Statement by David Clohessy, former director, SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
11/30/23
Statement by David Clohessy, former director, SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
We're here today because we fear that Fr. Richard McGrath may have hurt kids here at St. Rita's Catholic High School or at St. Joseph Stone Friary and may still be a threat to kids today. Why? Because he remains on the loose, walking free in Chicago, unsupervised, unmonitored and unpunished.
We believe he belongs behind bars and we hope that others who saw, suspected or suffered his wrongdoing will find the courage to call law enforcement. We're also convinced that, for the safety of children, he belongs on official public lists of credibly accused abusive clerics in at least five Catholic institutions.
We're also here today in large part because of the courage of Robert Krankvich. We thank him for having the wisdom to seek justice in court, the patience to endure the legal struggle and for all he has done to warn parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners and the public about Fr. McGrath.
Finally, we're also here because at least five Chicagoland Catholic officials gave Fr. McGrath access to kids, very likely ignored warning signs about his troubling behavior and are certainly doing little or nothing now to warn others about him or limit his access to youngsters.
We call on the heads of the dioceses of Joliet and Rockford dioceses and the Archdiocese of Chicago to
publicly declare that he's been 'credibly accused' of abuse
do all they can to defrock, demote, discipline and publicly denounce him,
vigorously prod their staff and flocks to contact law enforcement if they saw, suspected or suffered wrongdoing by Fr. McGrath, and
use their vast resources to seek out and beg others with information or suspicions about all clergy sex crimes and cover ups to step forward and call the police.
It's reckless and callous for them to duck and dodge, making excuses and splitting hairs and parsing blame and doing nothing to prevent Fr. McGrath from hurting other children.
And we call on Vatican officials to take prompt action, respond to our formal complaint, discipline these five church officials and take every possible step to ensure that Fr. McGrath does not assault another youngster.