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	Seeking Justice for Kids By Rebecca S. Green The Journal Gazette February 19, 2010 http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100219/LOCAL/302199925/1002/LOCAL Victims of abuse urge new bishop to maintain focus A group of women from an advocacy group for sexual abuse victims showed up outside the local Roman Catholic diocesan offices Thursday, wanting to ask the bishop to do more to get potential abuse victims to come forward with allegations. Before they showed up at the Archbishop Noll Center in downtown Fort Wayne, the women, from the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, visited the South Bend offices of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. They wanted to present a letter to newly installed Bishop Kevin Rhoades about the Rev. Francis Markey, 82. Markey, who now lives in South Bend, was arrested last year, charged with raping a teenage boy in Ireland in 1968. This month, a U.S. District Court judge in South Bend said he would deny any attempts by Markey to fight extradition to Ireland. SNAP President Barbara Blaine said she is asking Rhoades to ask people within the diocese to step forward if they have any information about Markey. But she acknowledges Markey does not work for the diocese, nor has he had an assignment in this diocese. Since the 1950s, 16 priests within the local diocese have faced credible accusations of sexual abuse, with none of the allegations describing activity within the last 20 years, according to an investigation completed in 2005. All of the priests accused were removed from the ministry. Rhoades, who had previously scheduled meetings Thursday afternoon, was not available to meet with the women, who had not contacted the diocese to schedule a time to meet with officials. Contact: rgreen@jg.net
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