Accused Predatory Bishops – a SNAP fact sheet - Nov. 2008
-- We're particularly concerned about Gelineau (Providence RI), Hart (Cheyenne WY), O'Connell (Palm Beach FL), Rueger (Worcester MA), Ryan (Springfield IL), Skylstad (Spokane WA), Symons (Palm Beach FL), Williams (Lexington KY), and Zieman (Santa Rosa CA). The reasons are several but include at least one or more of the following:
- their whereabouts are unknown (Dupre, Williams)
- they've not addressed the allegations (Williams, Gelineau, Hart)
- they resigned just before allegations against them surfaced (Ryan, Dupre, Symons)
- they face several accusers (Hart has at least 6, Williams has at least 3)
- they've resurfaced in ministerial roles in recent years (Sanchez of Santa Fe NM)
-- We're also troubled by allegations against Hubbard of Albany. No civil or criminal charges have been filed against him. But rather than submitting himself to a lay review panel, he hired an attorney to investigate the allegations and she 'cleared' him.)
-- Some of the accused bishops have attracted considerable attention (Anthony O'Connell in Florida & Thomas Dupre in Massachusetts).
-- Others, however, have not (Louis Gelineau in Rhode Island, Joseph Hart in Wyoming, & Kendrick Williams in Kentucky.
-- Several accused bishops are now deceased (Arzube of Los Angeles CA, Dudley of Sioux Falls SD, Ferrario of Honolulu HI, Harrington of Worcester MA, Rausch of Phoenix AZ and Weldon of Springfield MA).
-- Three of them still head dioceses today (Hubbard, Skylstad, and Brown of Orange CA).
-- Still others (from Wisconsin, New York, Georgia and elsewhere) have been accused of sexually exploiting, manipulating and/or abusing adults and/or teens above the legal age of consent.
-- Two have admitted, to some degree, abusing kids (O'Connell and Symons).
-- Only one bishop (Dupre) has ever faced criminal charges, and that was short lived. A prosecutor indicted him for molesting two boys in 2004 but immediately dropped those charges because the statute of limitations expired.
-- Several accused bishops (Soens in Iowa, Hart in Wyoming and O'Connell in Florida) are still publicly honored on church buildings in their former dioceses. This of course, rubs salt into the already deep and sometimes still fresh wounds of their victims, other victims, and Catholics. Worse, it intimidates and depresses other victims into staying silence.
-- Only three (O'Connell, Symons & Rembert Weakland of Wisconsin) have admitted abuse. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/
-- Massachusetts has the most accused bishops, two of whom are still alive (George Rueger of Worchester and Dupre of Springfield) and two who are deceased (Christopher Weldon of Springfield and Timothy Harrington of Worchester).
-- Two others worked in the Palm Beach Florida diocese (Joseph Symons and O'Connell).
-- A few bishops have apparently been wrongly accused (Mahony in California, Egan in New York).
-- Now retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart faces the most allegations of any bishop. Civil lawsuits by six men he molested in Kansas City have been settled, some as recently as August 2008. A children's home in Torrington, Wyoming dedicated a residence hall to Hart and has rebuffed efforts to change the name.
-- At least 31 men report having been sexually abused as kids during the 1950s and 1960s by Bishop Lawrence Soens when Soens taught at an Iowa City school. He went on to head the Sioux City diocese and is now retired. On Monday, the Davenport diocese said that Soens did abuse some of the boys.
(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
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915, Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 862 7688 home
Monday, November 10, 2008
About abusive bishops . . . statement by Becky Ianni, Virginia SNAP leader
For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 10, 2008
Statement by Becky Ianni of northern Virginia, Virginia director of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
However sporadically and imperfectly, at least some abusive priests have been defrocked or prosecuted, are being "monitored” or live in church run housing centers for pedophiles. Not enough, but at least some. . .
To the best of our knowledge, little or none of this is happening with abusive bishops.
No abusive bishops are being defrocked. Few disclose their whereabouts. Fewer still, we fear, are being monitored. Allegations against them are unresolved. No current church officials even claim to be taking responsibility for protecting kids from or warning adults about potentially dangerous predatory prelates
And there are between 10 and 20 bishops who are proven, admitted or credibly accused abusive. Nine are deceased. The others walk free, however, mostly, we fear, in unsuspecting communities.
Why are we addressing this now? Primarily for two reasons.
1) For the first time ever, a week ago, a diocesan review panel announced that an alleged predator bishop is guilty of molesting kids. Roughly ten other bishops have been similarly accused, but as we said, essentially remain in ‘limbo,’ their whereabouts unknown and little or no monitoring or resolution of the charges against them. We now want other diocesan panels to investigate child sex allegations against these ten.
