UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
The Vatican confirmed today that Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, a credibly accused serial predator, has been suspended from his post as deputy bishop of a diocese in Paraguay.
[NBC News]
The Pope should fire Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano. Livieres deliberately promoted a credibly accused abuser who admitted sleeping with teens and allegedly molested several of them.
Livieres ignored a fellow bishop who explicitly warned that Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity is “a serious threat to young people.” How much more reckless can a church official be?
And Pope Francis should harshly and publicly explain and denounce Livieres’ irresponsible actions, instead of letting him “save face” by yet-another vague and minimizing statement from a lower-level Vatican staffer.
This piecemeal, reactive approach – gently disciplining egregious wrongdoers only when they’re publicly exposed – won’t cut it. For years Vatican officials have taken belated, grudging and lenient action against church officials when their wrongdoing has been so bad that it prompted international criticism. So this hand-slapping of one Paraguay bishop is inadequate. It is far from ground-breaking.
Covering up abuse and endangering kids is a cancer on the church. It requires severe surgery, not an occasional band-aid only applied under duress. Francis must publicly oust a number of complicit bishops and say why in no uncertain terms if he really wants to get other bishops to stop putting innocent children in harm’s way.
Fr. Urrutigoity spent time in Canada, Switzerland, Minnesota (Winona), and Pennsylvania (Scranton). He’s accused of abuse in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
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