A message from SNAPDFW’s facilitator, Lisa Kendzior
Acknowledge your courage
;)
It takes courage to acknowledge that we’ve been abused and it is not easy to even admit it to ourselves. Just browsing this website is a big step.Know that you are not alone!
If you’ve been victimized by clergy, please know that you are not alone. You can get better. You can reach out to others who’ve been hurt just like you have.
Together, we can heal one another.
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Jury finds Green Bay Catholic diocese guilty of fraud in allowing priest suspected of child abuse to continue serving
In the first trial against a Catholic diocese for sexually abusive clerics in Wisconsin state history, a jury found the diocese guilty of fraud in allowing a priest accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with children to continue in his job.In the mid 1990's a pair of controversial state supreme court decisions fully immunized the church from any and all corporate liability for priest child molesters based on a controversial interpretation of the first amendment. It is a testament, therefore, to the courage and persistence of Todd and Troy Merryfield and their families who have doggedly pursued justice through a much more daunting path of filing their claim under the state’s fraud statutes.
Read the full story on the WTAQ News website ...
Read the statement by SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isley ...
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Change statutes of limitations: Victims need 'years, even decades,' to deal with abuse before confronting abusers, says Philly editorial
Among the difficult realities of child sexual abuse is that victims might need years, even decades, to come to terms with their abuse. So says an editorial in Sunday's Philadelphia Patriot-News.It isn’t until they deal with the emotional trauma of what happened to them that they then are ready to confront their abuser.
Unfortunately, our justice system is not set up to deal with this all-too-common occurrence.
Instead, there is a statute of limitations in place that only gives victims a certain amount of time to file a complaint, either civil or criminal.
If they come forward after that time period has expired, they are barred from going forward. We have seen this most prominently with accusations against priests in the Catholic Church.
This (statute of limitations) system not only does not allow victims to seek the justice they deserve, but it also protects the sexual abuser, whose identity otherwise might never become public. -- The Philadelphia Patriot-News, 20 May 2012.
In response to the Penn State coaching and the Catholic Church priest abuse scandals, an editorial in yesterday's Philadelphia Patriot-News calls for altering the state's statute of limitations on reporting sex crimes. The new state code would then favor the victims, for a change, and no longer the abusers.
The editorial calls on Pennsylvania to create a “window” or period of time when victims who are beyond the statute of limitations can come forward and file a suit against an abuser.
Other states, such as California, Delaware and most recently, Hawaii, have enacted such laws. When California opened a one-year window, 300 cases were opened.
Read the full editorial in Sunday's Philadelphia Patriot-News ...
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Evidence in landmark trial of Roman Catholic hierarch shows a culture of secrecy and self-interest over safety of flock
In over eight weeks of testimony in the landmark case of a Roman Catholic diocese and its administrator for child endangerment, jurors saw a parade of witnesses and close to 2,000 documents, some decades old, that detailed what bishops, pastors priests, and church officials knew and did (or didn't do) about Philadelphia-area priests suspected of abusing children.They cared about money, they cared about the business of the church, not the flock and not the parishioners." -- Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, Courtroom 304 Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center.
The mountain of evidence pointed to a long-standing culture in the hierarchy - and at times the ranks below - that chose secrecy over transparency and the welfare of the institution over victims.
"It was all about the good of Mother Church," Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington said in arguments to the judge Thursday. "They cared about money, they cared about the business of the church, not the flock and not the parishioners."
Read the full story in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer ...
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Roman Catholic priest found guilty in Dallas of murder-for-hire plot to kill his young sexual abuse accuser
The Roman priest caste, notorious for intimidating its own victims, its own charity organizations, its nuns and even the Girl Scouts of America has produced yet another heavy.A Dallas County jury has found a Roman Catholic priest, John F. Fiala, guilty of plotting the death of a young boy he is accused of sexually abusing. Fiala could be sentenced to up to life in prison for solicitation of capital murder.
Fiala will also stand trial for the rape of the young boy, and for threatening him at gunpoint.
Read the full story in the Dallas News ...