If one review panel can do this, it stands to reason that others can do likewise.
2) History, psychology and common sense tell us that molesters rarely strike once. Hard evidence tells us the same. Today, we’re releasing a list of 15 pedophile priests who’ve again broken the law in recent years, almost all of whom were on suspension for child sex crimes but getting little or no supervision or therapy.
If predatory priests who walk free hurt others again, it stands to reason that predatory bishops who walk free may well do likewise.
May God have mercy on the souls of today's church officials if one or more of these bishops already has molested again or does molest again, after they have already been accused because of sexual abuse.
Catholics remain troubled because of the on-going clergy sex abuse crisis. This is one reason why.
Children remain at risk because of the on-going clergy sex abuse crisis. This is one reason why.
The broader, nagging, crucial yet unanswered question centers on prevention and on what must be done with the hundreds and hundreds of complicit church officials who suspected or knew of child sex crimes and did nothing or concealed them. But for now, we ask: Can't church officials, including these 200+ bishops meeting inside today, at least take some steps to safeguard innocent kids today from these bishops?
Today, specifically, we call on the US bishops conference to create a new panel to probe sex charges against bishops. And we call on ten diocesan review panels to investigate child sex abuse allegations against their current or former bishops.
With the existing structure - local diocesan review panels – can probe accused bishops, if only panel members overcome their cowardice.
With a new structure – a national review panel designed solely to deal with these cases - can take action when local review boards do not.
Which approach is better? Both. The existing local boards, flawed though they are, can move most quickly and resolve some or all of these pending allegations. But a national board may lead to resolution of some allegations that local boards are unwilling to address.
The bottom line is that something must be done. It’s irresponsible, risky, unhealthy, unfair and cowardly for church officials to let ten or more accused predatory prelates walk free, unsupervised, with no one taking responsibility for them or investigation their alleged crimes.
Finally, as we did yesterday for the first time ever, we call on Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to resign his post as head of the US bishops conference. In just the last year, his already troubled and troubling deceptiveness, recklessness around children’s safety has gone from bad to worse.
We urge George to step down, for the good of the church, both locally and nationally, because of new child sex crimes and cover ups that have recently come to light.
The latest and most glaring example involves a priest who was criminally convicted of molesting a boy for three years right here in Baltimore. Even now, six years after George and his brother bishops pledged to be ‘open’ about clergy sex crimes and to put kids’ safety first, the Cardinal secretly and deceptively keeps a convicted pedophile priest, a personal friend, working in Chicago sometimes next door to a Catholic school.
But our concern goes beyond this one case. There are cases involving five 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).
This morning, George spoke of the “hubris that he feels has “isolated our country politically.” For the protection of kids and the healing of victims, we hope he will come to see his own hubris, manifested in his continuing reckless and deceptive actions, and step aside so that he can better safeguard the vulnerable and help the wounded in his own archdiocese.
(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
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915, Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 862 7688 home
Statement by Becky Ianni of northern Virginia, Virginia director of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
However sporadically and imperfectly, at least some abusive priests have been defrocked or prosecuted, are being "monitored” or live in church run housing centers for pedophiles. Not enough, but at least some. . .
To the best of our knowledge, little or none of this is happening with abusive bishops.
No abusive bishops are being defrocked. Few disclose their whereabouts. Fewer still, we fear, are being monitored. Allegations against them are unresolved. No current church officials even claim to be taking responsibility for protecting kids from or warning adults about potentially dangerous predatory prelates
And there are between 10 and 20 bishops who are proven, admitted or credibly accused abusive. Nine are deceased. The others walk free, however, mostly, we fear, in unsuspecting communities.
Why are we addressing this now? Primarily for two reasons.
1) For the first time ever, a week ago, a diocesan review panel announced that an alleged predator bishop is guilty of molesting kids. Roughly ten other bishops have been similarly accused, but as we said, essentially remain in ‘limbo,’ their whereabouts unknown and little or no monitoring or resolution of the charges against them. We now want other diocesan panels to investigate child sex allegations against these ten.
If one review panel can do this, it stands to reason that others can do likewise.
2) History, psychology and common sense tell us that molesters rarely strike once. Hard evidence tells us the same. Today, we’re releasing a list of 15 pedophile priests who’ve again broken the law in recent years, almost all of whom were on suspension for child sex crimes but getting little or no supervision or therapy.
If predatory priests who walk free hurt others again, it stands to reason that predatory bishops who walk free may well do likewise.
May God have mercy on the souls of today's church officials if one or more of these bishops already has molested again or does molest again, after they have already been accused because of sexual abuse.
Catholics remain troubled because of the on-going clergy sex abuse crisis. This is one reason why.
