Letter to Bishop Paprocki
May 24, 2023
Dear Bishop Paprocki,
As we’ve done time and time again, we again beg you to do more to help safeguard kids, help heal victims and help the truth to be exposed. We hope that the harsh criticism you’ve received in the last several hours will succeed where we have failed.
Permit us to just quote a handful of the disturbing findings from Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s five-year probe of Catholic child sex crimes and cover ups in Illinois.
“Diocese of Springfield’s handling of child sex abuse allegations is a story of failed leadership—leadership that allowed clerics to sexually abuse children in the diocese for decades. Through it all, men leading the Diocese of Springfield for 50 years chose to protect the reputation of the church and its clerics, rather than attempt to ensure the physical and mental well-being of its children.” (p. 524)
Springfield was last of Illinois’ six dioceses to post on its website a list of predator priests. (p. 543) and “even now, the diocese’s list does NOT include each cleric’s parish assignments—the only Illinois diocese to omit such vital information.” (p. 536)
The Diocese of Springfield has yet to reconcile itself with its past. To do that, the diocese must commit to transparency and survivor healing through deeds, listening to survivors and their pleas for trauma-informed responses. (p. 538)
The diocese must also openly acknowledge that turning its back for half a century on the needs of children suffering sex abuse at the hands of its clerics was in no way “virtuous.” (p. 538)
It was clear to the survivors (Christopher and Abby) that through the interrogation, legal counsel was building a defense for the diocese in the event the survivors filed a lawsuit. This was far from the support services the survivors sought or expected (p. 638).
The dioceses of Belleville, Peoria, and Springfield were the worst offenders in terms of incomplete or inadequate investigation files. (p. 659)
Sadly, there’s much more justified criticism in AG Raoul’s report that we could cite here.
For the safety of youngsters and the healing of victims, we join with AG Raoul in prodding you to:
provide full assignment records for all predator priests who are or were in the diocese, and Paprocki is the only one of Illinois bishops who refuses to reveal the parishes and other sites where child molesting clerics have worked. SNAP is again urging him, as Raoul does in his report, to honor his repeated pledges of ‘openness’ and disclose this information.
post the names of at least nine alleged child molesting clerics who are missing from the Springfield diocese’s predator list and thus remain largely 'under the radar,' even though (they’ve been deemed ‘credibly accused’ of abuse by other Catholic officials and are mentioned by name in the new statewide abuse report released yesterday).
Among others, they include: John Beatty, John J. “Jack” Campbell, Victor Lucien Chateauvert, Kevin J. Downey, Joseph C. Gill, Thomas McShane, Thomas Gregory Meyer, Orville Lawrence Munie and Francis X. Nawn.
Each of these men have been deemed ‘credibly accused’ abusers - and are listed as such - on at least 25 church church websites across the US and elsewhere in Illinois.
These two moves – simple, inexpensive, common sense safety and healing measures – are long, long overdue.
And as you know, over the past five years, we in SNAP publicly have repeatedly prodded you to add names you keep omitting from your ‘credibly accused’ list, including Fr. Noel Shaughnessy, Fr. Thomas Gardner, Fr. Thomas S. McShane, Fr. Thomas G. Meyer, Fr. Scott Kallal, Fr. Francis Benham and Fr. Henry Willenborg.
You have ignored our requests. Instead, in 2010, you “blamed the devil for (abuse) lawsuits facing the church.”
Bishop, please swallow your pride, rein in your defensiveness, stop your hair-splitting and excuse-making and do what’s right for still-vulnerable youngsters, still-suffering victims and still-disillusioned parishioners. Use your vast power, influence and resources to reveal as much information as possible about clerics who have committed, ignored or concealed heinous crimes against children.
That’s what will keep kids safer. That’s what parents deserve. That’s what will rebuild trust in the church hierarchy.
David Clohessy of SNAP
314 566 9790
davidgclohessy@gmail.com,
7234 Arsenal St., St. Louis MO 63143
twitter: @davidgclohessy