YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on January 24, 2013
According to WFMJ, Bishop George Murry claims that the diocese “may need review to see if it could have handled the situation better.” That’s absurd.
For more than three years, he and his top aides kept secret about multiple and credible child sex crime allegations against a serial child molesting cleric. They did this even though the predator walks free and had been sent to another state where he lived, for years, among unsuspecting neighbors and families. They did this despite a decade of promises to be “open and transparent” in child sex and cover up cases. And they did this – kept silence – for five months after paying settlements to 11 wounded victims. They never disclosed a single allegation or settlement involving Br. Baker. Baker’s victims warned parents, parishioners and the public about this dangerous cleric.
It’s hard to imagine how they could have handled this sordid matter any worse. It’s clear that Bishop Murray and his staff wanted to do what Catholic officials have done for years – keep everyone in the dark until the criminal and civil statutes of limitations expired, so they could protect themselves and their reputations.
Murry essentially is trying to blame everyone else: lawyers, Fransiscans and victims.
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