MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 16, 2016
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
A new bishop is coming to the Biloxi Catholic diocese. Though we know little about him, we’re skeptical that Louis Kihneman will make Mississippi’s kids any safer.
We’re troubled by his involvement in a Corpus Christi child sex abuse and cover up case. He’s accused of essentially ignoring or white-washing a so-called church “investigation” into allegedly improper sexual advances on a child by a deacon who became a priest named Fr. John Feminelli. Kihneman also reportedly swore the alleged victim and his mother to secrecy.
He also comes from Texas, a state with particularly predator-friendly laws that make it very hard for victims to file lawsuits to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes. So we know far less about the church’s abuse and cover up scandal in Texas than in many states.
When new bishops take office, many Catholics bend over backwards to give them the benefit of every doubt. We hope that doesn’t happen here. Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects the vulnerable. So we hope Mississippians will make Kihneman earn their trust. We hope they’ll be just as cautious with their kids around clergy as they were under Bishop Roger Morin.
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