August 12, 2005
Dear Archbishop Favalora,
We are clergy molestation victims who belong to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group. We appeal to you today to go beyond the bare minimum steps of resolving civil litigation. We urge you to be a true pastor and take real steps now toward healing and prevention.

Across the country, as civil settlements are finally being reached with some men and women who were repeatedly, severely and needless hurt by abusive clergy, we have seen that many bishops act as if this is the end. To us, such settlements are just the beginning.
No amount of money can magically restore the shattered trust, the stolen childhoods, and the devastated lives that so many of us have led and still lead. No amount of money can suddenly warn families about dangerous predators or get them locked up.
Civil settlements are business decisions. Church officials often reach them who desperately want to avoid depositions, discovery, and sworn testimony, and fear the consequences if the public and parishioners learn how much bishops knew and how little they did about abusive clergy. Settlements are but one step forward on a long and painful road to recovery for deeply wounded victims.
You have a duty to do much more.
Specifically, we urge you and all local Catholic church officials to work harder to prevent abuse and foster healing, using every possible means (including church bulletins, pulpit announcements, the diocesan web site and the diocesan newspaper) to:

• publicize our independent self-help group for abuse victims, including our monthly confidential support group meetings, and
• aggressively reach out to other victims and witnesses and encourage them to call law enforcement and get independent, professional help,
• prod anyone who witnessed, suspected or experienced sex crimes by the abusive clerics to step up and help get these dangerous men prosecuted.

In addition, we urge you to:

• personally visit each parish where admitted, proven, and credibly accused clerics worked, and emphatically beg witnesses and victims to come forward, get help, and contact police and prosecutors, and
• permanently post on the archdiocesan web site the names of admitted, proven, and credibly accused pedophile priests (as roughly ten of your colleagues have done temporarily, including bishops in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Spokane, Toledo and Gallup).
  These concrete steps, we believe, will not only help victims heal and help safeguard kids. They will also help the entire diocese recover from the horrific scandal of child molestation by clergy and cover ups by church officials.

In your own archdiocese, Father Ernesto Garcia-Rubio has molested numerous immigrant boys. He is believed to have fled the US and is living in Costa Rico. We know that church officials were aware of this criminal behavior as far back as the 1960s. Now is the time for you to set a good example for your fellow bishops, turn over all records to police and prosecutors, work with them to bring this man to justice and bring his victims further toward recovery.
Everything we know about these dangerous predators tell us they continue to molest throughout their lives. Everyday that you sit back and wait for something to happen is another day where children are in grave danger.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David Clohessy
SNAP National Director
314-566-9790