m.

WHERE

Outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, 2801 E 4th St., Duluth, MN 55812

WHO

Two-three clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri man who is the organization’s long time director

WHY

Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba now faces questions about his involvement in two clergy sex abuse cases that have emerged within the last week.

Yesterday a Twin Cities mother accused Sirba of “of participating in a cover up involving (Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer) who abused two of her boys. She told the Star Tribune that “she believes Sirba was more interested in the church’s reputation than in protecting her children” when he called her in 2009 about Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer who is now in prison for child sex crimes.

http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/226841281.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Also yesterday, Sirba admitted that he hid allegations of child sexual abuse by a priest, Fr. Cornelius Keleher, for more than a year, and the Duluth prosecutor says that no Catholic official told him about the accusations.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/279899/group/News/

Sirba only disclosed the allegations this weekend after he had been publicly linked to a scandal involving Fr. Wehmeyer .

On Sunday, when Sirba announced the allegations against Fr. Kelleher, he said he “rather quickly” ousted the priest from ministry. SNAP disputes this claim.

 http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S3184353.shtml?cat=10335

And last week, according to Minnesota Public Radio, a Twin Cities archdiocesan whistleblower “saw handwritten notes from then-Vicar General Paul Sirba about (inappropriate behavior by Fr. Weymeyer). Sirba called the mother of the boys and said she needed to help Wehmeyer observe appropriate boundaries, she said. Sirba, who is now the bishop of Duluth, did not return a call for comment.”

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2013/09/clergy-abuse/

Based on the involvement of Bishop Sirba in these cases, previous case, SNAP is urging Duluth area prosecutors to launch investigations into how he is handling and has handled clergy sex abuse in the diocese and whether he or his staff have broken or are breaking any laws

SNAP will challenge Bishop Paul Sirba to disclose the names, whereabouts and work histories of all proven, admitted and credibly accused Duluth area child molesting clerics (living or deceased, active or inactive, religious order or diocesan) and post this information permanently on his website.

Fr. Wehmeyer is now in prison for child sex crimes. Fr. Kelleher’s  whereabouts are unknown.