Letter to Fairfax, VA, Commonwealth Attorney Morrogh about Father Fernando Cristancho

1) Mr. Raymond F. Morrogh
Commonwealth Attorney, Fairfax County
4110 Chain Bridge Road, Room 123
Fairfax, VA 22030

Dear Mr. Morrogh:
We are deeply concerned about Fr. Fernando Cristancho and the credible
child sex abuse allegations against him.

As you can see from the enclosed articles, a social service agency and a
judge have determined that he recently molested two of his three
children. We are concerned that he may have abused other children
during his tvime as a priest at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Fairfax
County (1995-1998). He was fired from that parish following accusations
of sexual misconduct with a young woman (though reportedly not a
minor). Subsequently, he worked in a Maryland parish where he fathered
three children through a surrogate mother. Fr. Cristancho is a native
of Colombia, South America. You can read the findings of the Maryland
Court of Special Appeals which recently denied him custody of his
children.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/opinions/2008_10_27_Cristancho_v_Redacted_R.pdf.

We are concerned because
- Fr. Cristancho walks free today,
- Catholic officials have a dismal record of supervising abusive clergy,
- Statutes often allow predators to escape criminal charges,
- Predator priests tend to be well-educated, shrewd and manipulative,
- Dozens of predator priests have escaped justice by fleeing overseas, and
- As you know, rarely does a child molester strike only once.

We are not police or prosecutors. But we are citizens concerned about
the continuing risk to innocent children as well as to other possible
victims that Fr. Cristancho sexually abused while he lived and worked in
No. Virginia.

We believe that authorities can deal with child sex crimes in two ways:
passively or aggressively. One can passively sit back and wait until a
victim walks in the door. Or one can aggressively use one's bully pulpit
and investigative tools to search out victims and witnesses and pursue
predators vigorously. We want the office of the Commonwealth Attorney,
along with the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, to take steps to preclude
Fr. Cristancho's access to children and to seek out other possible
victims of sexual abuse by him in No. Virginia. As a start, last
weekend the diocese arranged an announcement about Fr. Cristancho at
Good Shepherd Catholic Church, and this weekend a notice will be in the
parish bulletin. As a Catholic priest in a local parish, however, Fr.
Cristancho had access to many people and families in No. Virginia,
particulary among the Hispanic population to whom he specifically
ministered.

Specifically, we ask that you
- do everything in your power to probe Cristancho's past,
- try to get his passport revoked or suspended, so he can't move
elsewhere and molest again, and
- make a strong public appeal to anyone with information about his
crimes or misdeeds to come forward, get help, and contact law
enforcement right away.

When the time comes for discovery and subpoenas and other legal moves,
we will be glad to put you in touch with legal experts who understand
the church structure, terminology, and hierarchy, so that prosecution
can proceed as quickly and effectively as possible.

Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you. Please let us know how
we can help.

Sincerely
David Clohessy
Executive Director
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
314.566.9790; snapclohessy@aol.com

Contacts in No. Virginia
Becky Ianni (SNAP) 703.801.6044; BIanni@cox.net
Bill Casey (VOTF, Voice of the Faithful) 703.568.3438; b13909@comcast.net

Statement by Bill Casey on Cristancho

Nov. 6, 2008  Statement

My name is Bill Casey.  Along with my colleagues from SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests—a self-help and advocacy group for survivors) and VOTF (Voice of the Faithful—a Catholic lay reform group formed in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church), I come here today to deliver a letter to the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney to use the powers of his office, along with the resources of the Catholic diocese of Arlington, to protect children from further abuse by predator priest Fernando Cristancho and to seek out and support any other victims of this priest.

Fr. Cristancho served as a parish priest, particularly to the Hispanic community, at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Fairfax County between 1995-1998.  He was removed from that position following evidence of sexual misconduct with a young woman (purportedly not a minor), but he gravitated to a new parish in Maryland (under the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  While there he impregnated a surrogate mother through in vitro fertilization and fathered triplets.  Competent authorities found evidence that he sexually abused his two sons.

Although he was later removed from this parish, he remains free and is a flight risk because he hails from Colombia in South America.

Based on his interview with a Baltimore newspaper, Fr.Cristancho wants us to believe an experienced

social worker, an unbiased judge, his children's mom and grandmother and a band of his fellow priests are all concocting or believing 'false' child sex abuse allegations against him.

He also wants us to believe that his archbishop would accept his deceptive, surreptitious fathering of three kids and still let him work in a parish, despite centuries of ironclad church demands that priests be celibate. Keep in mind that Cristancho is a smart, well-educated priest who clearly had and likely still has a lawyer.

Needless to say, all of this strains credulity and defies common sense.

But the focus now must be on church and criminal authorities, and what they can do to protect kids.

This isn't rocket science. If an employee is credibly accused of a child molestation, his employer and the criminal authorities try to quickly determine what actually happened. Often the best, quickest and easiest way to do that is to seek out other alleged victims and witnesses. And often, the best way to do that is by making a strong, clear public appeal - begging those with information, information that would either prove or disprove the the allegations - to come forward. That's what we want.

We also want church and criminal authorities to do everything possible to yank Cristancho's passport or other documents so he can't escape justice by fleeing the country. In particular, we want whichever bishop is paying him - whether Baltimore's or Arlington's - to insist that Cristancho turn over his passport to that bishop.

Remember, priests take a vow to obey their bishops. Priests have no union. They are virtually at the mercy of their bishop, and depend on him for a paycheck, health insurance, dental insurance, car allowance, housing allowance, retirement,  and his approval to ever work in the church anywhere any time in the future.

Now is not the time to be complacent or slow or split bureaucratic hairs. Now is the time to protect the children and uncover the truth. That's all we're looking for.

Bill Casey
5529 Gary Ave.
Alexandria, VA 22311
703.568.3438
b13909@comcast.net

Fr. Fernando Cristancho and the credible child sex abuse allegations against him.

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell)

In thousands and thousands of clergy child molestation cases, church and law enforcement staff can't turn back the clock and get a "do over". Thousands and thousands of times, at a bare minimum, church and law enforcement staff were naive and passive and mishandled clergy sex abuse reports.
 
More accurately, thousands and thousands of times, church staff actively shunned victims, deceived parishioners, stonewalled police, destroyed evidence, transferred predators, and recklessly, callously put kids in harm's way. Often, criminal authorities turned a blind eye or even cooperated in these injustices.
 
Here, however, is a chance to do it right. Here's a chance to help ensure that no other child is hurt by Fr. Cristancho, a priest who obviously broke his vows, deceived his flock, hurt his children and devastated their mother.
 
All it takes is a little courage and a little outreach. If there are others who witnessed or experienced Cristancho's misdeeds, there's a chance they'll step forward, do their civic duty, and help get him locked up so that other kids are safe. They just need a nudge, an invitation, a plea.
 
We in SNAP have made this plea. Now it's time for the prosecutor and bishop to do likewise. They've got far more resources and clout than we do. And if they do this simple, inexpensive outreach, they can help stop future child sex crimes and help those who've already suffered child sex crimes.
 
Please, we beg them, take this easy step, to both protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.
 
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 17 years and have more than 8,000 members across the country. 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. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact:
David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Peter Isely (414-429-7259) Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688), Mary Grant (626-419-2930), Mark Serrano (703-727-4940)