Press release 12-09-05
Friday, December 9, 2005
What: A public gathering of victims and advocates
with signs and displays near Holy Rosary Church in Nashville will encourage
diocesan officials and parish officials to apologize for encouraging the
fundraiser for Paul St. Charles, an accused pedophile, and to tell the parish
and the entire diocese the truth.
The Breaking the Silence in Tennessee
Exhibit will be available.
SPECIAL NOTE: Paul St. Charles has been assigned in all THREE Catholic dioceses of Tennessee. This story is pertinent to East, Middle and West Tennessee! See assignment record at SNAP of Tennessee website, www.rememberthesurvivors.com
Where: Holy
Rosary Church, 190 Graylynn Drive, Nashville, TN 37214-2706
When: Sunday, December 11th . Between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. (Masses are at 7:30, 9:00 and 11:30 a.m.)
Why: Letters to parish and diocesan officials and the assignment record can be found at www.rememberthesurvivors.com
************************************************
Clergy Abuse Victims Will Ask that the Truth be Told to Parishioners at Holy Rosary Church
Parish Endorsed and Encouraged Participation in a Fundraiser for Paul St. Charles, an Accused Priest
SNAP asks Diocesan and Parish officials to apologize for
the insult to victims of clergy sexual abuse
Nashville This Sunday a support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse will meet at Holy Rosary Church in Nashville to encourage the parishioners to get the truth from their Catholic diocese.
The parish bulletin publicized a fundraiser held at the home of Paul St. Charles on November 19th. The Ladies Guild encouraged participation in the fundraiser. SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will gather victims and supporters to express opposition to the promotion of a fundraiser for an accused pedophile, Paul St. Charles. St. Charles, a priest of the diocese of Memphis, has been retired for about 18 years and has lived in a Nashville neighborhood for most of his retirement.
Victims have expressed hurt and disappointment that the people of Holy Rosary Parish have not been informed of the following facts:
· The review board of the Diocese of Memphis has ruled the allegations against St. Charles to be credible and have recommended that he be defrocked, the highest form of punishment that the church has for priests. Bishop J. Terry Steib of Memphis accepted the boards recommendations, and Paul St. Charles is in the process of being defrocked.
· Paul St. Charles has three active, unresolved lawsuits against him at the present time.
· The victims of Paul St. Charles continue to report to SNAP of Tennessee, and SNAP has 8 victims at present on its Breaking the Silence in Tennessee exhibit.
For
more information:
Susan
Vance, Director of SNAP of Tennessee,
865-748-3518, snap101@comcast.net www.rememberthesurvivors.com
Mike
Coode, Nashville coordinator of SNAP of Tennessee, 615-364-2334
Ann
Brentwood, Director of Lost Sheep Foundation, 865-607-6119, wochangi@aol.com
December 5, 2005
Reverend Father David Choby
Diocesan Administrator
The Catholic Center
2400 Twenty-first Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
Dear Father Choby:
We in SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are horrified to learn of a fundraiser at Holy Rosary Parish in Nashville for Paul St. Charles. Public, church-supported fundraisers or other public displays of support for sex-offending priests are hurtful to victims of abuse. We believe that if the parishioners had been fully informed of the number of his victims, of the determination of credible allegations by the diocese of Memphis, and of the process of defrocking having been initiated, they would never have been willing participants in such an activity. As the acting administrative shepherd of the diocese of Nashville, is it not incumbent upon you to insure that the members of your parishes are aware of the information regarding all sex-offending clergy?
We are also told that Father Klasek as well as other Nashville priests have made statements which demonstrate a lack of knowledge of the facts concerning Paul St. Charles or are an intentional misrepresentation of the facts. The diocesan review board of Memphis has deemed the rampant abuses of Paul St. Charles to be credible, and Bishop J.Terry Steib of Memphis has acted on their recommendation that St. Charles be defrocked. There are currently three additional active cases against him in the courts. Do the clergy of Nashville know this and have they conveyed this to their parishioners?
The actions by Holy Rosary and the lack of intervention by you in the halting of such activity sends a horrible message to victims who have been harmed: victims in Holy Rosary Parish and victims elsewhere who will hear. To allow fundraisers for molesters certainly cannot be interpreted in any way other than making the statement that victims do not count and do not matter. Should all sexual offenders come to Holy Rosary for financial support? Do all parishes plan to support the criminals rather than the victims? That is the message sent and may seriously contribute to continuing abuse.
