New Vatican law on the abuse of adults by clergy goes into effect December 8th
Sacramento Diocese already includes clerics who abused those aged 18-25 on its abuser list
Adult survivor who was older than 25 now asks for her perpetrator to be added
SNAP will also release its own more complete Sacramento list
The victims’ group believes that adult victims in California need a "Window to Justice"
WHAT: At a sidewalk news conference abuse survivors and advocates who are part of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will urge the Diocese of Sacramento to add clerics who abused men or women over the age of 25 to its list of perpetrators. The group will also provide its own list for Sacramento and ask that those additional names be included as well. Finally, SNAP will call attention to the need for a California civil window for adult survivors such as the one now available for child victims in the state.
WHEN: December 8, 2021, at 11 AM
WHERE: Outside the Diocesan chancery office, 2110 Broadway (near 21st Street), in Sacramento
WHO: 4-5 abuse survivors and advocates, including the Sacramento area SNAP Leader, who wants to see the name of the priest who assaulted her when she was an adult added to the Diocesan list of accused clerics.
WHY: Back in June Pope Francis changed Catholic Church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by clergy. The new provisions become effective today, December 8th. We believe that dioceses across the United States, Sacramento included, should now begin adding these clerics to their lists of abusers.
We certainly know that those priests who abuse adults sometimes abuse children as well. Out here in California, Fr. Jose Superiaso sexually abused a woman who was in her 20s and a youth coordinator for the Church, and also molested her 12-year-old sister. In a case out of the Archdiocese of Washington, Fr. Urbano Vasquez was convicted last week of sexually assaulting an adult female parishioner while serving time in prison for assaulting two little girls. The infamous case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is another example. The Church apparently ignored McCarrick’s abuse of adults under his authority and took no action against the prelate until accusations of child sexual abuse became public in 2018.
