VERMONT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on January 17, 2013
Last week, for the first time, a now-deceased Vermont priest was identified in a civil settlement as a possible child molester. That revelation is prompting a support group to prod the state’s Catholic bishop to release names of other accused clerics and aggressively seek out their victims.
“For more than a decade, bishops have been required, by their own national policy, to be open and transparent’ about child sex crimes,” said David Clohessy, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Yet for months, perhaps years, Vermont church officials kept secret about apparently credible allegations of child sex abuse against Fr. Joseph Dussault. Parents and the public only know about these accusations because a victim was smart and strong enough to file a suit and persevere to a settlement.”
Eleven civil lawsuits, including one against Fr. Dussault, were resolved on Jan. 9 as one of the cases was about to go to trial.
Now, SNAP is urging Catholic officials in Vermont to use “all the resources available” in order to reach out to others who were injured by Fr. Dussault and other clerics and to be more forthcoming about them.
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