ST. LOUIS (MO)
ChurchMilitant.com
November 28, 2017
By Alexander Slavsky
Apology ends five-year battle for priest
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (ChurchMilitant.com) – After a years-long battle, a priest of the archdiocese of St. Louis is receiving an apology from a group that falsely accused him of sex abuse.
On Monday, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), an advocacy group for victims of clerical abuse, apologized to the archdiocese of St. Louis and the Fr. Joseph Jiang:
The SNAP defendants never want to see anyone falsely accused of a crime. Admittedly, false reports of clergy sexual abuse do occur. The SNAP defendants have no personal knowledge as to the complaints against Fr. Joseph Jiang and acknowledge that all matters and claims against Fr. Jiang have either been dismissed or adjudicated in favor of Fr. Jiang. SNAP acknowledges that false claims of clergy sexual abuse injure those clerics falsely accused and the Roman Catholic Church. SNAP apologizes for any false or inaccurate statements related to the complaints against Fr. Joseph Jiang that it or its representatiives made which in any way disparaged Fr. Joseph Jiang, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, Monsignor Joseph D. Pins and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Father Jiang settled a federal lawsuit against SNAP and the parents of an accuser in St. Louis last month. Court filings in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis reveal that both parties had “reached an agreement in principle.” The judge therefore dismissed the priest’s lawsuit claiming he was falsely accused and arrested after a mishandled police investigation.
SNAP confirmed Monday that the apology was included in a settlement in Jiang’s lawsuit, whose case was dismissed on November 21.
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