UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights
Dec 08, 2015 | Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
SNAP Update: Let’s Shout Out Our Gratitude to ALL the Reporters Who Exposed Clergy Sex Crimes
Listen to these quotes from news reports. (The words won’t surprise you. But the timing may.)
— “A three month investigation reveals that in more than 25 dioceses across the US, church officials have failed to notify authorities, transferred molesting priests to other parishes, ignored parental complains and disregarded the potential damage to children who are the victims.”
— “At a time of heightened national awareness of the problems of child abuse, the Catholic Church in the US continues to ignore and cover up cases of priests who sexually molest children. . . .”
— “Catholic officials and their attorneys have sought court records, have attacked newspapers and have impugned the motives and even the sanity of those who have brought complaints against priests.”
— “Hundreds of children molested by Catholic priests in the US during the last five years have suffered severe emotional trauma. . . ”
These lines all appeared in a mainstream daily newspaper – the San Jose Mercury News — and subsequently in other newspapers – in the year. . . .1987. That’s right: almost 29 years ago.
The journalist who did the digging (and won several journalism awards for his painstaking work) was Carl Cannon.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.