LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, July 7, 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 )
The Louisiana Supreme Court may compel a Catholic priest to testify in court about an alleged confession in a clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit.
This is what happens when Catholic officials conceal child sex crimes for decades – they lose credibility among judges. And this is what happens when Catholic officials deliberately and deceptively exploit confessional confidentiality.
Often, we’ve seen Catholic officials falsely claim that conversations about abuse were confessions, so they could keep hiding the truth from police, prosecutors, parents and parishioners. We hope that’s not the case here.
We hope that anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Jeff Bayhi or cover ups by Baton Rouge Catholic officials – will speak up, get help, expose wrongdoers and protect kids.
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