NASHVILLE (TN)
SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [Chicago IL]
July 16, 2025
Fr. Juan Carlos Garcia, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Nashville, pleaded guilty Monday to multiple sex crimes. The charges involved both children and adults. In response, SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, observed that cases like this show that the sexual abuse scandal in the Church is not just a thing of the past.
We commend the young victim who reported to Catholic officials in 2023 that Fr. Garcia had engaged in “improper touching.” It is because of their courage that this cleric has been convicted and appears to be on track to be removed completely from ministry.
Fr. Garcia was only ordained in 2020. While we recognize that there is not yet a surefire way to identify sexual predators, we call on the Diocese of Nashville to be fully transparent about whether any red flags were reported prior to 2023 – especially if those red flags were ignored. Only last year it was revealed that the Diocese did not act on concerns about a Catholic school teacher, who then went on to sexually abuse a child. We suspect that an ordained clergyman would be even more likely to have red flags dismissed.
So far in 2025 SNAP has tracked about an arrest per week in Catholic institutions. While many of those cases involve older accusations, we know that it often takes victims decades to come forward. We believe that the example of Fr. Garcia shows that sexual abuse is still very much present in the Church. We suspect that 30, 40, or 50 years from now our suspicions will be confirmed.
CONTACT: Susan Vance, SNAP Tennessee (Susan8324@gmail.com, 865-748-3518), David Brown, SNAP Tennessee (david@davidbrownPI.com, 901-569-4500), Mike Coode, SNAP Tennessee, (mikeinten@gmail.com, 615-364-2334), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Director (msakoda@snapnetwork.org, 925-708-6175), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP President and Interim Executive Director (sdougherty@snapnetwork.org, 814-341-8386)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by priests, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 35 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)