Rome- Pope “offended” by the wrong problem in the church; SNAP says

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

The pope said he is “offended.” Apparently, he’s not really offended by Catholic officials who transfer predators and keep secrets and endanger kids. He’s offended by the “hype” around his papacy.

We feel the same way, even more now that he has shown his ‘true colors’ on the church’s on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis.

The Associate Press reports that:

“Pope Francis is coming under increasing criticism that he doesn’t get it on sex abuse. Three months after the Vatican announced a commission of experts to study best practices on protecting children, no action has been taken, no members appointed, no statute outlining the commission’s scope approved.

Francis hasn’t met with any victims, hasn’t moved to oust a bishop convicted of failing to report a problem priest, and on Wednesday insisted that the church had been unfairly attacked on abuse, using the defensive rhetoric of the Vatican from a decade ago.”

[Telegraph]

When he says that abuse has left “very deep wounds” on victims, the pope is deliberately framing the scandal as something that’s largely in the past – by focusing on already hurt victims, not on still-vulnerable children. This is good public relations but it’s not reality. While many clergy sex crimes have been disclosed in the West, far fewer cover ups have been, and little of either has been disclosed in the developing world. No matter how hard Catholic officials may try to depict this scandal as “in the past,” it’s very much a part of the church right now.

Inadvertently, Pope Francis has done our movement to protect children a service. For months, many have assumed he would sooner or later get around to taking action to safeguard the vulnerable in the church. Over and over, we heard well-meaning Catholics and commentators say “Give him time, he’s new,” “He’s improving Vatican governance first,” “He’s got to tackle internal leaks first,” “Streamlining church bureaucracy is his top priority,” and “He can’t do everything at once.”

Now, there’s more clarity and less doubt about his intentions on abuse. He’s willing to discuss change in several parts of the church. But not when it comes to pedophile priests and complicit bishops.

Many consider the pope as a moral authority. He says that only the Catholic Church has been attacked on abuse. If he honestly believes that other institutions are dealing with abuse in reckless ways, we would welcome him exposing and denouncing them.

On a personal level, as a parent, and the brother of a predator priest, I am very upset by Pope Francis’ comments. My brothers (three of them) and I became victims of child sex crimes because a Catholic prelate (Bishop Michael McAuliffe) sent a predator priest (Fr. John Whiteley) to our parish with no warning.

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