MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014
For more information:
David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Victims challenge Twin Cities bishops
They ousted predator priest 7-10 weeks ago
Despite promising “openness,” they told no one
He was publicly exposed yesterday for first time
And he still lives – apparently unsupervised – in the Twin Cities
Self help group blasts “continuing reckless & secrecy” of two bishops
A credibly accused predator priest who was exposed for the first time yesterday was apparently ousted several weeks ago in secrecy, leading a support group for clergy sex abuse victims to blast two St. Paul Catholic bishops for their role in “continuing the recklessness and deceit of Archbishop John Nienstedt, Fr. Kevin McDonough and others.”
Because of a court order, St. Paul Minnesota church officials revealed yesterday that Fr. Kenneth LaVan was removed from active ministry in December 2013 because of allegations that he molested a child.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are blasting Bishop Lee Piche and Bishop Andrew Cozzens for “doing exactly what bishops have done for decades – keeping secrets about child molesting clerics” and urging them explain their “inexcusable and complicity” in the Fr. LaVan case.
“Why on earth, when it was decided weeks ago that Fr. LaVan was too dangerous to keep on the job, did you refuse to tell anyone about him?” asked SNAP in a letter to archdiocesan officials. “How will you justify your secrecy if we later learn that Fr. LaVan molested another child over the past two months when you kept silent about him?”
“Unless Piche and Cozzens start acting differently from Nienstedt and McDonough, they will be viewed – justifiably – as corrupt just like Nienstedt and McDonough,” said SNAP leader Frank Meuers of Plymouth. “’We’ve reformed.’ That’s the carefully-crafted public relations mantra Catholic officials have relentlessly repeated for over a decade. But it’s obvious, in the Twin Cities, this is simply not true.”
“This is incredibly self-serving behavior – right now – by Piche, Cozzens and others in the archdiocesan hierarchy,” Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “These church officials are violating both church policy and common decency by staying silent about yet another predator – who’s living in the Twin Cities – and giving him months to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, shred evidence, and fabricate alibis.”
Archdiocesan staff say that Fr. LaVan retired in 1998 but admit he was only suspended in December. SNAP believes he likely continued to function as a priest, substituting for vacationing colleagues, helping during busy holiday times, etc. A church bulletin suggests he said Mass in the Twin Cities as recently as November at St. Charles Borromeo parish.
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