PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)
The Altoona abuse and cover up investigation is on-going. It’s key to remember that. Just because there are no criminal charges now doesn’t mean there won’t be any later.
We believe it’s the moral and civic duty of every Altoona area Catholic to actively seek out others who saw or suspected or suffered crimes by these 50 predator priests. We believe Altoona area church staff have the same duty. But we know that virtually none of them will take action, because they’re too timid, whether they’re a bookkeeper or a bishop. And since they won’t, it’s crucial that rank-and-file church members do this outreach.
We beg Catholics and citizens to read carefully the parts of the report that deal with how Catholic officials deal with abuse reports now. It’s worth reading this piece from PennLive.com:
The bishop controlled the Allegation Review Board.
Bishop Adamec created the Allegation Review Board to allegedly determine the credibility of an allegation of abuse.
However, the purpose of creating the board, the grand jury said, was to convince people that the days of a mysterious bishop deciding how to handle a scandalous and heinous report of child molestation were over.
“In reality, the bishop still exclusively makes the decision how or what to do with a report of child molestation,” the grand jury said. “Nothing has changed but the trappings of how a report is procedurally made.”
The grand jury said victims who believed they were reporting to a board of unbiased and neutral observers “would be sadly mistaken.”
Diocese ‘victim advocate’ looked out for the church, not the victims.
The grand jury concluded, upon interviews with victims and reviews of documents, that the diocese “victim advocate” is an advocate for the diocese against the interest of the victims. The victim advocate was identified as Sister Marilyn Welch.
“Where the advocate can shuffle a victim into the Allegation Review Board without the involvement of legal representation for a victim, she does so,” the grand jury reported.
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.