Survivors First Website on Abusive Priests

by blondie 0 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  blondie

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2453503.stm

  Wednesday, 13 November, 2002, 08:12 GMT Abusive US priests shamed online Defrocked priest John Geoghan (l) is on the list A group of Roman Catholic activists have launched a website naming US clergy who have been found guilty or have been accused by the public of sexually abusing children.

  The Survivors First group compiled a database listing 573 priests alleged of involvement in paedophilia cases since 1996, using details from newspaper articles and, sometimes, court documents.

  I know as a parent I can't trust the bishops

  Victims' advocate Paul Baier

  But the advocacy organisation - made up of Catholics from around Boston where the paedophile priest scandal broke earlier this year - said it had dropped 100 names from the list to allow for further research.

  The publication of suspected molesters' names came as US bishops continued to discuss ways of tackling the crisis which has dogged the Church in the US.

  A father's fears

  Paul Baier, a software expert who has led the Survivors First project, said the group had allegations from victims against 2,100 clerics in its files.

  But he said he and his colleagues were being "incredibly cautious" about choosing who to name under the five website categories:

  • Priests convicted of crimes
  • Civil settlements in which criminal guilt was not admitted
  • Pending criminal cases
  • Pending civil cases
  • Other situations

  The list includes Father David Holley from Worcester in Massachusetts, now serving 275 years for molesting at least eight children, and John Geoghan, the defrocked priest whose indecent assault trial sparked the scandal.

  More than 130 people have accused Geoghan of molesting them over a 30-year period and though his seniors knew of the abuse allegations, they moved him from parish to parish rather than reveal the problem.

  Mr Baier, who was also a founder of the Voices of the Faithful organisation which is seeking Church reform but is unrelated to Survivors First, said he was not a victim.

  But he said as the father of a four-year-old girl, he was appalled by the current situation: "I know as a parent I can't trust the bishops."

  'Facts not emotions'

  The website will also include false charges made against clergy.

  Bishops are being accused of protecting clergy at the expense of victims

  Mr Baier said the clerical sex abuse problem could sometimes seem exaggerated and suggested that the figure of 2,100 priests with claims against them should be compared with the 90,000 priests of the past generation rather than the 46,000 currently serving.

  That would mean about 2.3% of priests - a little over one in 50 - had been accused of abuse.

  "We are trying to put the right data out there - facts, not emotions," he said.

  Church plans

  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is holding its annual meeting in Washington and is expected to revise the US Church's plans for "zero tolerance" of paedophile priests after criticism from the Vatican.

  Conference president Bishop Wilton Gregory said priests had felt "unfairly judged" because of the misbehaviour of a few colleagues.

  He was among the US Church leaders who agreed changes to the zero-tolerance policy with the Vatican to give suspected priests more rights, but he has insisted that there will be no watering down of protection for children.

  Nevertheless, support groups for people who have been abused by the clergy have criticised the bishops and the Vatican for what they say is protection for priests at the expense of their victims.