ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, April 18
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790 , SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
Our deepest sympathies go out to both families whose children have been sexually violated by Fr. Joseph Jiang.
Because of the first criminal charges against him, Fr. Jiang was suspended from his parish in June 2012. Carlson assured his flock that Fr. Jiang would be kept away from kids. Evidently, Carlson didn’t honor his promise, because Fr. Jiang is now charged with molesting a different child just two months later (in August 2012).
We especially feel sorry for these brave families because Archbishop Robert Carlson continues to play mean-spirited legal hardball to protect his close pal, Fr. Jiang.
Today, through one of his public relations staff, Carlson released a statement impugning the honesty and motives of the family of the second child who has reportedly been sexually assaulted by Fr. Jiang.
Neither Carlson, his lawyers nor his professional public relations people are stupid. They desperately want to prevent embarrassing lawsuits. They know that it helps to quickly scare others who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Jiang’s crimes into keeping silent. And they know that one good way to ensure silence is to quickly and publicly question the honesty of those who speak up. We believe that’s why Carlson claims that this victim’s family 1) supposedly raised concerns about bullying in their parochial school and 2) supposedly didn’t mention child sex abuse until this week.
Shame on Carlson, his lawyers and his PR team. Neither of those allegations – even if they are true – have any bearing whatsoever on whether these new criminal charges are valid.
Both of those claims might well discourage others with information about predator priests from stepping forward. We believe that’s Carlson’s motive here. What other reason could there be for Carlson to publicly make these allegations – or any allegations – about a victim or his or her family?
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