UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, April 11, 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 )
Pope Francis says he felt “called to take upon himself” the subject of clergy sex crimes and cover ups. He should. He is the world’s only global monarch and he continues to let this decades-old crisis fester and build by refusing to take even a single step that protects a single child or exposes a single wrongdoer.
Reuters says he is “using some of his strongest words yet” and Religion News Service says “in his strongest personal remarks yet. . .”
But if a husband keeps beating his wife, the tone, tenor or length of his words are irrelevant.
Words – whether few or many, vague or clear, weak or strong – do absolutely nothing for the boy who is being sodomized today or the girl who is being raped today. They do nothing to divulge even one carefully-hidden church record about a complicit bishop. They do nothing to help fix archaic, predator-friendly secular laws. They do nothing of substance, especially now, especially in this context: a scandal-ridden, secretive, self-serving church hierarchy that wants to pretend real change is happening.
Nice words are especially meaningless and disingenuous when uttered by a powerful man who could instead make practical reforms.
We agree with Pope Francis that Catholic officials understand, to some extent, the damage that has been done. Sadly, that understanding has lead to little real change.
And the damage is still being done. It’s disingenuous to pretend, by using the past tense, that kids are not being sexually violated and predators are not being transferred and cover ups are not being perpetuated right now.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.