Sunday, Nov 9, 2008
Statement by Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell
We’re here tonight for three reasons.
The first is because of a recently complicit Cardinal, a Cardinal who heads the US bishops conference.
The second is because of a recently criminal priest, a priest who fathered kids and then molested them.
The third is because of our mission: to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable.
1. We’re asking Cardinal Francis George of Chicago to step aside as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. His track record on clergy sex crimes and cover ups has been markedly worse than that of his colleagues. But it is his very recent misdeeds that lead us to make this request.
In particular, we are concerned about his continuing duplicity and recklessness regarding Fr. Kenneth J. Martin, who taught and molested at a Catholic school in Baltimore’s suburbs. These aren’t allegations. They are facts. Martin pled guilty to criminal charges of sexually assaulting a boy for three years. Even now, six years after promising to be open and transparent about clergy sex crimes, George secretly keeps.
A priest who was convicted for molesting a Baltimore child now works for Cardinal Francis George, head of the Chicago archdiocese and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to, news accounts in Illinois last month. Despite this, and other recent egregious mishandling of child sex cases and cover ups in Chicago, George will chair tomorrow’s annual national meeting of 200+ American Catholic bishops. SNAP wants him to resign.
From 1977-1980, Fr. Kenneth J. Martin repeatedly molested a teenaged boy. Martin was teaching at the school the boy attended - Loyola Blakefield Catholic High School in suburban Baltimore. In December 2001, Martin pled guilty to the crimes.
Despite this, in 2003, George secretly let Martin live part-time at George’s mansion in Chicago. When Martin’s employment in Chicago was disclosed publicly, George promised he would no longer work in the archdiocese. Last month, however, media sources disclosed that Martin is still on the payroll.
This is stunning recklessness and deceit by Cardinal George. He’s essentially thumbing his nose at parents, victims, children, and the ‘zero tolerance’ policy adopted by America’s bishops five years ago.
Hiding and tolerating pedophile priests in your own diocese is bad enough. But importing pedophile priests from elsewhere, especially secretly, is even worse.
It’s absurd and insulting that George’s public relations staff tries to minimize Martin’s time in Chicago. Whether Martin comes to Chicago seven times or 70 times is irrelevant. George is gambling with kids’ lives. (It takes only seconds for a child molester to shove his hand in a child’s pants.)
He’s also rubbing salt into already deep and still fresh wounds of Chicago Catholics who are still reeling from his dangerous deception and callousness with Fr. McCormack, Fr. Bennett, Fr. McGuire, and so many other predators.
For many other reasons, but most especially this one, George owes it to American Catholics and victims to step aside and If the head of the bishops conference makes such disingenuous and dangerous moves, and gets by with them, why would any other bishop take seriously his pledges to safeguard kids and be honest?
2. We’re also concerned a newly accused pedophile priest in Baltimore. He’s Fr. Fernando Cristancho. Last month, a court determined that, in the last few years, Cristancho molested two of the three kids he surreptitiously fathered. Yet he walks free, and we worry that he may molest again.
We want church officials in Maryland and Virginia, where Cristancho also worked, to make more aggressive efforts to find any victims and witnesses of Cristancho’s crime and urge them to call police.
We also want Baltimore’s archbishop to yank Cristancho’s passport so he can’t flee the country.
We beg anyone with information about Cristancho to come forward immediately, get help, and call law enforcement.
3. Finally, we’re here because our mission is to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable.
The wounded are healed best when victims and witnesses find the courage and strength to break their silence and come forward. That, in turn, happens best when victims and witnesses are gently but lovingly prodded to come forward. This is what SNAP does every single day, and what we are doing again tonight.
The vulnerable are protected best when church officials honor their pledges and act responsibly. That, sadly, only seems to happen when concerned Catholics, determined journalists, aggressive prosecutors and caring victims pressure church officials. That’s what SNAP dose every single day, and what we are doing again tonight.
Why are we here so late? Many bishops, we’re told, arrive here Sunday night. If nothing else, we hope that a few may walk by or see us out their windows. In the church structure, they’re powerful monarchs, and we’re powerless peons. So we have no illusions that our presence here will make any real difference in their callous, deceptive and reckless behavior. Still, we feel duty bound to at least try to expose callousness, deception and recklessness when we can, especially when those behaving in this way hold themselves out to be holy and compassionate shepherds. We simply cannot, in good conscience, sit home and stay silent while prelates like George act so irresponsibly and priests like Cristancho act so criminally.
(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 19 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
Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Send the Bishops a Message news conferences in Chicago and L.A., Monday, Nov. 10th
Send the Bishops a Message news conferences in Chicago and L.A., Monday, Nov. 10th
* * *
Notice of Chicago Sidewalk News Conference on November 10th
For immediate release: November 7, 2008
New Catholic group urges parishioners “Stop Donating”
It decries continuing protection of pedophile priests by bishops
Lay people must use “power of the purse” to “force real reform”
Ongoing secrecy in Church finances is basically “taxation without representation”
Nov. 16th is first international “Withholding Sunday”
WHAT
Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, Catholics will prod fellow parishioners to withhold financial donations on November 16th which will be the first nationwide, indeed worldwide Withholding Sunday, to send the bishops a message that irresponsibility and secrecy will no longer be tolerated
WHEN
Monday, Nov 10, 11:00 a.m.
