PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016

Statement by Karen Polesir of Ambler, SNAP Philly director (267-992-9463, karenpolesir@yahoo.com)

Philly Catholic officials have just lost their bid to keep secret facts about a clergy sex abuse and cover up case. Shame on them for trying to hide the truth and violate, again, their often-repeated but often-broken pledges to be “open” about pedophile priests.

[The Legal Intelligencer]

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark I. Bernstein has denied Archbishop Charles Chaput’s motion for confidentiality in a case called McIlmail v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We are grateful for Bernstein’s wise ruling and the McIlmail family’s courage. And we’re dismayed, though not surprised, by Chaput’s continuing hypocrisy. In public, he professes “transparency.” In court, however, he pushes “secrecy.”

“According to court documents, Sean McIlmail was allegedly sexually assaulted by Fr. Robert Brennan while…