UNITED STATES/VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on January 02, 2013
An international support group for clergy sex abuse victims wants Pope Benedict to reverse his decision and pick a different individual to head the Vatican’s abuse office.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, plan to write the pontiff, urging him to rescind his selection of a Boston priest to the post and choose a parent instead.
One week ago, Benedict announced Fr. Robert Oliver’s promotion, despite concerns by victims and advocates about his ties to controversial Cardinal Bernard Law and his role in the handling of pedophile priest cases in Boston.
[Read here – New York Times]
“Oliver is an awful pick,” said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP’s president.
Oliver has shaped the Boston archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases for the last decade. Four basic charges are being leveled against him:
1. He eliminated a provision requiring the immediate removal of accused priests.
2. He limited victims’ access to the archdiocese’s files on their cases.
3. Under his leadership, the archdiocese ‘cleared’ a very high percentage of accused priests.
4. Under his leadership, the church tribunal has failed to rule on the cases of 15 accused priests.
–According to the Boston Herald, in 2003, Oliver “said the church went too far in immediately removing priests from their public ministries once they were accused of abuse. He implemented a new policy stripping them of duties only after claims are investigated.”
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