WHERE
Outside Chicago archdiocesan headquarters, 155 East Superior, in downtown Chicago
WHO
Three-four members of a new organization called “Send the Bishops a Message” (http://www.sendthebishopsamessage.com) and supporters from SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) ; the Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF.org); We Are Catholics (wearecatholics.com); and the Coalition of Concerned Catholics.
WHY
Reasons we are taking this action:
---The ongoing failure of Catholic Church officials to protect our children from dangerous clerical predators
---The bishops’ failure to provide acceptable levels of stewardship for our hard-earned donations
---The refusal of Church officials to accept responsibility for their grave moral failures in the clergy sex abuse crisis. They repeatedly “apologize,” but neither admit to covering up sex crimes against children nor accept their part in the grave scandal brought down upon Catholics everywhere.
---After almost 6 years since the Dallas Charter of 2002, we are still witnessing high-level Church officials protecting both clerical sexual predators and those who shield these predators.
---Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George, the current head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), refused to follow his own sex abuse review board’s recommendation that he, George, suspend a priest, Fr, Dan Mc Cormack, who had been arrested for sexual abuse of a minor. Three months after Cardinal George’s refusal to act against Fr. McCormack, this priest molested at least three more boys in Chicago’s inner city. One of the children, prosecutors say, had been assaulted “on an almost daily” basis.
---Catholics have no elections, recall procedures, or impeachment processes that allow them to replace those who have cost parishioners so much. Withholding donations is the best way for a disenfranchised laity to send, with one voice, a message to church officials in the only language they understand–MONEY!
CONTACT – Frank Douglas, national director of Send the Bishops a Message, 520 404 2489 (cell) or 520 579 9575 (home); Rick Springer 773 485 2447; Matt McCormick 847 361 3633; Therese Albrecht 708 263 3050
* * *
Notice of Los Angeles Sidewalk News Conference on November 10th
For immediate release - November 7, 2008
New Catholic group urges parishioners “Stop Donating”
It decries continuing protection of pedophile priests by bishops
Lay people must use “power of the purse” to “force real reform”
Ongoing secrecy in Church finances is basically “taxation without representation”
Nov. 16th is first international “Withholding Sunday”
WHAT
Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, Catholics will prod fellow parishioners to withhold financial donations on November 16th . This first nationwide, indeed worldwide Withholding Sunday, will send the bishops a message that irresponsibility and secrecy will no longer be tolerated
WHEN
Monday, Nov 10, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W Temple St, in downtown Los Angeles
WHO
Three-four members of a new organization called “Send the Bishops a Message” (http://www.sendthebishopsamessage.com) and supporters from SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) and a Catholic reform group called Voice of the Faithful (VOTF.org)
WHY (see above press release for Chicago for this section)
CONTACT – Frank Douglas, national director of Send the Bishops a Message, 520 404 2489 (cell) or 520 579 9575 (home); Debby Bodkin 949 290 5516; Mary Jane McGraw 818 917 3555; Sam Cordova 818 667 1005
* * *
Notice of Chicago Sidewalk News Conference on November 10th
For immediate release: November 7, 2008
New Catholic group urges parishioners “Stop Donating”
It decries continuing protection of pedophile priests by bishops
Lay people must use “power of the purse” to “force real reform”
Ongoing secrecy in Church finances is basically “taxation without representation”
Nov. 16th is first international “Withholding Sunday”
WHAT
Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, Catholics will prod fellow parishioners to withhold financial donations on November 16th which will be the first nationwide, indeed worldwide Withholding Sunday, to send the bishops a message that irresponsibility and secrecy will no longer be tolerated
WHEN
Monday, Nov 10, 11:00 a.m.
WHERE
Outside Chicago archdiocesan headquarters, 155 East Superior, in downtown Chicago
WHO
Three-four members of a new organization called “Send the Bishops a Message” (http://www.sendthebishopsamessage.com) and supporters from SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) ; the Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF.org); We Are Catholics (wearecatholics.com); and the Coalition of Concerned Catholics.
WHY
Reasons we are taking this action:
---The ongoing failure of Catholic Church officials to protect our children from dangerous clerical predators
---The bishops’ failure to provide acceptable levels of stewardship for our hard-earned donations
---The refusal of Church officials to accept responsibility for their grave moral failures in the clergy sex abuse crisis. They repeatedly “apologize,” but neither admit to covering up sex crimes against children nor accept their part in the grave scandal brought down upon Catholics everywhere.
