SNAP of Tennessee
Click on the SNAP Leaders Info link in the menu or click here to access the information provided by a group of SNAP leaders committed to improving SNAP following the Annual SNAP Conference in August 2024.
SNAP is an organization with the mission to help survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Our official website is SNAPnetwork.org. This weibsite will deal with many topics and information about the clergy abuse crisis in Tennessee.
Click on the link below to go to an index of the crediby accusedclergy in Tennessee. Click here.
Porno priest in one Diocese of Knoxville parish spent 10-12 hours on a pornographic site soliciting sex in the hook-up app. Porno priest allowed to retireAND NOBODY IN THE PARISH OR DIOCESE KNOWS THE TRUTH. Click here.
Porno priest gets away with sexual misconduct.
Priest gets away with sex with a diocesan female employee.
BUT....................
A priest whistleblower is punished for undefined "boundary violation."
Bishop J. Mark Beckman
The Diocese of Knoxville has had four bishops since its establishment in 1988. The first bishop, Anthony J. O'Connell, was an admitted pedophile. The second bishop, Joseph E. Kurtz, worked to reshape O'Connell's legacy, creating a false narrative that obscured the truth about his actions. Kurtz subsequently ascended to the position of Archbishop of Louisville and became President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. His Chancellor in Knoxville also advanced to the episcopacy, benefiting from his collaboration with Kurtz in the revisionist efforts concerning the diocese’s history.
The third bishop, Richard F. Stika, came from the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He was asked to resign by the Vatican on June 27, 2023, following two investigations that scrutinized his 14-year tenure in Knoxville. Had he not resigned, he would have faced removal by church officials in Rome. Multiple lawsuits against the Diocese of Knoxville have attracted negative attention to the area.
Currently, the bishop is Mark Beckman, who seems to be continuing the troubling patterns established in the Diocese of Knoxville since its inception.
In summary, the priests who stood up to Bishop Richard Stika as whistleblowers are now being told by the actions of Bishop Beckman
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Former Bishop Richard F. Stika
Bishop Richard Stika was asked to resign from his position as bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 27, 2023. Had Stika not resigned, he would have faced removal by the Vatican following a Vos Estis Lux Mundi investigation and an Apostolic Visitation initiated by the Vatican. Eleven priests wrote a letter to Papal Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre requesting Stika's removal. This comes in the wake of 14 years of warnings from SNAP of Tennessee regarding the problematic nature of Stika's tenure as bishop, alongside warnings from SNAP of Missouri about his handling of sexual abuse cases.
This section is currently under construction.
In the meantime, please read the outstanding reporting by Tyler Whetstone at Knoxnews.com. Click here for a comprehensive look at this issue.
Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell
Anthony J. O'Connell was the first bishop of Knoxville and an admitted pedophile. The Diocese of Knoxville was established in 1988, carved out from the parent Diocese of Nashville. O'Connell, who previously served as principal of a high school seminary in Hannibal, Missouri, was selected as bishop primarily due to his close ties with Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, known from the Spotlight investigation.
After ten years in the Diocese of Knoxville, O'Connell was promoted to the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, which was approximately eight times larger than the Knoxville Diocese. This was a significant elevation for O'Connell, who took over from disgraced pedophile Bishop Keith Symons.
Initially, O’Connell was viewed as a breath of fresh air for Palm Beach Catholics until he held a press conference in which he admitted to abusing "one maybe two" boys at St. Thomas Aquinas Preparatory Seminary. This marked the beginning of the troubling sex abuse saga surrounding Bishop Anthony O'Connell.
The information regarding O'Connell is extensive, detailing abuses involving the Rector of the Cathedral, the Chancellor of the diocese, and the Vicar General, Monsignor Xavier Mankel. [Click here for a copy of the lawsuit filed in 2019.]
O'Connell passed away in 2012, but the full extent of his story continues to unfold, with many revelations about his sexual abuse of boys and men in Knoxville and West Palm Beach still yet to be uncovered.
Knoxville, Tennessee
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