Victims Want Voluntary Disclosure by Missouri Attorney General & Bishop

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 2, 2019

Dear AG Schmitt,

As we told you last week, your recent report on clergy sex crimes in Missouri is the worst such effort by a governmental official we’ve seen in our 30 years of involvement in this crisis. It’s misleading, weak and disturbingly deferential to the Catholic hierarchy.

We are disappointed that you’ve rejected our Sunshine Act request for

— copies of any “memo of understanding” or agreement(s) you or your predecessor signed with Catholic officials, and

— a thorough list of who you and your staff (and your predecessor and his staff) met or spoke with during this so-called ‘investigation.’

You evidently do not feel that you must share this information publicly. Now, however, we’re asking that you do so voluntarily. (We’re also asking all four Missouri bishops to do likewise.)

Why do we want such agreements? Because we’re convinced that you gave bishops massive concessions on the front end of your ‘probe’. (Why else would you ignore the church run predator priest treatment centers in Missouri, the hundreds of religious order clerics in Missouri, and say looking at church supervisors who have or are enabling abuse is “outside the scope” of your probe?)

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