---After almost 6 years since the Dallas Charter of 2002, we are still witnessing high-level Church officials protecting both clerical sexual predators and those who shield these predators.
---Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George, the current head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), refused to follow his own sex abuse review board’s recommendation that he, George, suspend a priest, Fr, Dan Mc Cormack, who had been arrested for sexual abuse of a minor. Three months after Cardinal George’s refusal to act against Fr. McCormack, this priest molested at least three more boys in Chicago’s inner city. One of the children, prosecutors say, had been assaulted “on an almost daily” basis.
---Catholics have no elections, recall procedures, or impeachment processes that allow them to replace those who have cost parishioners so much. Withholding donations is the best way for a disenfranchised laity to send, with one voice, a message to church officials in the only language they understand–MONEY!
CONTACT – Frank Douglas, national director of Send the Bishops a Message, 520 404 2489 (cell) or 520 579 9575 (home); Rick Springer 773 485 2447; Matt McCormick 847 361 3633; Therese Albrecht 708 263 3050
* * *
Notice of Los Angeles Sidewalk News Conference on November 10th
For immediate release - November 7, 2008
New Catholic group urges parishioners “Stop Donating”
It decries continuing protection of pedophile priests by bishops
Lay people must use “power of the purse” to “force real reform”
Ongoing secrecy in Church finances is basically “taxation without representation”
Nov. 16th is first international “Withholding Sunday”
WHAT
Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, Catholics will prod fellow parishioners to withhold financial donations on November 16th . This first nationwide, indeed worldwide Withholding Sunday, will send the bishops a message that irresponsibility and secrecy will no longer be tolerated
WHEN
Monday, Nov 10, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W Temple St, in downtown Los Angeles
WHO
Three-four members of a new organization called “Send the Bishops a Message” (http://www.sendthebishopsamessage.com) and supporters from SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) and a Catholic reform group called Voice of the Faithful (VOTF.org)
WHY (see above press release for Chicago for this section)
CONTACT – Frank Douglas, national director of Send the Bishops a Message, 520 404 2489 (cell) or 520 579 9575 (home); Debby Bodkin 949 290 5516; Mary Jane McGraw 818 917 3555; Sam Cordova 818 667 1005
Clergy sex abuse victims & Catholics to hold vigil on eve of annual US bishops meeting
Clergy sex abuse victims & Catholics to hold vigil
Candlelight event happens on eve of annual US bishops meeting
Hundreds of church’s highest prelates are gathering in Baltimore now
Victims want head of America’s bishops, Chicago’s Cardinal, to resign his post
He keeps a convicted pedophile priest who hurt Maryland boy working in his archdiocese
WHAT
Holding candles & childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims will hold an evening sidewalk vigil outside the hotel where hundreds of Catholic bishops are meeting. They will
-- call on the US bishops’ conference head to resign his post over a little-publicized Baltimore abuse case,
-- urge parishioners to educate themselves about the church’s abuse and cover up scandal, &
-- beg anyone with information about a newly accused pedophile priest by a different Baltimore priest to come forward immediately, get help, and call law enforcement.
WHEN
TODAY, Sunday, 9:45 p.m. - 11:15 p. m.
WHERE
Outside the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, where hundreds of America’s Catholic bishops are meeting this week (700 Aliceanna Street, 410-385-3000)
WHO
Several clergy sex abuse victims who are leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
A priest who was convicted for molesting a Baltimore child now works for Cardinal Francis George, head of the Chicago archdiocese and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to, news accounts in Illinois last month. Despite this, and other recent egregious mishandling of child sex cases and cover ups in Chicago, George will chair tomorrow’s annual national meeting of 200+ American Catholic bishops. SNAP wants him to resign.
From 1977-1980, Fr. Kenneth J. Martin repeatedly molested a teenaged boy. Martin was teaching at the school the boy attended - Loyola Blakefield Catholic High School in suburban Baltimore. In December 2001, Martin pled guilty to the crimes.
Despite this, in 2003, George secretly let Martin live part-time at George’s mansion in Chicago. When Martin’s employment in Chicago was disclosed publicly, George promised he would no longer work in the archdiocese. Last month, however, media sources disclosed that Martin is still on the payroll.
SNAP is also concerned about a new, different Baltimore pedophile case involving Fr. Fernando Cristancho. Last month, a court determined that Cristancho molested two of the three kids he surreptitiously fathered. Yet he walks free, and SNAP worries that he may molest again.
The group wants church officials in Maryland and Virginia (where Christanco also worked) to make more aggressive efforts to find any victims and witnesses of Christancho’s crime and urge them to call police. SNAP also wants Baltimore’s archbishop to yank Christancho’s passport so he can’t flee the country.
