LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, September 09, 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 )
In an unusual and troubling twist, a Louisiana bishop paid an alleged child sexual abuse victim even though he doesn’t think the accusation is true.
The Lafayette Advocate newspaper quotes a spokesman for Houma-Thibodaux’s Bishop Shelton Fabre, as saying even though the diocese has made at least one financial settlement with a man who said he was abused in the 1990s, “there has not been a case that we deemed to be true.”
The paper went on to report that “{Louis} Aguirre said that since the 2002 bishops charter the diocese has not alerted parishioners about allegations against priests because none have been credible.”
Huh?
We strongly suspect – and evidence strongly suggests – that this alleged victim is in fact a legitimate victim. But why on earth would Bishop Fabre give money to someone he thinks is besmirching a priest’s reputation by making up a story?
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