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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2010
 

SNAP CINCINNATI issues the following statement on the appearance of retired Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk at a mass this evening in Milwaukee celebrating the renovation of the Catholic cathedral there: 

The Cincinnati Chapter of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - a self help group for those sexually abused by Catholic priests and other religious authority figures) sees the appearance of retired Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk along side fellow retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland as an act of extreme poor taste by both Catholic archdioceses.

Each of the two retired archbishops will lead separate services Tuesday celebrating the recently completed renovation of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee. Each archbishop played a major role in the clergy sex abuse scandal in his respective archdiocese while on active duty as the top man in each city.

Pilarczyk, who retired last month after more than 25 years as Cincinnati’s archbishop, was found guilty after pleading no contest in 2002 to 5 misdemeanor counts of failure to report a crime. He went on to shamefully hide behind Ohio’s woefully obsolete statutes of limitations as hundreds of victims and survivors sought justice from him in the Ohio’s judicial system, and was successful in keep these men and women who were abused as children out of the courtroom. The $3 million settlement fund he did offer to victims was tremendously one sided to the church, and offered only minimal restitution to those who chose to subject themselves to the church’s strict terms and conditions. This fund was only offered as part of the plea deal Pilarczyk made with the Hamilton County prosecuting attorney to keep himself out of jail.

Weakland retired in 2002 after public disclosures that he paid $450,000 in hush money to a man with whom he had a sexual relationship. He also infamously moved abusive priests from parish to parish during his tenure as archbishop, keeping safe the secrets of the abusers, enabling them to re-offend and protecting them from prosecution. In a Milwaukee Catholic newspaper column, Weakland even suggested that some victims of the abusive priests were themselves to blame for the abuse they suffered (he wrote “Some of them can be sexually very active and aggressive and often quite streetwise.”) This suggestion is outrageous, and shows just how out of touch with reality Weakland is. This notion would be laughable if it were not so hurtful.

Neither of these retired archbishops should be given a public pulpit. Neither should be celebrated as men of good deeds. Both shamefully wrecked the lives of hundreds of children, and should be regarded as disgraced shepherds. These two men placed their own interests over the safety of children, and then stood in the way of these same children who as adults sought much deserved justice. Now that both are retired, the Roman Catholic Archdioceses of Milwaukee and Cincinnati should keep them out of the limelight, because giving these men the public appearance of having been or still being good shepherds is the same kind of falsehood that enabled the very abuse to occur during their tenures as archbishops. If the Catholic church wants to promote healing and justice, their actions should speak louder than words. The actions they take should include keeping these two disgraced archbishops out of the public eye, and to refrain from rubbing salt in still fresh wounds.

CONTACT

Individual requests for media interviews can be made through:

Daniel Frondorf, Chapter Leader, SNAP Cincinnati 513-706-7403 cell dandorf@fuse.net

Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Regional Director 414-429-7259 cell
peterisely@yahoo.com

David Clohessy, National Director, SNAP 314-566-9790

On the web
www.SNAPnetwork.org


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