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| Victims Want Action on Abusive Nun
SNAP
August 27, 2019
https://www.snapnetwork.org/victims_want_action_abusive_nun_aug19
WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose the names of – and information about – two more credibly accused child molesting clerics who are or have been in Columbus but are NOT on the diocesan list of alleged clergy offenders.
One is a nun who was suspended and spent a decade in central Ohio.
And the victims will call on Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan to
--stop using a priest to field calls from victims,
--post names of ALL publicly accused clerics on their diocesan website,
--include details like their work histories, whereabouts and photos.
Finally, they will urge current and former Catholic church staffers to call law enforcement with “any knowledge or suspicions they may have about clergy sex crimes and cover ups” because the Pope recently adopted a policy guaranteeing them ‘whistleblower protection.”
WHEN
Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE
On the sidewalk in front of St Joseph Cathedral, 212 E Broad St, (corner of N. 5th St.) in Columbus, OH
WHO
Two – three victims and advocates who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
1) SNAP has discovered and is disclosing the names of two more alleged sex offender clerics who have been in the Columbus diocese. Neither is on Bishop Robert Brennan’s official ‘credibly accused’ clerics list, even though other Catholic officials have publicly declared that the two are ‘credibly accused.’
--Sr. Lisa Zuccarelli, who reportedly molested a student at Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster, OH (where she taught from 1980-1985). According to one news source, she “was removed from her ministry and immediately restricted from unsupervised contact with any minor or former student.” A church investigation deemed the allegation credible, according to Sr. Patricia Twohill, who was the head of the Columbus-based Dominican Sisters of Peace (614-416-1900, info@oppeace.org), to which Sr. Zuccarelli belongs.
She was in Ohio from 1975 to 1985, teaching at DeSales High School in Columbus (1975 to 1977), Catholic Central High School in Steubenville(1978 to 1980), and Fisher Catholic (1980 to 1985), according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Sr. Zuccarelli later taught at a Catholic college in Rhode Island and resigned after the allegation was made public.
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https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181211/former-fisher-catholic-nun-accused-of-sexually-abusing-student
(More than 200 nuns are working or have worked in the Columbus diocese, but no abusive nuns are on Brennan’s list.)
--Fr. Stuart Bede Campbell was ordained in 1930 and worked in IL, NY, KY, DC, CA, NV and reportedly died in 1986. From 1937-1940 and again from 1946-1947, he was at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Zanesville and from 1946-1947 he was at St. Ann’s parish in Philo, both in the Columbusdiocese.
In 2003, Fr. Campbell was named in a civil lawsuit accusing him of child sexual abuse from 1956 to 1959 while he worked in Fresno CA. Last year, he was included on a list of ‘credibly accused’ abusive clerics put out by the New York-based Dominican Catholic religious order (212 535 3664,editor@opeast.org).
[bishopaccountability.org]
https://opeast.org/about/child-protection/allegations/?fbclid=IwAR3rMyT9mmCu3IRP3PQg1Izou4P7u4FntNs54KTyTQvYO237C8Vr-N3Tbo4
https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190823/priest-accused-of-abuse-in-new-york-once-served-in-columbus
2) Last week, SNAP discovered and disclosed that a priest who has just been accused of abusing a New York child could be in Ohio now and once worked in Columbus.
https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/ues-priest-accused-abusing-8-year-old-boy-lawsuit?fbclid=IwAR2REtyRX4Po5YJm0rqKOhdSEInjhEqL3enhLehH3EYZ2nOqAPqU6lY523o
He is Fr. Carleton Parker Jones, who was sued days ago in Manhattan for reportedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy while he was preparing the boy for his first confession and first communion. He worked at St. Patrick Church on North Grant Avenue in Columbus (614 240 5910,
An on-line parish document says that Fr. Jones was moving to Cincinnati.
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For the safety of children, SNAP believe it’s the moral and civic duty of Catholic officials (in New York, Cincinnati, Rhode Island and Columbus) to publicly disclose, as widely as possible, that these three have been accused of child sex abuse – and disclose any information they may have about them, especially other assignments that they may have had. These names should be added immediately to Brennan’s ‘credibly accused’ list and he should use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements to ‘aggressively reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered wrongdoing by them.’
Columbus church officials say they’ll only list predator priests who’ve molested in their diocese. SNAP contends, however, that every ‘proven, admitted or credibly accused cleric who has lived or worked’ in the diocese should be on the diocesan list.
3) In May, Pope Francis announced a new global church abuse policy. In it, he pledges to protect church employees who share what they know or believe about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. However, SNAP wants Catholic staffers to report to secular officials, not church figures, “no matter how old, small or seemingly insignificant” their information might be.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-abuse-law/pope-decrees-bishops-must-be-directly-accountable-for-sex-abuse-or-cover-ups-idUSKCN1SF109
BACKGROUND
Bishop Robert Brennan has headed the diocese for almost nine months now.
https://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/2019/01/31/brennan-named-new-bishop-catholic-diocese-columbus/2730576002/
He comes from the Rockville Centre diocese (on Long Island) which has a “particularly long and sordid track record of concealing clergy sex crimes,” SNAP says.
[bishop-accountability.org]
For years, Brennan worked as secretary to four prelates including the controversial Bishop William F. Murphy, a former auxiliary bishop to Boston’s disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law. (Murphy was criticized in grand jury reports in both New York and Massachusetts.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Brennan
The Columbus Diocese includes Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Knox, Licking, Madion,Marion, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Tuscarawas, Union and Vinton counties.
The diocese can be reached at 614-228-2457, commailbox@columbuscatholic.org
CONTACT:
Carol Zamonski (614-653-1502, SNAPcentralohio@gmail.com), Judy Jones, (636-433-2511, SNAPjudy@gmail.com), Zach Hiner (517-974-9009,zhiner@snapnetwork.org)
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