May 12, 2004
CA Judge Dismisses SLAPP Suit Against SNAP
Statement Regarding Dismissal of
SLAPP Suit Against SNAP
For More Information:Mary Grant of Long Beach, Regional Director 626 419-2930 cell
David Clohessy of St. Louis, National Director 314-566-9790 cell
Barbara Blaine of Chicago, President 312-399-4747 cell
For immediate release:
May 12, 2004
Statement by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Southwestern Regional Director
626-419-2930
"We in SNAP are validated today by the courts ruling to dismiss the SLAPP case against our support group brought about by an alleged molester, Fr. Joe Alzugaray.
Msgr. Joe Alzugaray was accused of child molestation in a civil lawsuit filed last year. That?s a fact and a fact that all parishioners and the public should be informed of to put an end the cover-ups of known and alleged crimes in the church.
We urge victims of abuse to not be deterred or intimidated by church leaders? harsh legal maneuvers and public relations stunts that are designed to keep victims of abuse trapped in their trauma and keep vulnerable people at risk of abuse in the church. We are more resolved and stronger than ever to continue to urge victims and Catholics who know of or suspect abuse to report to criminal authorities, expose molesters and protect kids.
We in SNAP believe that children are safer thanks to the many brave survivors like Erin Brady, who have come forward, reported abuse and exposed their alleged abusers. More importantly, we hope that Erin Brady will be validated too knowing that she has a right to seek justice in the courts for these alleged crimes and expect to find support and comfort by meeting with other survivors of clergy sexual abuse in SNAP.
We believe this SLAPP case was intended to destroy any support victims of abuse might find through groups like SNAP. Church leaders for too long have been allowed to isolate victims, blame them as though the crime was their fault. Church leaders know that for many victims, reaching out to support groups may be the only way they find that they are not alone and also find the courage and strength to come forward and report the abuse.
We believe that if the Church leaders like Cardinal Mahony were truly sincere in wanting to reach out and prevent abuse, they would go to each parish of suspected and known abusers and urge victims and parishioners to talk with their friends and family and ask if they have been also hurt by any alleged molesters. Instead, Cardinal Mahony re-victimizes already hurting victims by enabling known or suspected abusers by allowing them to remain as active priests.
Through all of this, Alzugaray has been allowed to remain in active ministry. We are worried about the safety of youngsters around him, and hope that parents will be careful and vigilant."
"Conference Speakers Urge Action
Against Church"
Oakland Tribune
Action urged against church Experts say Catholics should hold elections, withhold funding to stop widespread sexual abuse scandal
By Rachel Konrad
Associated Press
Saturday, May 15, 2004 - SANTA CLARA -- Roman Catholics should stop donating money to parishes and begin demanding elections of their bishops and even the pope, outspoken priests and psychologists urged Friday in a conference about the church's sexual abuse scandals.
"The only solution I can see is for the faithful to remove the current church hierarchy from power," said John Gonsiorek, psychologist at the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology and editor of "The Breach of Trust," a book about sexual exploitation.
"The faithful need to take decisive action -- otherwise, they're complicit," Gonsiorek said, pausing for rounds of applause and cheers from some of the 200 people who attended a daylong conference at Santa Clara University. "At a minimum, there needs to be direct election of bishops by the laity. ... Do not fund the church until it shapes up."
About two dozen experts -- theologians, psychologists, abuse victims and ministers -- convened inside the Jesuit university's Spanish-style, 18th century mission for a morning prayer, followed by panel discussions aimed at restoring the faith of Catholics worldwide.
A study earlier this year by John Jay College of Criminal Justice confirmed that 4,392 priests in the United States abused 10,667 people, mostly young boys, between 1950 and 2002. The total number of victims is probably at least six times greater, the report estimated.
Keynote speaker Leon Panetta, former chief of staff to President Clinton, said bishops have surrounded themselves with attorneys and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate victims, but they "forgot that they are involved in issues of faith and morality." He said follow-up investigations could uncover problems ranging from embezzlement to sexual harassment of women parishioners.
"This is for all intents and purposes a feudal system, and these are fiefdoms that bishops operate pretty much on their own," said Panetta, now on the U.S. Conference of Bishops Committee on Child Sexual Abuse. "They don't want to be accountable to anyone but the pope, and what he doesn't know is just as well."
The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer, said elections, not papal appointments, would force church leaders to be more accountable to congregations around the world. He urged bishops to personally apologize to victims and relatives, instead of hiding behind nearly $500 million in payoffs and engaging in "ecclesiastical double-talk" that obfuscates the magnitude of the problem.
The John Jay report found that 4 percent of U.S. priests have had allegations of sexual abuse made against them. The report found even greater incidence of substance abuse, with 19 percent of perpetrators admitting that they had drug or alcohol problems. About 9 percent of perpetrators said they were not sober during the time of abuse.
The Rev. Thomas Rausch, priest and theology professor at Loyola Marymount University, said major changes in how church leaders, including the pope, ascend the hierarchy could happen within a generation.
"I think there's room for considerable change," Rausch said. "There are ways in which you can get input from the bottom ... where the laity and clergy and bishops are solicited for suggestions and for an analysis of what kind of bishop is needed when a position becomes vacant. The way it's being done now is ... a bad system because it allows almost no impact from local churches or even from the hierarchies in the United States."
Nannette deFuentes, a victim of clergy abuse, said would-be seminarians should undergo rigorous psychiatric exams and counseling to prepare them for the celibate and often lonely priesthood. Now a psychologist in Glendale and member of review boards for seminaries, deFuentes was hopeful the scandals would usher broad reform -- including investigations into sex abuse by clergy in Latin America and Africa, and an elevation in the subordinate role of women in the church.
"If women took more power, there'd be a lot of changes," deFuentes said.
Congressman berates Vatican for 'hypocrisy'
Congressman says Rome has no business talking about prison scandal, given its record on sex abuse
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER
May 14, 2004
Rep. Peter King expressed outrage yesterday at the claim by a top Vatican official that the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal was worse for America than the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It's the ultimate hypocrisy," said King (R-Seaford), a practicing Catholic. "If there's anyone in the world who has no right to speak on sexual abuse, it's the Vatican. More than that, to equate this in any way with Sept. 11 is outrageous. And coming from people with such unclean hands, it is a disgrace."
King, who has been a steadfast supporter of the Iraqi war, reacted in an interview yesterday to published comments by Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, who called the torture of Iraqi prisoners "a more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11. Except that the blow was not inflicted by terrorists but by Americans against themselves."
Lajolo also described the scandal as "a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam," and predicted it would fuel hatred for the West and for Christianity. His comments were published in La Republica, a daily newspaper in Rome.
King acknowledged church officials' right to criticize the U.S. treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. "But if they do that," he said, "then they should put it in perspective, and commend the U.S. for investigating the abuse and rooting it out - whereas they had decades of sexual abuse of young children that they systematically ignored and covered up."
The congressman added that, as a practicing Catholic, he felt he had to challenge what he viewed as misleading statements by church officials.
"The mistake we've made as lay Catholics over the years," he said, "was in being far too submissive and far too silent with respect to the church hierarchy. The sex abuse scandals showed us we have an obligation to speak out when we think they're wrong."
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.