Victims to Launch Kc Ks Outreach Drive

SNAP
July 19, 2019

http://www.snapnetwork.org/victims_to_launch_kc_ks_outreach_drive

After a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers door-to-door announcing that

--they’re mounting an “aggressive, grassroots outreach campaign” in eastern Kansas to “find and help more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers” because the KC KS archbishop “won’t come clean and won’t reach out,” and

--they’ve found five more credibly accused abusive priests who worked in the archdiocese but have been left off the official archdiocesan ‘accused’ list and have attracted virtually no attention in the area (and their names will be on the fliers).

They will also

--beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers with information or suspicions about accused priests to call law enforcement, especially the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into clergy sex crimes and cover ups in the state, and

--prod the KC KS archbishop to post the names of ALL alleged predator priests, along with their photos, whereabouts and full work histories and teach his flock how to react with compassion and open-mindedness when their priests are accused of abuse.

WHEN

Thursday, July 18 at 2:00 p.m.

VISUALS

The group will hold childhood photos and signs.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside St. Peter’s Cathedral, 409 N 15th St. (between Sandusky & Orville) Kansas City, Kansas

WHO

Three-four concerned KC area Catholics along with two-three victims of clergy sexual abuse who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including the organization’s new Kansas City leader and a St. Louis man who is the group’s current volunteer St. Louis leader as well as its former long time executive director

WHY

1) SNAP continues to find and disclose names of and information about publicly and credibly accused abusive priests who a) are or were in the Kansas City Kansas archdiocese but b) are NOT on the official archdiocesan ‘accused’ list. The omissions, SNAP says, put kids at risk and impede healing. They also prove that Catholic officials continue to be secretive, callous and reckless, violating their own repeated pledges to be open about abuse,” the group says.

[link] https://responseincrisis.archkck.org/list-substantiated-allegations

Because of this, over the next three months, SNAP will hand out leaflets at and near Kansas churches, listing the alleged predators and urging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call the KBI which is investigating dioceses across the state.

With today’s disclosure, SNAP has ‘outed’ 14 such clerics who have escaped virtually all public attention in eastern Kansas despite having been deemed ‘credibly accused’ by Catholic officials elsewhere. The latest three are:

--Fr. Gregory Beyer, who died in 2010, abused in the 1970s, and was in four Kansas towns: Hays (St. Bonaventure Friary), Atwood (Sacred Heart Friary) and Victoria (St. Fidelis Friary) and Lawrence (St. Conrad Friary). His name was included in a list of “credibly accused” abusive clerics put out in March by his direct superiors, the Denver-based Capuchin religious order (303 477 5436, contact@capuchins). He also worked in Colorado Springs and Denver.

[link]

--Four allegedly predatory Jesuits were at St. Mary's College in St. Mary's, KS: Fr. Francis W. Callan (from 1942 – 1943), Fr. John A. Coughlin (from 1931 – 1935), Fr. Richard J. Pauson (from 1956 – 1959) and Fr. Patrick J. Conway (from 1931 – 1934). Their names appear on the Jesuit’s ‘credibly accused list released in December.

[link]

2) Since January, SNAP has discovered and disclosed nine other credibly accused abusive priests who were in the KC KS archdiocese but are NOT on the official archdiocesan ‘accused’ list (even though Catholic officials elsewhere have deemed nearly all of them ‘credibly accused’ child molesters). They are: Fr. Gilbert Stack, Fr. Placidus Kieffer, Fr. Thomas S. McShane, Fr. Philip D. Kraus, Fr. Anthony D. Palmese, Fr. Roger A. Sinclair, Fr. Eugene A. Maio, Fr. John C. (Fidelis) Forrester and Fr. Norman J. Rogge.

[link]

3) SNAP also wants KC KS Archbishop Joseph Naumann to educate his flock about how to support accused abusive priests, if they must, in ways that don’t hinder law enforcement and hurt victims. The group is asking Naumann to distribute this leaflet to his parishioners:

[link]

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com, Jim McConnell 816 741 9882 or 816 590 4752, jm0832@att.net, Zach Hiner 517 974 9009, zhiner@snapnetwork.org, Larry Davis 816 769 5899, ldavisvos@gmail.com