TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! SNAP: SEX ABUSE VICTIMS PRAISE JACKSON COUNTY CATHOLIC ARBITRATION RULING!!!

Regarding a recent Jackson County ruling . . . Victim's rights group SNAP released the following statement:

Victims praise judge's ruling against Catholic bishop

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 13

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

We are grateful for this ruling. We’re confident it will mean that dozens and dozens of KC area victims are a step closer toward healing and closure. We hope it will mean that Bishop Finn and other Catholic officials really will start implementing the 19 prevention steps they promised victims they’d take four years ago.

And we hope it will mean that Catholic officials across the country will be forced to honor their promises, especially those relating to children’s safety.

It never should have come to this. In 2008, Bishop Finn signed a deal with 47 victims. He made a commitment to take 19 straightforward, logical and effective prevention steps that the victims devised. Then, month after month, Finn broke the deal. (And, adding insult to injury, he broke it again last year, by refusing to go to arbitration, as the agreement mandated.)

There’s really nothing complex here. Finn signed a contract. He broke the contract. Compounding the harm is the fact that it was a good, carefully-crafted contract that made KC kids safer.

Let’s hope Finn fights accountability less and starts honoring promises and protecting children more.


(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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