MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, July 14, 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 and startling one hour documentary by Minnesota Public Radio – titled “How three archbishops hid the truth about abuse” – is available now online.
It includes:
– painful interviews with Louisiana clergy sex abuse victims and their family members who contradict the carefully-crafted but patently false image of Archbishop Harry Flynn as a “reformer” on abuse,
– part of a never-released tape in which an angry Twin Cities priest calls Archbishop John Nienstedt “a liar, a thief and a coward” while being booed by other priests (at the 54 minute mark),
–a victim who discloses that he is incapable of having children because his perpetrator, Fr. Patrick Ryan, crushed his testicles (at the 43 minute mark),
–a man who died of AIDS after having been sexually violated as a child by a priest (He did not get the disease from the cleric.)
Several chilling lines stand out:
–“In sworn testimony in May 2014 Flynn falsely claimed that (convicted predator Fr. Gil) Gustafson was no longer a priest.”
–“At the time (whistleblower) Jennifer Haselberger resigned (in April 2013), some accused priests were still in ministry. Despite all their public promises, church officials showed no interest in removing them.”
–“More than a decade ago, Catholic officials vowed to change. Haselberger revealed that the cover up never ended.”
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.