MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, July 20
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
We remain convinced that John Choi could and should have filed criminal charges against individual complicit Catholic officials, not Catholic institution, especially had he acted sooner and more aggressively. We’re disappointed that well-educated, self-serving church bureaucrats have again spent parishioners’ donations on high-priced lawyers and are successfully evading consequences for repeatedly and callously putting children in harms’ way so they could protect their clerical careers and reputations.
Wrongdoing is deterred when wrongdoers are punished. But not one Twin Cities Catholic official is being punished – in the courts or in the church – for repeatedly deceiving parishioners, moving predators, hiding evidence, stone-walling police or endangering kids.
[WDAY]
We know that law enforcement has limited resources and child safety laws are outdated and Catholic officials defend themselves vigorously.
Still, the old saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” applies here. Across the country, for nearly three decades, we’ve seen police and prosecutors slowly becoming more determined and creative at pursuing even older child sex crimes and cover ups when they put their minds to it and put aside their timidity. We’ve seen law enforcement staff become more vigorous and savvy in their outreach efforts to find more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers. We wish more of that had happened here.
Some say a settlement between Choi and archdiocesan officials will result in the disclosure of secret church records about crimes and cover ups. We hope so. But disclosure alone doesn’t deter. Discipline is what deters. And despite 30+ years of devastating and widely-documented scandal, virtually no Catholic official has lost even one day’s pay no matter how deceitfully or recklessly he acted with pedophile priests and vulnerable kids or wounded victims.
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