WHAT
After a sidewalk news conference, clergy molestation victims will try to hand deliver a letter to Detroit Catholic officials urging them to:
- endorse or at least stay neutral on proposed legislation that allows sex crime victims to seek justice in civil courts,
- allow victims to speak at parishes and write in the archdiocesan newspaper about their experiences, and
- help reach out to anyone hurt by a fugitive priest who was just arrested and is facing criminal charges.
WHEN
Monday, February 20, @ 1:15 p.m. (NOTE: church offices may be closed for Presidents Day but event will be held regardless.)
WHO
Several local clergy sex abuse victims and family members who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
WHERE
Outside the archdiocesan chancery office, 1234 Washington Blvd. in Detroit
WHY
Detroit’s Cardinal Maida has opposed reforming the rigid and archaic statute of limitations which prevents victims from exposing their perpetrators in court. SNAP feels such reforms are the single most effective way to prevent future abuse. They want Maida to reconsider his position and support the reforms.
The group also wants Maida to follow the lead of the US Bishops Conference president and let victims speak out about their molestation in churches and church publications, both as a way of healing and of educating Catholics about clergy sex abuse.
Two weeks ago, a fugitive priest, Fr. John Rabideau, was arrested, and returned to Michigan to face trial. He had been sought by authorities for more than seven years and was recently living in Colombia. SNAP wants Maida to help find others who experienced or witnessed his crimes so he can be prosecuted.
Rabideau, 44, will be tried on charges that he had sexually abused three boys between the ages of 6 and 14 in Bay County Michigan in 1985 and 1987. He was ordained in 1990 and belonged to a religious order called the Oblates of the Virgin Mary which is based in Boston.
SNAP says the case is another reminder of how often abusive Catholic clergy cross national borders to evade the law. The group fears he may have also hurt kids in South America and Illinois.
http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=4519915&nav=0RbQ
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/UPDATE/602090466
CONTACT:
David Clohessy, SNAP National Director, 314 645 5915, 314 566 9790 cell
Barbara Dorris Outreach Director, SNAP, 314 862 7688 |