We again ask you to publish the secret list of the sex-offending clergy. You have acknowledged seven of these perpetrators. Who are they? The people have a right to know. Victims ask that you go to Holy Rosary, acknowledge this lack of sensitivity and publicly apologize for not fully informing them of the truth. We ask for a response to our request that you make these parishioners aware of Paul St. Charles status and allow victims to come with you or separately to speak to the parishioners.
The fundraiser was offensive. It has damaged efforts to restore hope that the faith community would ever accept the real facts of the life-long devastation and the terrible injustice to the children, teens, and vulnerable adults by clergy in this and other dioceses. Please update the people on the progress of the defrocking of Paul St. Charles and why this was the decision of the Memphis diocese. Please explain the cases against him in civil court. Please tell the names of the seven sex-offending clergy that you reported to the John Jay study in 2002 but have kept secret from the Catholics of the Nashville diocese.
Sincerely,
Susan Vance
Tennessee
Co-director of SNAP
8324 South Burchfield Drive
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Mike Coode
Nashville Coordinator of SNAP
415 Chesterfield Avenue
Nashville, TN 37212
Ann Brentwood
Tennessee
Co-director of SNAP
3142 Harrington Court
Maryville, TN 37803
Cc: The Most Reverend J. Terry Steib, S.V.D., Bishop of Memphis, The Catholic Center, 5825 Shelby Oaks Drive, Memphis, TN 38134-7389
December 5, 2005
Father Stephen A. Klasek
Holy Rosary Church
190 Graylynn Drive
Nashville, TN 37214-2706
Dear Father Klasek:
We in SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are horrified
to learn of a fundraiser at your parish for Paul St. Charles, accused priest
living in Nashville.
As advocates and victims of clergy sexual abuse, it is beyond our
comprehension that you would endorse and support in your parish a fundraiser
for a child sexual predator. The
message that is conveyed by such an action to all victims, including those in
your parish and those yet to come forward, is that they do not count and that
you and the church support the perpetrators of these terrible crimes. Your actions are indicative of a clerical
insensitivity to the devastating life-long impact of child sexual abuse that
has contributed to the acceptance and cover-up of such egregious behavior on
the part of clergy.
It is an outrage
that you would not make known to your parishioners that even your own hierarchy
has deemed the rampant abuses of Paul St. Charles as credible and that he is in
the process of being defrocked with three additional active cases against him
in the courts. The facts about this
abuser have been misrepresented and totally twisted in order to condone the
collection of money for a pedophile.
His many victims are deeply wounded by your actions and ask that you
publicly acknowledge this lack of sensitivity and publicly apologize for this
grave error in judgment.
Somewhere in the parish is a young girl being molested by a relative or
a boy being abused by a coach or youth leader.
If these young people see adults they love and respect publicly rallying
around an accused perpetrator, they will be less likely to report their
victimization to their parents, the police, or other authorities. They will be scared into remaining silent,
and their horrific pain will continue.
If there is a woman in the parish who has been raped or a man who has
been molested as a teen, then their pain has been ignored and their horrible
abuse minimized. As a compassionate
caring pastor, we request an immediate admission of the wrong that has been
done here.
We would request an opportunity to have victims speak to your
congregation to explain the hurtful nature of this fundraiser. Perhaps if they
hear from some of the victims they will better understand how such a blatant
lack of compassion for those abused by clergy is against all that Christ
demanded of us.
We await your
response to this letter. On behalf of
the victims of clergy sexual abuse across the state of Tennessee, we hope that
such a public fundraiser will never be condoned or supported again at Holy
Rosary Parish or any other parish in this state.
Sincerely,
Susan Vance
Tennessee
Co-director of SNAP
8324 South Burchfield Drive
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Mike Coode
Nashville Coordinator of SNAP
415 Chesterfield Avenue
Nashville, TN 37212
Ann Brentwood
Tennessee Co-director of SNAP
3142 Harrington Court
Maryville, TN 37803
December 5, 2005
Mr. Jim Guschke
President Parish Council - Holy Rosary Church
190 Graylynn Drive
Nashville, TN 37214-2706
Dear Mr. Guschke and Members of Holy Rosary Parish Council:
As members of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, we
believe it important to raise awareness among your church community that this
action has been very hurtful to clergy abuse victims, as well as other victims
both in your parish and in surrounding parishes.
