ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release Wednesday, June 17
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 )
For the second time in two years, Fr. Joseph Jiang, who has followed Archbishop Robert Carlson to several cities, has escaped criminal prosecution.
We’re heart-broken for the two families who have been devastated by Fr. Jiang’s crimes. Twice he’s faced criminal child sex abuse charges and successfully exploited legal loopholes and used legal maneuvers to escape consequences for his hurtful and illegal misdeeds. By doing so, he’s also helped keep a lid on the complicity of his boss, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson.
We applaud these two brave families. And we’re grateful that one of them is now pursuing a civil abuse and cover up lawsuit against Fr. Jiang and Archbishop Carlson.
Now more than ever, it’s crucial that anyone who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Jiang’s crimes speak up. And it’s crucial that they seek independent help – from police, prosecutors, lawyers, family, friends or support groups like ours, instead of calling Catholic officials.
It’s very frustrating, but time and time again in St. Louis, shrewd lawyering and archaic statutes enable those who commit and conceal clergy sex crimes to dodge responsibility for their horrific wrongdoing.
–In the first-ever civil pedophile priest trial in St. Louis city, a jury said Fr. James Gummersbach and the archdiocese guilty and ordered that the victim be paid $1.2 million. But that verdict was later overturned because Catholic officials exploited the statute of limitations.
–In the first-ever criminal pedophile priest trial in St. Louis city, a jury found Fr. Thomas Graham guilty of sexually assaulting Lyn Woolfolk. But Catholic officials later overturned that verdict on a technicality.
–In the first-ever criminal pedophile priest trial in St. Louis County, Fr. Bryan Kuchar walked free after a hung jury. (Luckily, prosecutors re-tried the case and Kuchar was sent to jail.)
–In a first, Fr. James Beine (a.k.a. Marr James) faced two sets of criminal charges: indecent exposure in St. Louis city AND child porn in Illinois federal court. But he exploited technicalities and escaped prosecution completely (and moved to Nevada where he tried to get a teacher’s license).
Thankfully, none of these four clerics has been put back on the job by Catholic officials. That of course strongly suggests that church bureaucrats know these priests are guilty of assaulting kids. But it’s dreadfully hurtful and disillusioning to victims, witnesses and whistleblowers when popular and powerful predators and their allies evade justice using loopholes.
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