POLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release Thursday, June 12, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
For apparently the first time in its history, the Polish Catholic hierarchy will publicly apologize to sexual abuse victims. We’re not buying it.
Vulnerable kids and wounded victims need actions, not words.
The Catholic church in Poland has an appalling track record when it come to the clergy sex abuse scandal. Their first focus must be on preventing child sex crimes.
Apologies make a few people feel good in the short term but produce no real change in the long term. The time to apologize is once the damage is over and the risk of more damage is past. That’s not the situation here. Clergy sex crimes and cover ups are still happening in Poland.
Often, bishops apologize with deceitful intent, hoping to convince parishioners and the public that all of this is somehow “in the past.” It’s not. It’s going on now. And it must be addressed by courageous action, not public relations gestures.
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