CONTACT
Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044, Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790
Candlelight event happens on eve of annual US bishops meeting
Hundreds of church’s highest prelates are gathering in Baltimore now
Victims want head of America’s bishops, Chicago’s Cardinal, to resign his post
He keeps a convicted pedophile priest who hurt Maryland boy working in his archdiocese
WHAT
Holding candles & childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims will hold an evening sidewalk vigil outside the hotel where hundreds of Catholic bishops are meeting. They will
-- call on the US bishops’ conference head to resign his post over a little-publicized Baltimore abuse case,
-- urge parishioners to educate themselves about the church’s abuse and cover up scandal, &
-- beg anyone with information about a newly accused pedophile priest by a different Baltimore priest to come forward immediately, get help, and call law enforcement.
WHEN
TODAY, Sunday, 9:45 p.m. - 11:15 p. m.
WHERE
Outside the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, where hundreds of America’s Catholic bishops are meeting this week (700 Aliceanna Street, 410-385-3000)
WHO
Several clergy sex abuse victims who are leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
A priest who was convicted for molesting a Baltimore child now works for Cardinal Francis George, head of the Chicago archdiocese and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to, news accounts in Illinois last month. Despite this, and other recent egregious mishandling of child sex cases and cover ups in Chicago, George will chair tomorrow’s annual national meeting of 200+ American Catholic bishops. SNAP wants him to resign.
From 1977-1980, Fr. Kenneth J. Martin repeatedly molested a teenaged boy. Martin was teaching at the school the boy attended - Loyola Blakefield Catholic High School in suburban Baltimore. In December 2001, Martin pled guilty to the crimes.
Despite this, in 2003, George secretly let Martin live part-time at George’s mansion in Chicago. When Martin’s employment in Chicago was disclosed publicly, George promised he would no longer work in the archdiocese. Last month, however, media sources disclosed that Martin is still on the payroll.
SNAP is also concerned about a new, different Baltimore pedophile case involving Fr. Fernando Cristancho. Last month, a court determined that Cristancho molested two of the three kids he surreptitiously fathered. Yet he walks free, and SNAP worries that he may molest again.
The group wants church officials in Maryland and Virginia (where Christanco also worked) to make more aggressive efforts to find any victims and witnesses of Christancho’s crime and urge them to call police. SNAP also wants Baltimore’s archbishop to yank Christancho’s passport so he can’t flee the country.
CONTACT
Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044, Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790
Sex abuse victims seek resignation of Cardinal Francis George as head of US Bishops
For immediate release: Sunday, November 9
For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790
They want him to step down as head of America’s bishops
Their chief concern: He’s got a convicted friend on his payroll
Just last month, pedophile’s presence in Chicago was revealed
Criminal keeps getting paid even though George promised “he won’t be working here”
Group is also outraged that Cardinal recently tried to get another convicted predator out of jail.
Because of recent disclosures about “several pedophile priests and corrupt supervisors” in his archdiocese, clergy sex abuse victims are asking Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to resign as head of the US bishops’ conference. The request comes on the eve of the annual meeting of America’s 200+ bishops in Baltimore.
Leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) are urging George to step down “for the good of the church, both locally and nationally” because of “several new child sex crime and cover ups,” including one involving Fr. Kenneth J. Martin, a personal friend of the Cardinal’s.
####“George is deceptively and recklessly letting a convicted predator priest pal work for and in the archdiocese, violating his specific, public promise to the contrary and the church’s national sex abuse policy,” said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP’s founder and president. “Short of making this predator a pastor, it’s hard to imagine a more dangerous and deceitful move George could make.”
Last month, Chicago news media disclosed that Martin was still working for an archdiocesan agency with offices next to a Catholic school. In 2003, news accounts revealed that Martin was living in the Cardinal’s mansion and working for the archdiocese on a part time basis. Just two years before, Martin was convicted of molesting a boy in Baltimore for three years.
After Martin’s presence in Chicago was first disclosed in 2003, George publicly said “he won’t be working here anymore.” He has apparently remained on the archdiocesan payroll ever since, SNAP says.
But SNAP’s concern goes beyond the Martin case. The group cites cases involving 5 priests that have surfaced over the past year. Some are proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesters (Fr. Kenneth Martin, Fr. Joseph Bennett, Fr. Norbert Maday). Others ignored or concealed abuse, according to SNAP and church records, “complicit” (Fr. Leonard Dubi and Fr. Edward Grace).
The disclosures about Bennett, Dubi, Maday and Grace came through civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits that were settled in August 2008.
“Time and time again, even now, George is dishonest about child sex crimes,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s national director. “He keeps knowingly favoring friends and predators over kids and Catholics, to the point of taking extraordinarily obvious and inexcusable risks even with proven pedophiles.”
In 2006, SNAP and several other group's urged George to resign as head of the Chicago Archdiocese over his mishandling of the Fr. Daniel McCormack case. George promoted McCormack in 2005 even after he was arrested and kept McCormack in a parish even after the archdiocesan abuse review panel urged George to suspend him. In 2006, McCormack was arrested again for child molestation. Prosecutors said he’d abused one boy on “an almost daily basis” during those months George kept him in active parish ministry.
