Victims Seek Bishop's Help

SNAP
March 7, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/la_victims_seek_bishop_s_help

Victims seek bishop's help

Predator priest was sued twice for abuse

He allegedly sexually assaulted two kids in Louisiana

Group wants Catholic officials to reach out to victims

“Prelates should warn unsuspecting families about him,” SNAP says

A now retired priest was sued twice for molesting kids in Louisiana was “outed” in Florida last week.

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims wants Lafayettte Bishop Michael Jarrell to “aggressively reach out” to others he may have hurt and explain why he has “put children in harm's way by keeping silent about the two settlements and the predator's whereabouts for years.”

[bishop-accountability.org]

In 2003, Fr. Marshall Larriviere was accused in a lawsuit of molesting a girl in the 1960s. Later, another girl joined the lawsuit. In 2008 the Lafayette Louisiana Catholic diocese quietly settled with the two victims for an undisclosed amount.

[bishop-accountability.org]

“For more than a decade, Bishop Jarrell and his colleagues have promised to be 'open' about clergy sex crimes but repeatedly break those promises,” said David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “As best we can tell, despite these pledges, Bishop Jarrell told no one – or very few – about these settlements or about Fr. Larriviere's move to Florida.”

“How will Lafayette Catholics feel if it turns out that Fr. Larriviere molested more kids after Bishop Jarrell quietly settled these lawsuit and while Bishop Jarrell kept secret about this predator's movements?” asked Barbara Dorris, SNAP's outreach director.

Fr. Larriviere worked at St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville from 1963-1968 and was also a Navy chaplain.

Fr. Larriviere, now in his 60s, lives at 1710 Manasota Beach Rd. in Englewood (941-473-3829), in the Venice Catholic diocese. SNAP members held a news conference last week in Florida, urging the Venice bishop to warn his flock about Fr. Larriviere's presence.

[snapnetwork.org]

SNAP wants Bishop Jarrell to use his vast resources and warn vulnerable families about this predator priest.

“Bishops and priests should use their vast resources and bully pulpits to reach out to victims and to warn parishioners and the public,” said Dorris. “Bishops hire, train, ordain, transfer, shield, and promote priests, so they have a duty to be transparent about abuse reports and to protect children not, predators.”

Regardless of their clerical status, SNAP believes that bishops have a moral and civic duty to warn the public about predator priests, especially those who have moved or been sent away to other states where they live among unsuspecting families.

“Whether a predator priest has been defrocked, suspended, is 'AWOL,' and no matter whose payroll he is or was on, bishops must use their resources to protect kids and alerting parents about predators through church websites, parish bulletins and pulpit announcements,” said Dorris.

Fr. Larriviere is apparently now leaving comments in online funeral guestbooks, in which he continues to identify himself as a priest who still says mass. (Just google "Rev. Marshall Larriviere" in quotes). The latest one is from December 2013.

A photo of Fr. Larriviere is available at BishopAccountability.org