UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, September 17

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

In a year-long investigation, GlobalPost “has found that the Catholic Church has allowed allegedly abusive priests to slip off to parts of the world where they would face less scrutiny from prosecutors and the media.

Journalists “tracked down and confronted five such priests. All were able to continue working for the church despite serious accusations against them (and) all but one continued to lead Mass, mostly in remote, poor communities in South America.”

The investigation found that “Some of these men faced criminal investigations, but went abroad without charges being brought against them. One of the priests admitted to GlobalPost that he had molested a 13-year-old boy, and acknowledged that he can…