A copy of SNAP’s letter, sent today by fax and e mail, is below:
Nov. 9, 2008
Dear Cardinal George:
In 2006, our organization asked you to resign as head of the Chicago archdiocese, because of your reckless and deceptive mishandling of the Fr. McCormack’s child sex crimes.
Now, our organization is asking you to resign as head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, because of several new similar cases of your recklessness and deception over just the last year. Among these are disclosures about
-- your letting a convicted pedophile priest still work in your archdiocese (Fr. Kenneth J. Martin)
-- your refusal for years to suspend a credibly accused predator facing more than 12 abuse allegations (Fr. Joseph Bennett)
-- your trying to get a convicted pedophile priest released early from prison (Fr. Norbert Maday)
-- the two instances in which you ignored requests of your own lay abuse panel (the Bennett case)
-- your tolerating the complicit high-ranking chancery office priest who advised an accused predator on how to deceive a church review panel (Fr. Edward Grace)
-- your naming an accused predator’s friend (Fr. Edward Dubi) to allegedly ‘monitor’ him, despite clear pleas by your own abuse review panel to name anyone else for that role
-- your tolerating the egregious misconduct by a predator’s friend who shoved a person for simply asking questions about the predator (Fr. Edward Dubi).
Let’s look at these situations a little more closely.
----- The Fr. Kenneth J. Martin case
In 2003, you let a convicted child molesting priest, Fr. Kenneth J. Martin, work in your archdiocese. You also let him live in your mansion for a week each month. You told no one, even though six months earlier, you pledged to be “open and transparent’ about abuse.
Then, news accounts disclosed Martin’s presence and role in your archdiocese. In response, your staff split hairs, emphasizing that Martin abused as a seminarian, not a priest, so might not be ‘covered’ by the church’s sex abuse policies.
Still, under considerable public pressure, you told a reporter Martin "won't be coming back to Chicago."
Last month, however, news accounts disclosed that this convicted predator is on your payroll even now.
He apparently has been working continuously for you, despite your public promise to the contrary.
His office is next door to a parochial elementary school.
Initially, your public relations professional claimed Martin had “visited” that Chicago office only twice in 2008."
Later, your public relations professional then changed the story, admitting that Martin came to the office at least seven times in 2007-2008.
Regardless, no matter how you try to ‘spin’ this, you are continuing to take extraordinary risks by keeping your friend, a proven pedophile, in your archdiocese, next to school kids, and on your payroll.
-------- The Fr. Joseph R. Bennett case
-- In August 2008, newly release secret church records and Cardinal your own sworn deposition show that you suspended an accused serial predator priest, Fr. Bennett, from his suburban parish in 2006 only after at least a dozen of his victims had reported him to your staff.
-- Those same documents show that you overruled the recommendations of your own hand-picked abuse panel and had him alleged and secretly (but ineffectively) ‘monitored’ by a fellow priest, Fr. Leonard Dubi, who is a close friend of Bennett’s. The two of them own property together in Indiana. They then took a trip to Mexico together.
-- Your hand-picked abuse panel specifically, in two memos, urged you to NOT assign Dubi to this role. You rejected their recommendation.
-- In the same documents, Fr. Edward Grace, the archdiocese’s Vicar for Priests. Grace, urged Bennett to essentially lie about birthmarks on his genitals to ‘beat’ multiple child sex abuse allegations before a lay church panel. We’ve asked you to discipline these ‘enablers’ – Dubi and Grace - whose deceit put kids in harm’s way. You have ignored us.
-- We fear other accused child-molesting clergy are in still Chicago parishes right now, unbeknownst to parishioners, allegedly being ‘monitored’ by peers. We’ve asked you to disclose who and where they are and/or abide by the church’s national abuse policy and publicly suspend them. You have ignored us.
--------- The Fr. Norbert Maday case
-- The same deposition and documents also reveal that you and your top staffers spent considerable time and effort secretly trying to win the early release of a convicted serial child predator, Fr. Norbert Maday, who is in a Wisconsin prison.
-- We suspect and fear there are or have been other jailed sex offender clerics who have gotten or are getting your ‘behind the scenes’ help. We have asked you to stop it immediately, and to disclose if you’ve taken similar reckless action with other pedophiles. You have ignored us.
--Last month, we publicly called on you to promise you’d never again try to get a convicted pedophile priest out of jail early. You have not responded.
Again, this has all come out in the public arena in just the last year. We can’t help but wonder, of course, what other shocking and irresponsible actions you have taken recently that remain hidden.
Sadly, however, these recent cases are just more in a long line of irresponsible, deceptive and insensitive steps you’ve taken regarding clergy sex crimes and cover ups. They are part of a much larger, on-going, and disturbing pattern in the Chicago archdiocese, a pattern that goes back farther than just the last year, and that has changed little (if at all) since you promised to ‘reform’ in 2002. Here are just four examples.