Children remain at risk because of the on-going clergy sex abuse crisis. This is one reason why.
The broader, nagging, crucial yet unanswered question centers on prevention and on what must be done with the hundreds and hundreds of complicit church officials who suspected or knew of child sex crimes and did nothing or concealed them. But for now, we ask: Can't church officials, including these 200+ bishops meeting inside today, at least take some steps to safeguard innocent kids today from these bishops?
Today, specifically, we call on the US bishops conference to create a new panel to probe sex charges against bishops. And we call on ten diocesan review panels to investigate child sex abuse allegations against their current or former bishops.
With the existing structure - local diocesan review panels – can probe accused bishops, if only panel members overcome their cowardice.
With a new structure – a national review panel designed solely to deal with these cases - can take action when local review boards do not.
Which approach is better? Both. The existing local boards, flawed though they are, can move most quickly and resolve some or all of these pending allegations. But a national board may lead to resolution of some allegations that local boards are unwilling to address.
The bottom line is that something must be done. It’s irresponsible, risky, unhealthy, unfair and cowardly for church officials to let ten or more accused predatory prelates walk free, unsupervised, with no one taking responsibility for them or investigation their alleged crimes.
Finally, as we did yesterday for the first time ever, we call on Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to resign his post as head of the US bishops conference. In just the last year, his already troubled and troubling deceptiveness, recklessness around children’s safety has gone from bad to worse.
We urge George to step down, for the good of the church, both locally and nationally, because of new child sex crimes and cover ups that have recently come to light.
The latest and most glaring example involves a priest who was criminally convicted of molesting a boy for three years right here in Baltimore. Even now, six years after George and his brother bishops pledged to be ‘open’ about clergy sex crimes and to put kids’ safety first, the Cardinal secretly and deceptively keeps a convicted pedophile priest, a personal friend, working in Chicago sometimes next door to a Catholic school.
But our concern goes beyond this one case. There are cases involving five 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).
This morning, George spoke of the “hubris that he feels has “isolated our country politically.” For the protection of kids and the healing of victims, we hope he will come to see his own hubris, manifested in his continuing reckless and deceptive actions, and step aside so that he can better safeguard the vulnerable and help the wounded in his own archdiocese.
(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
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915, Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 862 7688 home
Clergy sex abuse victims want action on ten predatory bishops
Clergy sex abuse victims want action on ten predatory bishops
For first time ever, a church panel just announced that one of them is guilty
Group wants a new national abuse committee created to help resolved such cases
It also releases a list of suspended predators who committed more crimes recently
Since so few pedophile priests are jailed or supervised, this trend will grow, SNAP says
WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will call on
-- ten dioceses to investigate child sex abuse allegations against current and former bishops, &
-- the US bishops conference to create a new panel to probe sex charges against bishops
They will also
-- release a list of suspended pedophile priests who’ve recently gone on to commit more crimes, largely because church officials refuse to provide them with supervision and/or treatment &;
-- repeat their public call, issued yesterday, to the head of the US bishops conference to resign because of recent abuse and cover up cases and disclosures in his archdiocese (including his secret decision to keep a convicted predator priest on his payroll even now).
WHEN
TODAY, Monday, Nov. 10, 2:30 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 and their supporters, including a Chicago woman who founded a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
For the first time ever, a week ago, a diocesan panel announced that an alleged predator bishop is guilty of molesting kids. At least ten other bishops have been similarly accused, but essentially remain in ‘limbo,’ their whereabouts unknown and little or no monitoring or resolution of the charges against them. SNAP now wants other diocesan panels to investigate child sex allegations against them.
While some of the accused bishops have attracted considerable attention (Anthony O'Connell in Florida & Thomas Dupre in Massachusetts), several others have not (Louis Gelineau in Rhode Island, Joseph Hart in Wyoming, & Kendrick Williams in Kentucky. Only two (O’Connell; Rembert Weakland in Wisconsin) have admitted abuse. (NOTE: Rembert Weakland in Wisconsin admitted abusing an adult). http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/
SNAP believes it’s irresponsible and reckless to let accused pedophile prelates walk free with little or no supervision and no adjudication of the charges against them. Hundreds of predatory priests won’t be criminally prosecuted and aren’t being defrocked. But virtually none of the predatory bishops face either penalty/discipline or even the slightest supervision, SNAP says
The group also believes it’s very tough for a local diocesan review board, appointed by a bishop, to objectively look into child sex allegations against that bishop. So SNAP is urging that a new national panel be created for this purpose (despite their strong belief that all clergy allegations be handled by police).
