LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com )
A Louisiana newspaper has disclosed that a Lafayette predator priest was quietly sent to work in the Lake Charles diocese and still lives there now. Because Catholic officials hid the abuse report for more than 40 years, we strongly suspect that the priest is living or working among unsuspecting neighbors or colleagues. So for the protection of kids and the healing of victims, we urgently call on Lake Charles Bishop Glen Provost to:
–warn his flock about the priest (through news conferences, news releases, on church websites, etc.),
–aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s crimes and
–disclose whether there are or have been other pedophile priests who molested elsewhere and were secretly transferred to his diocese.
From January 1986 until October 1987, Lake Charles diocese officials quietly let Fr. Valerie Pullman come to work in their jurisdiction, even though he had been accused in 1972 and sued for molesting a child, the Lafayette Advocate reported on Sunday.
The revelation comes from long-secret Catholic church records that were unsealed in litigation and sought first by Minnesota Public Radio (for a profile of a former Louisiana bishop).
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