SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
February 2, 2021
A self-admitted pedophile and ex-priest from a Chicago-based Catholic group has made the news again in East Timor as he evades criminal justice in the United States. We fear for the vulnerable children that this serial abuser may still have access to and call on those that hired, trained, and ordained him to use every resource at their disposal to bring this disgraced cleric home to face justice.
For decades, Richard Daschbach ran an orphanage called Topu Honis, a shelter for homeless children, disabled adults, and women fleeing domestic violence in East Timor. In 2019, he was arrested for abusing young girls at this facility, a year after he admitted to sexually abusing the children under his care. Daschbach has since been defrocked by the Vatican, but despite these arrests and his own admissions, he apparently continues to enjoy “celebrity status” in East Timor, one of the poorest and most Catholic countries in the world.
Prior to his exodus from the US, Daschbach was ordained at St. Mary’s Mission Seminary in Chicago and was a member of the Chicago-based Society of the Divine Word (SVD). We believe that both of these institutions have far more resources at their disposal than their counterparts in East Timor. They should be using those resources to bring the abuser they hired, trained, and ordained home so that he can no longer use his status to abuse children.
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