MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 2, 2013
Statement by Megan Peterson, Twin Cities SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 218-684-0073 cell, survivor19@live.com )
A Minnesota judge is ordering two Catholic bishops to reveal names of accused predator priests. Kids will be safer as a result. But it should never take a court order to force Catholic officials to disclose the names of potentially dangerous child molesting clerics.
These names won’t include all of the alleged predator priests in these two dioceses. We suspect that records have been destroyed and that abuse reports against dozens of credibly accused clerics have been wrongly deemed “unsubstantiated” by self-serving Catholic officials over the past few decades.
Archbishop John Nienstedt wants to keep one name secret because he can supposedly find no proof that the accused priest worked in the Twin Cities. So what? If he’s a proven, admitted or credibly accused child molester, parents, parishioners and the public should be warned about him, no matter where he worked.
Nienstedt wants to keep secret three other names because church officials supposedly can’t substantiate the allegations. That argument might wash except that long-secret church records show that time and time again, even with credible victims and ample evidence; Catholic officials claim they can’t “substantiate” allegations. They have so abused the public trust and their own “kangaroo courts” that no reasonable person believes the church hierarchy when it says that an accusation cannot be substantiated. (One glaring example: the Fr. Michael Keating case)
False allegations do happen. In the case of child molesting clerics, however, they are exceedingly rare. And when they do, it is of course very hurtful to the accused adult. But it’s even more hurtful to many others when credible allegations are ignored or hidden. When we are forced to choose between the reputation of one adult or the safety of several kids, responsible grown-ups always side with kids’ safety.
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