The review board of the diocese of Memphis has deemed the rampant
abuses of Paul St. Charles to be credible, and he is in the process of being
defrocked with three active civil cases against him in the courts. The facts
about Paul St. Charles have been misrepresented to the parishioners; this is
the only explanation for condoning a fundraiser for an abuser. His many victims
are deeply wounded by your actions.
If you had taken up a collection in support of an abortion clinic,
would you have been stopped by the pastor or other officials of the diocese? If
you had been collecting money to promote the death penalty, would you have been
stopped by the pastor or other officials of the diocese? The answers, we
believe, would be definitely yes. Why then the fundraiser for a credibly
accused pedophile with multiple victims and three lawsuits? Truly, it is
offensive and hurtful to victims.
Please allow some of his victims to come and speak to your parish. Let
them hear first hand what he did to them. Listen to any victims, hear their
stories, and then surely you will come to realize how harmful the actions of
having a fundraiser and thereby publicly supporting a sex offender and sending
such a detrimental message to the youth of your parish.
Please understand that you are not only supporting criminal activity
but are making it very difficult for any other victims of his or other
molesters to come forward. Some child or teen will remain silent and alone in
their pain because they have now seen that the adults around them support the
sexual molesters. Over time Paul St. Charles has been guilty of the soul murder
of many victims, even in the eyes of his own church, and yet he is supported while
his many victims are ignored. What a cruel slap in the face to all his many
victims so egregiously harmed in their youth and carrying to this day the
life-long destruction of childhood sexual abuse by this man.
We ask that you and the other members of the parish council call Father
David Choby, diocesan administrator, and Mr. Hans Toecker, Chancellor of the
diocese, and ask them to explain the abuses of Paul St. Charles. Ask them to
update you on the progress of the defrocking of this priest and why this was
the decision of the Memphis diocese. Ask them to explain the cases against him
in civil court. Ask them to tell you the names of the seven sex-offending
clergy that they reported to the John Jay study in 2002 but have kept secret
from the Catholics of the Nashville diocese.
Sincerely,
Susan Vance
Tennessee
Co-director of SNAP
8324 South Burchfield Drive
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Mike Coode
Nashville Coordinator of SNAP
415 Chesterfield Avenue
Nashville, TN 37212
Ann Brentwood
Tennessee Co-director of SNAP
3142 Harrington Court
Maryville, TN 37803
Father Stephen A. Klasek
**********************************
|
Assignment
Record for Paul St. Charles |
||
|
1967 |
Sacred Heart |
Sacred Heart Church |
|
1968 |
St. John |
St. John's Church |
|
1969 |
St. John |
St. John's Church |
|
1970 |
St. John |
St. John's Church |
|
1971 |
St. John |
St. John's Church |
|
1972 |
Sacred Heart Church |
Sacred Heart Church |
|
1973 |
Our Lady of Sorrows |
Our Lady of Sorrows |
|
1974 |
Our Lady of Sorrows |
Our Lady of Sorrows |
|
1975 |
Immaculate Conception |
Immaculate Conception |
|
1976 |
Immaculate Conception |
Immaculate Conception |
|
1977 |
Immaculate Conception |
Immaculate Conception |
|
1978 |
Immaculate Conception |
Immaculate Conception |
|
1979 |
Immaculate Conception,
Union City |
Immaculate Conception |
|
1980 |
Immaculate Conception,
Union City |
Immaculate Conception |
|
1981 |
Church of the Ascension |
Church of the Ascension |
|
1982 |
Church of the Ascension |
Church of the Ascension |
|
1983 |
Church of the Ascension |
Church of the Ascension |
|
1984 |
Church of the Ascension |
Church of the Ascension |
|
1985 |
Church of the Ascension |
Church of the Ascension |
|
1986 |
Church of the Ascension |
Church of the Ascension |
|
1987 |
Retired |
207 Tampa Drive, #18 |
|
1988 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1989 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1990 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1991 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1992 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1993 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1994 |
Retired |
3225 Lakeford Drive |
|
1995 |
Retired |
7402 Williams Drive |
|
1996 |
Retired |
7402 Williams Drive |
|
1997 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
1998 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
1999 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
2000 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
2001 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
2002 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
2003 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
2004 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
2005 |
Retired |
122 Tallwood Drive |
|
This
information is from the National Catholic Directory. This information is subject to error if
changes were made in assignments after the information was turned in for
publication. |
||