Massachusetts has the most accused bishops, two of whom are still alive (George Rueger of Worchester and Dupre of Springfield) and two who are deceased (Christopher Weldon of Springfield and Timothy Harrington of Worchester). Two others worked in the Palm Beach Florida diocese (Joseph Symons and O’Connell). A few (Mahony in California, Egan in New York) have apparently been wrongly accused.
Now retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart faces the most allegations of any bishop. Civil lawsuits by six men he molested in Kansas City have been settled, some as recently as August 2008. A children’s home in Torrington, Wyoming dedicated a residence hall to Hart and has rebuffed efforts to change the name.
At least 31 men report having been sexually abused as kids during the 1950s and 1960s by Bishop Lawrence Soens when Soens taught at an Iowa City school. He went on to head the Sioux City diocese and is now retired. On Monday, the Davenport diocese said that Soens did abuse some of the boys.
SNAP is also releasing a list of pedophile priests who, while suspended and unsupervised, committed more crimes recently. SNAP predicts this will be a growing trend, as predators get inadequate or no therapy or monitoring, and live on their own. Instead, SNAP believes those who cannot be jailed should be forced to live at independently, remote, professionally run treatment centers with full disclosure to nearby residents and law enforcement.
CONTACT
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915, Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 862 7688 home
For first time ever, a church panel just announced that one of them is guilty
Group wants a new national abuse committee created to help resolved such cases
It also releases a list of suspended predators who committed more crimes recently
Since so few pedophile priests are jailed or supervised, this trend will grow, SNAP says
WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will call on
-- ten dioceses to investigate child sex abuse allegations against current and former bishops, &
-- the US bishops conference to create a new panel to probe sex charges against bishops
They will also
-- release a list of suspended pedophile priests who’ve recently gone on to commit more crimes, largely because church officials refuse to provide them with supervision and/or treatment &;
-- repeat their public call, issued yesterday, to the head of the US bishops conference to resign because of recent abuse and cover up cases and disclosures in his archdiocese (including his secret decision to keep a convicted predator priest on his payroll even now).
WHEN
TODAY, Monday, Nov. 10, 2:30 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 and their supporters, including a Chicago woman who founded a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
For the first time ever, a week ago, a diocesan panel announced that an alleged predator bishop is guilty of molesting kids. At least ten other bishops have been similarly accused, but essentially remain in ‘limbo,’ their whereabouts unknown and little or no monitoring or resolution of the charges against them. SNAP now wants other diocesan panels to investigate child sex allegations against them.
While some of the accused bishops have attracted considerable attention (Anthony O'Connell in Florida & Thomas Dupre in Massachusetts), several others have not (Louis Gelineau in Rhode Island, Joseph Hart in Wyoming, & Kendrick Williams in Kentucky. Only two (O’Connell; Rembert Weakland in Wisconsin) have admitted abuse. (NOTE: Rembert Weakland in Wisconsin admitted abusing an adult). http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/
SNAP believes it’s irresponsible and reckless to let accused pedophile prelates walk free with little or no supervision and no adjudication of the charges against them. Hundreds of predatory priests won’t be criminally prosecuted and aren’t being defrocked. But virtually none of the predatory bishops face either penalty/discipline or even the slightest supervision, SNAP says
The group also believes it’s very tough for a local diocesan review board, appointed by a bishop, to objectively look into child sex allegations against that bishop. So SNAP is urging that a new national panel be created for this purpose (despite their strong belief that all clergy allegations be handled by police).
Massachusetts has the most accused bishops, two of whom are still alive (George Rueger of Worchester and Dupre of Springfield) and two who are deceased (Christopher Weldon of Springfield and Timothy Harrington of Worchester). Two others worked in the Palm Beach Florida diocese (Joseph Symons and O’Connell). A few (Mahony in California, Egan in New York) have apparently been wrongly accused.
Now retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart faces the most allegations of any bishop. Civil lawsuits by six men he molested in Kansas City have been settled, some as recently as August 2008. A children’s home in Torrington, Wyoming dedicated a residence hall to Hart and has rebuffed efforts to change the name.
At least 31 men report having been sexually abused as kids during the 1950s and 1960s by Bishop Lawrence Soens when Soens taught at an Iowa City school. He went on to head the Sioux City diocese and is now retired. On Monday, the Davenport diocese said that Soens did abuse some of the boys.
SNAP is also releasing a list of pedophile priests who, while suspended and unsupervised, committed more crimes recently. SNAP predicts this will be a growing trend, as predators get inadequate or no therapy or monitoring, and live on their own. Instead, SNAP believes those who cannot be jailed should be forced to live at independently, remote, professionally run treatment centers with full disclosure to nearby residents and law enforcement.
CONTACT
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915, Frank Dingle 410 744 2398 home, 443 996 8994 cell, Becky Ianni 703 801 6044 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 862 7688 home
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