STOCKTON (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, Sept. 8
For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Sex Abuse Victims Urge Bankruptcy Delay
They Ask Bishop to “Listen To Flock” Before “Making Radical Moves”
Group Wants Open Meetings in Each Deanery Before Decision is Made
They Fear Protracted Legal Process Will Mean “Wounds Will Keep Festering”
A group of clergy sex abuse victims is publicly begging a California Catholic bishop to open his financial records and hold open meetings throughout his diocese before deciding whether to seek bankruptcy protection.
Leaders with the Chicago-based SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are writing Stockton’s Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, urging caution before taking “a radical, risky step that may prolong the pain so many Catholics and victims still feel, and delay the healing so many Catholics and victims deeply deserve.”
They want Blaire to allow “independent auditors to examine the diocese’s checking accounts, savings accounts, stocks, bonds, property and insurance policies” so “there can be an objective determination about whether church officials have sufficient resources to help victims.”
“Until you take this simple step toward being open and building trust, reasonable people will doubt your claims of ‘poverty,’” said the letter.
The group also wants Blaire to hold open meetings in all of the diocese’s ‘deaneries,’ or regions, before making a decision about a possible bankruptcy.
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