MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, May 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 )
A new United Nations committee report harshly criticizes top Catholic officials for endangering kids and specifically cites the case of a fugitive Minnesota priest who molested at least one girl.
He is Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul who was charged in July 2009 for sexually assaulting Megan Peterson, then of Thief River Falls in the Crookston diocese. He is now in his home country of India fighting extradition.
The UN’s Committee Against Torture said of Jeyapaul that they are “concerned by numerous reports of cases in which clergy accused or convicte were transferred to other dioceses and institutions where they remained in contact with minors and others who are vulnerable, and in some cases committed abuse in their subsequent placements.”
After he fled the US, and while he faced criminal child sex charges, Jeyapaul was put on the job in India overseeing Catholic schools.
This is just one case of many where the Catholic church refused to protect children and broke international laws and standards of common sense and common decency.
We urge Minnesota bishops to use their resources and clout to publicly and privately push hard to have Jeyapaul brought back here to face justice.
We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes – by Jepayual or other clerics – will call police and prosecutors so that dangerous predator priests can be kept away from kids.
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