TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, July 20
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)
A girl and her family are suing a Catholic priest and his church supervisors, charging that Fr. Stephen Tarleton Dougherty repeatedly abused her for six years, starting when she was seven, from 2005-2011. We applaud her for her courage and hope her bravery will inspire others who are suffering to come forward.
Catholic officials should yank Fr. Dougherty’s passport, so he can’t flee overseas. They should use pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites, across the Corpus Christi diocese, to aggressively seek out other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers and beg them to call police. But they won’t. They’ll passively sit back and do the bare minimum.
It’s important to remember that accused child molesting clerics often get top notch, church-funded defense lawyers who exploit every possible legal loophole and technicality to evade responsibility for their heinous crimes. Many times, they succeed in their well-financed, shrewd legal maneuvers and go free or get short sentences. And more kids are assaulted.
We hope that doesn’t happen here. One way to prevent it: every person with information or suspicions about Fr. Dougherty must pick up the phone now and call law enforcement.
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