23376: Senou: FW: Warning about ex-priest urged (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Senou <senou@yahoo.com>

From: "A H A D ListServ" <info@ahadonline.org>


http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/185025-1011-009.html

Warning about ex-priest urged Suspected abuser is a
threat to kids in Haiti, and church should act,
group says.


By Robert King
robert.king@indystar.com
October 9, 2004


A former priest accused of abusing eight male
teenagers in Indiana a decade ago poses an ongoing
threat to children in Haiti, and the Catholic Church
should do something to stop him, a national group
that represents abuse victims said Friday.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or
SNAP, said Indiana's Catholic bishops also should do
more to find others victimized by Ron Voss, who
resigned his ministry in 1993 and now lives in Haiti.

"We would like to see the bishops do what Jesus Christ
told us to do -- go out and find the lost and wounded
sheep," David Clohessy, SNAP's national director, said
at a news conference in front of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Indianapolis headquarters.

Voss was a priest in the Diocese of Lafayette, which
was the subject of a report that appeared in The
Indianapolis Star in 1997. It documented claims of
abuse against 16 priests, including Voss, and
that diocese's effort to keep the cases quiet.

Voss was not criminally charged.

Efforts to reach him in Haiti were unsuccessful.

Clohessy called on Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M.
Buechlein to use Catholic publications and media to
warn others about Voss, reach out to Voss' victims and
help police and prosecutors tackle his case.

Susan Borcherts, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese,
said Buechlein has no influence over the Diocese of
Lafayette, which is headed by Bishop William L. Higi.

Monsignor Robert Sell, the vicar general in Lafayette,
said Voss -- having been granted a request to return
to being a lay member of the church -- was no longer a
priest and was not under the authority of the
Lafayette Diocese.

But Sell said it was his understanding that Voss
continues to do volunteer work in Haiti through a
program that encourages Catholic parishes in America
to partner with parishes in Haiti for assistance
and help with parish life.

The Star's 1997 report revealed that Voss, a native of
Anderson,abused teens at a family camp in northern
Delaware County.

After accusations arose against him in 1988, he
received therapy and moved to Haiti.

Clohessy said Voss' move resembles a pattern exposed
recently by the Dallas Morning News. That paper
documented how accused priests frequently move or are
transferred overseas -- often to Third World
countries where law enforcement is lax and children in
poverty are vulnerable.

"This report has re-kindled our long-standing worries
about shrewd, abusive clergy who now live in other
countries," Clohessy wrote in his letter to Archbishop
Buechlein.

Sell said Voss was no longer a threat to children
because he has gone through and continues to take part
in therapy. Experts have determined Voss "was not a
threat to minors and that he had an awareness of what
his weakness and proclivities might be," Sell said.

The Lafayette Diocese contacted state Child Protection
Services officials about each case involving Voss that
it became aware of, but the state took no action, Sell
said. Further, the diocese's weekly newspaper
continues to publish notices urging victims of abuse
by any priest to contact authorities, he said.

Clohessy, who will speak today about the abuse scandal
at St. Thomas Aquinas Church at 46th and Illinois
streets, said the bishops should do more than wait for
the phone to ring.

"All too often we see the bishops doing the bare
minimum," he said.

Call Star reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089.


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