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SNAP Press Statement
For immediate release. Thursday, April 19
Two groups want
priest in treatment center
That's best way to protect
kids, they maintain
And they seek "aggressive outreach" by
bishop
Two groups involved in the Catholic church's child sex
abuse and cover up scandal are urging Pittsburgh's bishop to put a
just-suspended priest in a treatment center.
Leaders of SNAP, the
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and NSAC, the National Survivor
Advocates Coalition, are writing Pittsburgh's Bishop David Zubik about Fr James
Graham Last Friday, Graham was removed from his parish because of credible
allegations that he molested a child. The priest's whereabouts are
unknown.
"Zubik should put him in a remote, secure, independently-run
center for sex offenders so he can get the help he needs and so that kids can be
safer," said Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director. "Zubik should also
personally visit every place where Graham worked – starting this Sunday - and
urge anyone who may have knowledge or may have been harmed to contact the
police".
Often, the groups say, bishops suspend a credibly accused
molester from active ministry. But once ousted from their parishes, most aren’t
supervised or ordered to live in supervised settings, the groups maintain.
“Moving a suspected predator from one spot to another is the bare
minimum,” said Kris Ward of Dayton, NSAC’s president. “Graham should be closely
watched by trained professionals and his travels and contacts should be
limited.”
Both organizations also believe that current and former church
staff and members, who may know about possible crimes of Graham, have a duty to
reach to out others.
“Protecting kids and helping police is the job of
every adult,” Jones said.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy
abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members.
Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by
religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and
Protestant ministers and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide
range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy
Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy
(314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Blaine
(312-399-4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org), Peter Isely
(414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com),
Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com), Judy Jones,
636-433-2511, SNAPJudy@gmail.com
A copy of the groups’
letter to Zubik sent via email and fax this morning, is below:
April
19, 2012
Most Rev. David A. Zubik
Bishop of Pittsburgh
Diocese of
Pittsburgh Pastoral Center
111 Boulevard of the Allies
Pittsburgh, PA.
15222-1618
Dear Bishop Zubik:
We are writing to you today as
representative of two organizations concerned about the well being of innocent
children with a strong desire to protect them from harm.
With that as a
guide, we are asking you to take strong, deliberate and immediate steps to place
Father James Graham in a remote, secure and independently run center for sex
offenders.
We make this request so that he can receive the help he
needs as well as contribute to a safer, more protected environment for
children.
Allowing the whereabouts of this priest to remain unknown to
the vast majority of the residents of Pittsburgh and its environs and those who
travel into the area is a situation over which you have considerable power and
we respectfully ask you to use that power and act in the best interest of
children and to aid this priest.
You are able to provide comfort to
Catholic parents and grandparents as well as all Catholic parishioners and all
men and women of goodwill in the Pittsburgh area by making sure that Father
Graham’s access to children is deliberately controlled.
We strongly
urge you as the leader of the Pittsburgh Diocese to put at least, the innocent,
the powerless and the most vulnerable, the children, at the top of your decision
making considerations.
We also ask that you aggressively reach out to
the parishes in which Father Graham previously served to create a climate of
sincerity for survivors to come forward. There is no substitute for leadership
and in the Catholic Church, for leadership from the top.
We ask you to
show that parishioners should not hold survivors at arms’ length or re-victimize
them by negating their experiences. We ask that you impart to parishioners the
sense that survivors should be treated with dignity and respect.
Regards,
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, “Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests”, 636-433-2511,
<SNAPjudy@gmail.com>
Kristine Ward, Chair NSAC, “National Survivor
Advocates Coalition”, 937-272-0308 , <kristineward@hotmail.com>
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