ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Friday, April 25, 2014
Statement by SNAP leader David D’Bonnabel of Austria
We are leaders in an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. We are from the U.K., Austria, Australia and the U.S.
Our mission and our calling is to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, expose the truth and deter future sexual violence in institutions and the cover up of that violence.
We are in Rome now, specifically, to
–denounce Vatican officials for making Pope John Paul II a saint,
–beg Pope Francis and other church supervisors to stop honoring those who commit and conceal child sex crimes,
–urge the Catholic hierarchy to teach its flock and staff how to act properly when clergy sex abuse reports surface, and
–offer hope and reassurance to the millions of people – victim witnesses, whistleblowers, parishioners and church employees – who feel hurt, betrayed, depressed and hopeless because callous Catholic officials continue to praise and promote those who conceal horrific clergy sex crimes.
Our basic message can be summed up in four words: Rewarding wrongdoing encourages wrongdoing.
That is what is happening now – in Rome and across the world. And that is what has happened in the church for ages – complicit and corrupt bishops, cardinals, priests, nuns, brothers and other clerics who deny, ignore, minimize and enable cruel sexual violence against innocent children and vulnerable adults are elevated, not expunged, from their positions of power and prestige.
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