GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
They will face questions from United Nations panel
But church hierarchy has missed Nov. 1st deadline
They were to answer questions about abuse crisis
For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013
Contact: Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, snapblaine@gmail.com
A date has been set for Vatican officials to appear before a United Nations panel in Geneva and answer questions about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.
On January 16 top Catholic officials are to meet for several hours with members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The meeting will be streamed live on line.
The date was announced by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and can be found here:
[UN Committee on the Rights of the Child]
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wonders whether the Vatican will send anyone to the January meeting. SNAP is also blasting Vatican staff for missing a deadline to answer questions in writing from the panel about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.
“High ranking Catholic monarchs often break promises and rules,” said SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy of St Louis. “These monarchs are very accustomed to being treated like royalty and very unaccustomed to facing tough questions in public about this devastating and continuing crisis. So who knows whether any of them will show up in January?”
Last July, the UN committee sent Vatican authorities a list of about 20 questions, with a November 1 deadline. The questions were designed to help the committee determine whether the church is honoring the 23 year old Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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