MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, July 03, 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 Vatican has tapped a cleric from a scandal-ridden archdiocese to be the new Fall River Catholic bishop.
Auxiliary Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha has won the promotion, though he comes from the Newark Archdiocese with 42 publicly identified predator priests and a long, shameful history of protecting child molesting clerics over innocent, vulnerable children. That history continues to the present day.
We know little about da Cunha but this much is clear: he has shown no real courage or compassion in one of the worst archdioceses in the US for clergy sex abuse victims. We see no evidence that he has ever said or done a single thing to break with the self-serving and irresponsible actions of his Newark colleagues, who continue to put kids in harm’s way and maintain secrecy at all costs.
Last year, Moreira da Cunha announced a new policy letting Newark Catholic officials take secretive steps to reduce public attention on predator priests.
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