CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014
For more information: Joelle Casteix 949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com,
David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Accused pedophile priest has passed away
Cleric unsuccessfully sued a victim for slander
She received more than $1 million in settlement
Yet Catholic officials still kept him in a parish for years
A Napa Catholic priest who was accused of sexually assaulting a child, Msgr. Joseph Alzugaray, has passed away. A church lay panel recommended he be suspended and his victim received a $1+ million settlement, but Santa Rosa Catholic officials still kept him in parish ministry for years.
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Santa Rosa’s Catholic Bishop Robert F. Vasa to “aggressively reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Msgr. Alzugaray’s crimes.”
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, believe that others may have been molested by Msgr. Alzugaray but “may still be suffering in silence, intimidated by Msgr. Alzugaray’s mean-spirited defamation lawsuit and Bishop Walsh’s complicity and callousness.”
“We are relieved that Msgr. Alzugaray can never hurt another child, but for Santa Rosa’s bishop to do nothing now is irresponsible,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “Catholic officials in Los Angeles found one of his victims credible. One Catholic official in Santa Rosa did not. Justice demands a re-examination of this troubling case.”
“It’ll be tempting and easy for Bishop Vasa to duck and dodge and ‘pass the buck’ here,” said Joelle Casteix, SNAP’s western regional director. “But that’s wrong. Santa Rosa Catholics and citizens deserve to know more about how the Msgr. Alzugaray case was handled by diocesan officials.”
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