SAN ANTONIO (TX)
SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [Chicago IL]
January 24, 2023
By Zach Hiner
On May 15, 2019, in St. Ann’s Church, where he had been a deacon for the previous year, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS, ordained Duncan Amek, a native of Homa Bay, Kenya, to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Amek then went to work for St. Matthew Church and School in San Antonio, Texas.
We are worried for the unsuspecting adult women involved who may have fallen for Amek’s predilection and scheme. More importantly, our concern is this. Was Amek’s actions criminal? If so, we hope church officials turn over all the information they have obtained in their investigation to law enforcement. We would also like to know what constitutes sexual misconduct in the eyes of church officials.
Every parish or school where Fr. Duncan Amek worked should be asked to seek out other potential victims. His workplaces and training in Texas and Kenya should be alerted as well. Because he was involved in priest training that involved contact with adults and children prior to his ordination, we would not be surprised if someone shares a terrible experience they had. Additionally, family and friends from Dallas, Buffalo, and Kenya attended his ordination, they too should be alerted of his ‘misconduct.’
Amek also stands for a worrying tendency, that of a foreign priest implicated in sexual misconduct and living in the country on a religious visa. 70% of post-clerical 2000 convictions are foreign-born, according to SNAP’s tracking. Homeland Security has to concentrate on this threat. It appears that US bishops are heedlessly lowering their standards as the priest shortage in America worsens, with predictable, deadly effects.
There isn’t a global database of Catholic abusers, as far as we know. Amek is merely one more illustration of the need for one. He’ll likely return to Kenya and keep his collar, in our opinion. Others have already secretly departed the country in large numbers, as the church’s leaders have long encouraged. We know that informed communities are safer communities, and we hope the archbishop takes the right steps.
Contact: Patti Waller Koo, SNAP Leader, San Antonio (956-648-7385 snappkoo@gmail.com) Bi-Lingual (Yo hablo Espanol.) Zac Zepeda, (210-317-7511 zzsnap@snapnetwork.org) Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (mmcdonnell@snapnetwork.org 267-261-0578) Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517-974-9009) Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President, (814-341-8386 sdougherty@snapnetwork.org)