MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday June 15
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org )
A pedophile priest will soon be let out of jail. We fear he’ll strike again.
Fr. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul – who worked in two Minnesota dioceses: St. Paul and Crookston – has been sentenced to “time served” for child sex crimes. He’ll be deported to his native India where kids are ever more vulnerable to savvy predators than kids are here.
On one hand, we’re glad that it’s now crystal clear to virtually everyone that he’s a dangerous man who should be kept away from kids. And we’re grateful to Megan Peterson, whose courage and persistence has kept this cunning child molester off the streets for years.
But we’re deeply worried that Fr. Jeyapaul will soon be near unsuspecting families and will assault more children. And if that happens, the blame can squarely be put on US and Indian Catholic officials who have acted irresponsibly from the outset in this terrible case.
We sorely wish law enforcement could have pursued more charges against Fr. Jeyapaul and kept him locked up much longer.
Few child molesters in history have been as widely exposed as Fr. Jeyapaul, thanks to Megan’s tireless and courageous prevention efforts. Still, most of his neighbors, relatives and colleagues likely know little or nothing about his crimes.
Megan has done almost everything possible – and more than perhaps any survivor we know – to protect kids from this monster. She filed a civil lawsuit, repeatedly cooperated with law enforcement, and even travelled to Geneva where she told a United Nations panel how Crookston Catholic officials acted recklessly, callously, hurtfully and deceptively in this case. She has courageously, generously and effectively taken worked hard and taken risks to make it much harder for Fr. Jeyapaul to hurt more girls or boys. We are incredibly proud of her and grateful to her.
When child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Jeyapaul surfaced, he quickly went back to India. We suspect that Crookston Catholic officials helped him flee. (According to BishopAccountability.org, Minnesota Catholic officials “knew of rumors about inappropriate behavior by Fr. Jeyapaul in 8/04” but Fr. Jeyapaul “suddenly returned to India in 9/05.”)
In India, Catholic officials gave him a job overseeing schools knowing full well that he was considered a fugitive from US criminal authorities.
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