SEATTLE (WA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, May 8, 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 )
In light of the Fr. Harold Quigg scandal, Seattle’s Catholic archbishop now says he’ll re-examine his “monitoring” policy. But he shouldn’t.
It’s not his “monitoring” policy that needs fixing. It’s his secrecy practice that needs fixing.
For a decade, Seattle kids have been at risk around Fr. Quigg because Archbishop Peter Sartain and his staff hid Fr. Quigg’s sexual misdeeds. Now Sartain is deliberately trying to evade responsibility for his own callous secrecy.
Sartain wants us to focus on Fr. Quigg’s wearing a Roman collar. Instead, we should focus on Sartain’s duplicitousness and recklessness.
Let’s be clear: Fr. Quigg broke the law. He molested a teenager (perhaps several). Then, he broke church rules. He’s likely still dangerous. He belongs behind bars.
But the most recent offender here is Archbishop Sartain. He broke two serious promises that he has repeatedly made for years – to be honest with his flock about predators and to keep predators away from kids so that kids could be safe. He broke his own archdiocesan abuse policy. He broke the U.S. national bishops’ abuse policy. He made it easier for a predator priest to severely hurt more teenagers.
If Seattle Catholic officials hadn’t hidden Fr. Quigg’s misconduct, he might be in prison now (where it wouldn’t matter if he wears a priest’s uniform or not). And if Sartain had warned his flock about Fr. Quigg, parents would have kept their children away from him (no matter what he was wearing).
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