PA--Victims blast “reckless secrecy” of Harrisburg bishop

By David Clohessy
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
August 9, 2016

http://www.snapnetwork.org/pa_victims_blast_reckless_secrecy_of_harrisburg_bishop

Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer and his staff are putting kids in harm’s way by continuing to hide the names and whereabouts of predator priests. Shame on them.

After decades of pledges by Catholic officials to be “open” about clergy sex abuse and cover up cases, they still being secretive. As a result, who knows how many unsuspecting families live near or individuals work with predator priests?

About 30 US dioceses post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests on their websites. Gainer, however, refuses to take this simple, inexpensive, practical step to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth. Shame on his employees who are complicit in this reckless secrecy: Joseph Aponick, Msgr. William King and other current and former church staff.

We urge Harrisburg Catholics to donate elsewhere until their church officials stop hiding child molesting clerics.

(Gainer’s track record on abuse has long been troubling: http://www.snapnetwork.org/ky_bishop_promoted_to_pa_post)

Finally, shame on Mark Totaro of Catholic Charities for the Harrisburg area. He claims the church is now the safest place for children. That’s of course absurd. The underlying factors that caused more than 100,000 US kids to be sexually assaulted by more than 6,300 priests remain intact – the rigid, all-male, allegedly celibate and obsessively secretive hierarchy which lacks any system of “checks and balances” and in which monarchs (a.k.a. bishops) are virtually never held responsible for their wrongdoing, no matter how severe or hurtful or repeated it may be.

It’s irresponsible to make such outlandish, self-serving claims that lead to dangerous complacency, and Totaro knows it.

No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.