BishopAccountability.org
 
  Group Warns N. Fla about Former Priest

By Jeff Brumley
Florida Times-Union
January 22, 2010

http://jacksonville.com/interact/blog/jeff_brumley/2010-01-22/group_warns_n_fla_about_former_priest

FLORIDA -- The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, aka SNAP, was spreading the word in North Florida this week about a former Catholic priest recently convicted of sexually assaulting children in Wisconsin more than two decades ago.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that James R. Blume, 64, pleaded guilty in Waukesha County and was convicted Jan. 15 of molesting two boys in Elm Grove., Wis., one in the late 1970s, the other in the early 1980s.

SNAP quickly responded with news releases urging Catholic leaders in Indiana and Florida to blitz their dioceses with bulletins about the conviction. Some news reports said that after being stripped of his priestly credentials in 2007, Blume moved to Hastings.

A spokeswoman with the Jacksonville-based Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, which covers Hastings, said the diocese has no legal means of keeping track of former priests. She said the diocese hadn't been notified that Blume may have been living in its boundaries.

A resident in the neighborhood where Blume once lived said the former priest moved away about a year ago. The neighbor, who declined to give his name, said he didn't know where Blume had gone.

Blume is due to be sentenced March 26. It is unclear where he is now.

SNAP leader David Clohessy told the Times-Union he isn't sure where Blume is now. Clohessy said Blume did not work in ministry in Hastings and is not accused of molesting any children there.

But it's important to let the public know he is, or was, there just in case remembers seeing some piece of evidence that could contribute to a stronger sentence for Blume.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.