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Culture of coverup remains in discredited Roman order of priests founded by a pedophile, as leading member admits fathering children
Following an Associated Press expose confronting the defamed order of priests that pope Ratzinger (a.k.a. Benedict XVI) declined to disband, the Roman Legionnaires of Christ, a favorite priest order of the current and the former pope, has admitted once again to covering up for one of its most public spokesmen. In a statement, the Legion said it was sorry it hadn't acted "earlier and more firmly" to remove priest Thomas Williams from his very public ministry as a spokesman, author and high-profile television personality.
Just last week, the Legion admitted that seven of its priests were under investigation by the Vatican for allegedly sexually abusing minors – suggesting that the same culture of secrecy and silence that Maciel used to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children.
Williams, an American moral theologian and former superior of the Legion's Rome general office, admitted Tuesday he had had a relationship with a woman and had fathered a child.
This is the order beset by scandal following revelations that its late founder, priest Marciel Maciel, fathered three children with two women and sexually abused his seminarians.
Maciel died in 2008, and in 2009 the Legion admitted to his crimes.
The Maciel scandal has been particularly sensational given that the Mexican-born priest was held up by the John Paul II regime, including its second in command Joseph Ratzinger (currently pope), as a model for the faithful, with his priests admired for their orthodoxy and ability to bring in money and attract new seminarians.
The facade, however, began to crumble in 1997 with revelations of his abuse, though it wasn't until 2006 that the Vatican sanctioned Maciel to a lifetime of prayer and penance for his crimes.
Just last week, the Legion admitted that seven of its priests were under investigation by the Vatican for allegedly sexually abusing minors – suggesting that the same culture of secrecy and silence that Maciel used to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children.
Read the full story 'Legion Of Christ Priest ... Admits He Fathered Child' in the Huffington Post ...
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After attacking nuns, catholic charities and international charity groups, Roman bishops in USA go after Girl Scouts
From the outrageous, to the preposterous, to the absurd, Roman bishops are now attacking the Girl Scouts. They are shotgunning for anyone to blame for anything to take attention off of their total denial and moral bankruptcy, as evidenced in the long enduring priest sexual abuse crisis and its systematic coverup by the church hierarchy."This month, it was the Leadership Conference of Women Religious that bishops were concerned about. Before that, it was Catholic Charities in the United States. Then it was Caritas, the church's umbrella organization for the coordination of international charity. And now it is the Girl Scouts." -- Joan Chittister
Joan Chittister is a well-known and outspoken Benedictine nun in the Roman church in America. In her column 'From Where I Stand' published May 16 on the National Catholic Reporter website, Joan speaks up loudly about the preposterous and apparently random gyrations of the all-male Catholic hierarchy caste, asking the following key question:
Where has all this energy for empirical destruction come from in a church now projecting its own serious problems with sexual issues onto everything that moves?
In the powerful article, Chittister says that each of the groups attacked has been "curtailed, 'investigated' or put in some kind of canonical receivership because of their reputed lack of orthodoxy on sexual issues or because of association with other groups that, according to the bishops, have the same problem. And all of that in the face of the sex abuse debacle of the church itself, still to be resolved, never monitored, and totally closed to outside investigation."
The article also briefly reviews a new book: Pius XII: The Hound of Hitler by noted historian Gerard Noel. Noel traces the rise to power of Eugenio Pacelli (a.k.a. Pius XII) whose goal became the centralization of the church, and the control of all its organizations. "Under Pacelli, law became the power of the church; the Gospel, its victim."
Chittister goes on:
"For the first time in history, the Vatican took sole control of episcopal appointments, extended "infallibility" to "definitive" statements like encyclicals and gave the pope the right to declare on universal issues without the advice and consent of episcopal conferences, synods or councils. It was a recipe for monarchical control. And it worked."Now, as a result, bishops are cut out of common cloth. They are chosen to be what the Vatican wants rather than what the culture or the people need. They are an arm of the Vatican rather than the voice of the flock in dialogue with the Vatican."
Read the full article in the National Catholic Reporter of 16 May 2012:
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'Never admit to victims that there are other cases' said memo to Philly church official accused of child endangerment and coverup
A memo in the landmark Philadelphia trial of a Roman Catholic diocesan official was cited by the prosecution as evidence of the church’s attempt to minimize scandal and conceal clergy sex abuse. The defendant's lawyer, on the contrary, used the memo in the accused priest's "Eichmann" defense to claim the administrator was merely following orders when covering for pedophile priests and reassigning them.Read the story from the Philadelphia Inquirer ...