----- The Fr. John Calicott case
In March 2004, twice-suspended abusive priest Fr. John Calicott was caught working, living and teaching sex education to kids at his old parish, with the full knowledge of the pastor. You slapped Calicott on the wrist, but refused to discipline or censure the pastor, Fr. George Miller, who knowingly put children in harm's way and violated the US bishops' national abuse policy.
----- The Fr. Michael Yakaitis case
In February 2005, Fr. Michael T. Yakaitis worked at the University of Chicago's Catholic Center, despite admitting sexual misconduct with a teenager years ago. A victim reported Yakaitis' exploitation and manipulation to at least seven church officials. But you let the abuser stay in ministry until this was publicly exposed.
----- The Fr. Elijah Martin case
In October 2005, you refused to discipline Father Elijah Martin or warn others about him. He seduced a young woman, fathered her child, ignored her, and refused to pay child support. Martin’s direct superiors also refused to give the mom any information about the priest’s whereabouts. You washed your hands of this controversy, despite repeated requests by our group to help the family and warn others about Martin.
----- The Fr. Daniel McCormack case
-- In the fall of 2005, McCormack was arrested for child molestation. Weeks later, you promoted him to head a deanery, or region, of the archdiocese.
-- In January 2006, McCormack was arrested again. He assaulted one 11 year old boy "on an almost daily basis" from Sept. 2005 until Jan. 2006. You kept him in ministry years after several reports of child sexual abuse, including repeated written and verbal ones from a Catholic nun more than seven years earlier to archdiocesan staff. You kept him in ministry months after your own hand-picked abuse panel urged you to suspend him.
-- We repeatedly urged you to “aggressively and immediately” reach out to parishes where McCormack worked, and prodded you to personally start visit those churches, emphatically reminding Catholics that they have a moral and civic duty to disclose anything they know about these allegations to law enforcement. You ignored us.
-- For months awaiting trial, you let McCormack live with relatives, refusing to order him to stay in a treatment center for pedophiles. We were highly critical of that move, calling it ‘reckless;’ and ‘irresponsible.’ We repeatedly urged you to reconsider. You ignored us.
-- Five top church staff who were involved in the McCormack debacle have all essentially been promoted since then. Only one has been disciplined – the female school principal who actually called the police and reported McCormack’s crimes.
----- Conclusion
It bears repeating that almost all of these reckless, inexcusable actions (and inactions) have happened AFTER you and your colleagues pledged, in 2002, to reform your dealings with clergy sex crimes and cover ups.
The bottom line: you continue to put your own reputation and comfort above the safety and well-being of your flock.
Why does this matter? Because when the head of America’s bishops acts so irresponsibly, it encourages other bishops to follow suit. It also discourages victims and witnesses from coming forward, reporting crimes and exposing predators. Finally, it rubs more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of Catholics and victims who are still struggling with the pain and betrayal caused by the church’s on-going sex abuse and cover up crisis.
Less than a year ago, Pope Benedict, speaking to a group of bishops about the abuse scandal, said “… it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure the principles of justice are fully respected, and above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes.” You have clearly, during the last year, and for several years, done largely the opposite.
In light of all this, we respectfully but firmly as that you step down as head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, so that victims and Catholics will be assured, at least sometimes, that reckless, secrecy and deceit involving clergy child sex crimes will no longer be tolerated by the church hierarchy.
Barbara Blaine
President, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
PO Box 6416
Chicago IL 60680
312 399 4747
David Clohessy
National Director, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
7234 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63143
314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915
Barbara Dorris
Outreach Coordinator, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
6245 Westminster
St. Louis MO 63130
314 862 7688
For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790
They want him to step down as head of America’s bishops
Their chief concern: He’s got a convicted friend on his payroll
Just last month, pedophile’s presence in Chicago was revealed
Criminal keeps getting paid even though George promised “he won’t be working here”
Group is also outraged that Cardinal recently tried to get another convicted predator out of jail.
Because of recent disclosures about “several pedophile priests and corrupt supervisors” in his archdiocese, clergy sex abuse victims are asking Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to resign as head of the US bishops’ conference. The request comes on the eve of the annual meeting of America’s 200+ bishops in Baltimore.
Leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) are urging George to step down “for the good of the church, both locally and nationally” because of “several new child sex crime and cover ups,” including one involving Fr. Kenneth J. Martin, a personal friend of the Cardinal’s.
####“George is deceptively and recklessly letting a convicted predator priest pal work for and in the archdiocese, violating his specific, public promise to the contrary and the church’s national sex abuse policy,” said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP’s founder and president. “Short of making this predator a pastor, it’s hard to imagine a more dangerous and deceitful move George could make.”
Last month, Chicago news media disclosed that Martin was still working for an archdiocesan agency with offices next to a Catholic school. In 2003, news accounts revealed that Martin was living in the Cardinal’s mansion and working for the archdiocese on a part time basis. Just two years before, Martin was convicted of molesting a boy in Baltimore for three years.
