CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
The Archdiocese of Chicago says a twice-accused predator priest will stay in a parish, but has supposedly agreed not to be alone with children.
This is ridiculous. It’s like putting a drug addict to work in a pharmacy and claiming “he’s agreed to never be alone with pills.”
This is precisely the claim that hundreds of bishops made for decades: that somehow, priests could still be in parishes and stay away from kids because their colleagues will supervise them 24/7.
This is precisely the claim that had led to thousands of children being molested by priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and bishops.
This is precisely what bishops promised they would stop doing more than a decade ago, when, in Dallas in 2002, they committed to a much-ballyhooed but rarely enforced “zero tolerance” policy for child molesting clerics.
Fr. Michael W. O’Connell faces two accusers. The most recent one met with and is being taken seriously by law enforcement officials. A criminal investigation has been re-opened. Yet Cardinal Francis George and his staff insist on keeping Fr. O’Connell in a position where he will undoubtedly encounter children.
We challenge Chicago Catholic officials to explain in detail how they’ll make sure Fr. O’Connell will keep himself away from kids.
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