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In a statement sent to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch late Friday afternoon, Katie Pesha, the archdiocese's executive director of communications and planning, confirmed that Archbishop Robert Carlson had hired Tom Buckley, formerly of the law firm Buckley & Buckley, as the archdiocese’s in-house general counsel.
In the statement, Pesha said that "after much thought and consultation" Carlson had decided to restructure the archdiocese's legal representation, pointing out that "a number of dioceses throughout the country follow this similar structure."
Read more in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...
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New charges of failure to protect children from priest sexual abuse emerge against Irish Roman Catholic hierarch
In a BBC report broadcast yesterday the Roman cardinal in Ireland, Sean Brady, has been accused of further child endangerment and official church coverup. The BBC's This World program reports that as late as 2010 Brady had the names and addresses of those being abused by Brendan Smyth, "Ireland's most prolific pedophile," but did nothing about it, and did not ensure their safety.
Read the full story in the BBC News ...
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CA Bishops lobby against modest extension of statute of limitations and background checks for childcare
"Given the known scope of the abuse in the California dioceses, it is nearly unfathomable that, even now, the California bishops are lobbying against modest extensions of the statute of limitations and meaningful background investigations for those working closely with children on a regular basis" -- Victims advocate, attorney Marci Hamilton
Read full article: 'Catholic bishops lobby against legislation to protect children new=true'
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KC bishop becomes first Catholic hierarch to face criminal charges in decades old church sex abuse coverup scandal
The leader of Kansas City area Roman Catholics will face criminal charges for failure to report suspected child abuse to proper secular authorities. So ruled Missouri judge, John Torrence. Robert Finn, religious superior of the Kansas City - St. Joseph diocese of the Roman church, will be compelled to face a jury of his peers to plead absolution from the criminal charges which he denies.
With the decision in the Missouri court Thursday, Finn becomes the first Roman hierarch to face criminal charges in the decades old Roman Catholic priest sexual abuse crisis.
Read more:
- Judge orders Kansas City bishop to stand trial in abuse case
- Judge John Torrence's order
- KC bishop charged with failure to report child abuse
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Secular court supervision, and leadership of women create priest abuse prevention plan for indicted Catholic diocese
Under a deal struck with the court to avoid more criminal charges, the Roman Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is following the leadership of two women who have created a 3 step plan that Roman bishops and their pope have refused to implement for centuries prior.In a case that represents a shift toward holding the Catholic Church hierarchy legally accountable for failing to warn parents or police about abusive priests, and under 5 years of county prosecutor supervision, the church that refuses women ministerial leadership roles, has accepted their court-watched leadership to avoid further prosecution, and is allowing the women to plan the protection of the diocese's innocents from abusive and pedophile priests.
The womens' plan, in its simple essence, is this.
When abuse is suspected,
1. Call the police;
2. Call an abuse hotline;
3. Call the church -- IN THAT ORDER.
"The diocese’s model for responding to abuse concerns has changed fundamentally. The initial response has been taken out of the hands of clergy" -- Carrie Cooper, leader of child protection efforts for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
We would suggest one change in the plan for our site's visitors and readers: if your own diocese is not under court insistence to comply, AND under leadership other than clergy, then the plan should be this:
- Call the police;
- Call an abuse hotline - period.
The Roman Catholic Church in the United States has, for over ten years, ignored SNAP's insistence that they do precisely that.
Now, out of one hand,
- The KC diocese lawyers attack SNAP -- with obvious approval from the USCCB;
- under criminal indictment, secular court supervision, and the leadership of women, the diocese starts protecting its children.
The result of this secular enforcement finally begins to put some parishioner donations -- and the actual protection of the innocent -- where only their priests', bishops' and pope's mouths have been in the past.
- Read the lead story in the Kansas City Star:
- Read the Associated Press story:
Stakes are high for church as ‘failure to report’ case unfolds against Kansas City bishop ...
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