After Martin’s presence in Chicago was first disclosed in 2003, George publicly said “he won’t be working here anymore.” He has apparently remained on the archdiocesan payroll ever since, SNAP says.
But SNAP’s concern goes beyond the Martin case. The group cites cases involving 5 priests that have surfaced over the past year. Some are proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesters (Fr. Kenneth Martin, Fr. Joseph Bennett, Fr. Norbert Maday). Others ignored or concealed abuse, according to SNAP and church records, “complicit” (Fr. Leonard Dubi and Fr. Edward Grace).
The disclosures about Bennett, Dubi, Maday and Grace came through civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits that were settled in August 2008.
“Time and time again, even now, George is dishonest about child sex crimes,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s national director. “He keeps knowingly favoring friends and predators over kids and Catholics, to the point of taking extraordinarily obvious and inexcusable risks even with proven pedophiles.”
In 2006, SNAP and several other group's urged George to resign as head of the Chicago Archdiocese over his mishandling of the Fr. Daniel McCormack case. George promoted McCormack in 2005 even after he was arrested and kept McCormack in a parish even after the archdiocesan abuse review panel urged George to suspend him. In 2006, McCormack was arrested again for child molestation. Prosecutors said he’d abused one boy on “an almost daily basis” during those months George kept him in active parish ministry.
A copy of SNAP’s letter, sent today by fax and e mail, is below:
Nov. 9, 2008
Dear Cardinal George:
In 2006, our organization asked you to resign as head of the Chicago archdiocese, because of your reckless and deceptive mishandling of the Fr. McCormack’s child sex crimes.
Now, our organization is asking you to resign as head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, because of several new similar cases of your recklessness and deception over just the last year. Among these are disclosures about
-- your letting a convicted pedophile priest still work in your archdiocese (Fr. Kenneth J. Martin)
-- your refusal for years to suspend a credibly accused predator facing more than 12 abuse allegations (Fr. Joseph Bennett)
-- your trying to get a convicted pedophile priest released early from prison (Fr. Norbert Maday)
-- the two instances in which you ignored requests of your own lay abuse panel (the Bennett case)
-- your tolerating the complicit high-ranking chancery office priest who advised an accused predator on how to deceive a church review panel (Fr. Edward Grace)
-- your naming an accused predator’s friend (Fr. Edward Dubi) to allegedly ‘monitor’ him, despite clear pleas by your own abuse review panel to name anyone else for that role
-- your tolerating the egregious misconduct by a predator’s friend who shoved a person for simply asking questions about the predator (Fr. Edward Dubi).
Let’s look at these situations a little more closely.
----- The Fr. Kenneth J. Martin case
In 2003, you let a convicted child molesting priest, Fr. Kenneth J. Martin, work in your archdiocese. You also let him live in your mansion for a week each month. You told no one, even though six months earlier, you pledged to be “open and transparent’ about abuse.
Then, news accounts disclosed Martin’s presence and role in your archdiocese. In response, your staff split hairs, emphasizing that Martin abused as a seminarian, not a priest, so might not be ‘covered’ by the church’s sex abuse policies.
Still, under considerable public pressure, you told a reporter Martin "won't be coming back to Chicago."
Last month, however, news accounts disclosed that this convicted predator is on your payroll even now.
He apparently has been working continuously for you, despite your public promise to the contrary.
His office is next door to a parochial elementary school.
Initially, your public relations professional claimed Martin had “visited” that Chicago office only twice in 2008."
Later, your public relations professional then changed the story, admitting that Martin came to the office at least seven times in 2007-2008.
Regardless, no matter how you try to ‘spin’ this, you are continuing to take extraordinary risks by keeping your friend, a proven pedophile, in your archdiocese, next to school kids, and on your payroll.
-------- The Fr. Joseph R. Bennett case
-- In August 2008, newly release secret church records and Cardinal your own sworn deposition show that you suspended an accused serial predator priest, Fr. Bennett, from his suburban parish in 2006 only after at least a dozen of his victims had reported him to your staff.
-- Those same documents show that you overruled the recommendations of your own hand-picked abuse panel and had him alleged and secretly (but ineffectively) ‘monitored’ by a fellow priest, Fr. Leonard Dubi, who is a close friend of Bennett’s. The two of them own property together in Indiana. They then took a trip to Mexico together.
-- Your hand-picked abuse panel specifically, in two memos, urged you to NOT assign Dubi to this role. You rejected their recommendation.
-- In the same documents, Fr. Edward Grace, the archdiocese’s Vicar for Priests. Grace, urged Bennett to essentially lie about birthmarks on his genitals to ‘beat’ multiple child sex abuse allegations before a lay church panel. We’ve asked you to discipline these ‘enablers’ – Dubi and Grace - whose deceit put kids in harm’s way. You have ignored us.
-- We fear other accused child-molesting clergy are in still Chicago parishes right now, unbeknownst to parishioners, allegedly being ‘monitored’ by peers. We’ve asked you to disclose who and where they are and/or abide by the church’s national abuse policy and publicly suspend them. You have ignored us.
--------- The Fr. Norbert Maday case
-- The same deposition and documents also reveal that you and your top staffers spent considerable time and effort secretly trying to win the early release of a convicted serial child predator, Fr. Norbert Maday, who is in a Wisconsin prison.
-- We suspect and fear there are or have been other jailed sex offender clerics who have gotten or are getting your ‘behind the scenes’ help. We have asked you to stop it immediately, and to disclose if you’ve taken similar reckless action with other pedophiles. You have ignored us.
--Last month, we publicly called on you to promise you’d never again try to get a convicted pedophile priest out of jail early. You have not responded.
Again, this has all come out in the public arena in just the last year. We can’t help but wonder, of course, what other shocking and irresponsible actions you have taken recently that remain hidden.
Sadly, however, these recent cases are just more in a long line of irresponsible, deceptive and insensitive steps you’ve taken regarding clergy sex crimes and cover ups. They are part of a much larger, on-going, and disturbing pattern in the Chicago archdiocese, a pattern that goes back farther than just the last year, and that has changed little (if at all) since you promised to ‘reform’ in 2002. Here are just four examples.
----- The Fr. John Calicott case
In March 2004, twice-suspended abusive priest Fr. John Calicott was caught working, living and teaching sex education to kids at his old parish, with the full knowledge of the pastor. You slapped Calicott on the wrist, but refused to discipline or censure the pastor, Fr. George Miller, who knowingly put children in harm's way and violated the US bishops' national abuse policy.
----- The Fr. Michael Yakaitis case
In February 2005, Fr. Michael T. Yakaitis worked at the University of Chicago's Catholic Center, despite admitting sexual misconduct with a teenager years ago. A victim reported Yakaitis' exploitation and manipulation to at least seven church officials. But you let the abuser stay in ministry until this was publicly exposed.
----- The Fr. Elijah Martin case
In October 2005, you refused to discipline Father Elijah Martin or warn others about him. He seduced a young woman, fathered her child, ignored her, and refused to pay child support. Martin’s direct superiors also refused to give the mom any information about the priest’s whereabouts. You washed your hands of this controversy, despite repeated requests by our group to help the family and warn others about Martin.
----- The Fr. Daniel McCormack case
-- In the fall of 2005, McCormack was arrested for child molestation. Weeks later, you promoted him to head a deanery, or region, of the archdiocese.
-- In January 2006, McCormack was arrested again. He assaulted one 11 year old boy "on an almost daily basis" from Sept. 2005 until Jan. 2006. You kept him in ministry years after several reports of child sexual abuse, including repeated written and verbal ones from a Catholic nun more than seven years earlier to archdiocesan staff. You kept him in ministry months after your own hand-picked abuse panel urged you to suspend him.
-- We repeatedly urged you to “aggressively and immediately” reach out to parishes where McCormack worked, and prodded you to personally start visit those churches, emphatically reminding Catholics that they have a moral and civic duty to disclose anything they know about these allegations to law enforcement. You ignored us.
-- For months awaiting trial, you let McCormack live with relatives, refusing to order him to stay in a treatment center for pedophiles. We were highly critical of that move, calling it ‘reckless;’ and ‘irresponsible.’ We repeatedly urged you to reconsider. You ignored us.
-- Five top church staff who were involved in the McCormack debacle have all essentially been promoted since then. Only one has been disciplined – the female school principal who actually called the police and reported McCormack’s crimes.
----- Conclusion
It bears repeating that almost all of these reckless, inexcusable actions (and inactions) have happened AFTER you and your colleagues pledged, in 2002, to reform your dealings with clergy sex crimes and cover ups.
The bottom line: you continue to put your own reputation and comfort above the safety and well-being of your flock.
Why does this matter? Because when the head of America’s bishops acts so irresponsibly, it encourages other bishops to follow suit. It also discourages victims and witnesses from coming forward, reporting crimes and exposing predators. Finally, it rubs more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of Catholics and victims who are still struggling with the pain and betrayal caused by the church’s on-going sex abuse and cover up crisis.
Less than a year ago, Pope Benedict, speaking to a group of bishops about the abuse scandal, said “… it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure the principles of justice are fully respected, and above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes.” You have clearly, during the last year, and for several years, done largely the opposite.
In light of all this, we respectfully but firmly as that you step down as head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, so that victims and Catholics will be assured, at least sometimes, that reckless, secrecy and deceit involving clergy child sex crimes will no longer be tolerated by the church hierarchy.
Barbara Blaine
President, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
PO Box 6416
Chicago IL 60680
312 399 4747
David Clohessy
National Director, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
7234 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63143
314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915
Barbara Dorris
Outreach Coordinator, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
6245 Westminster
St. Louis MO 63130
314 862 7688
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