A victim of clergy abuse as a child and member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was in Lake Charles Tuesday to talk about how healing and validating it can be for victims when church officials admit a priest as credibly. He said a new state law could lead to more abuse victims coming forward.

“I was abused for about four years in the central Missouri Diocese of Jefferson City by our assistant pastor, Father John Whiteley,” said David Clohessy of SNAP Missouri. “He molested me and my brothers.”

Clohessy was 11.

One of his brothers went on to become a priest, was placed on the credibly accused list, civilly sued and has been suspended.

Clohessy and other SNAP members, including a Lake Charles man who started the organization in Boston, are going to Alexandria, Baton Rouge and Lafayette with their message of a tougher approach.

In 2019, the Diocese of Lake Charles released a list of 12 clergy members who were credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.

SNAP contends there should be four more names on that list, and officials from other churches agree.

Clohessy held up the names of two the priests as he was interviewed by another media source. Both priests are deceased.

“Fr. Peter Covas worked in Sacred Heart Parish in Lake Charles and is on the credibly accused abusers list of the San Diego diocese. He left the parish in 2002 amid accusations of sexual misconduct with minors. He was sued in 2003. His personnel file was released in 2010. Covas was also arrested twice for public sexual misconduct and had resigned as the diocesan financial director after he loaned $225,000 of church money to a man who had been convicted of fraud,” SNAP wrote in its news release. “Fr. Keith Anhony “Kappy” Portier worked at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish in Lake Charles. He is on the Lafayette Diocese’s credibly accused abusers list.”

A SNAP news release sent to the American Press included the names of Fr. Alfred Dean and Fr. L. Michael Herpin.

The Lake Charles Diocese responded that it had just been informed that SNAP is questioning its list of credibly accused. The group never contacted it to inquire about the names prior to their announcement. Pamela Seal from the Office of Communications issued the following statement from the Diocese:

“To begin, the (credibly accused) list was compiled by an independent and neutral committee of legal and law enforcement professionals who reviewed all allegations against a priest from within the Diocese of Lake Charles. The Diocese has no evidence of allegations raised against these priests from their time inside the Diocese of Lake Charles. As such, they were not included on our list. The Diocese is, and has always been, fully committed to the highest levels of transparency and full cooperation with all authorities in all matters.”

Each diocese is free to determine its own standard to deem a priest credibly accused, with the allegations ranging from inappropriate conversations and unwanted hugging to forced sodomy and rape, NBC reported in 2019. The majority were never criminally prosecuted.

Time to heal

In June 2021, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a new bill into law that allows sex abuse victims more time to sue their accused abusers.

Now, thanks to the Louisiana Legislature and Supreme Court, the victims have three years to file a civil suit, no matter when they were hurt, no matter who the abuser was, no matter what institution in which it might have happened.

“I can’t tell you how many victims have looked online or maybe called their next door neighbor who is a probate judge and they heard, ‘No, no, no. It’s too late,’ ” Clohessy said. “Kids are safer, frankly, when the criminal justice system is able to convict and imprison these guys but evidently the bar is pretty high and prosecutors even now are a little reluctant to take on predators who have an institution to protect them and so a lot of victims turn to the civil courts.”

Clohessy does not know where the priest who abused him lives.

“Typically, they defrock only the most egregious serial predators,” he said, “and then only after public pressure.”

Clohessy said that girls and boys are both abused. SNAP members are men and women.

“Child molesters are just, frankly, opportunists,”  he said.

Clohessy’s spouse and family have been very supportive, a major factor in his healing, he said. He has been to support groups. The bulk of what SNAP does is to “just kind of quiet behind the scenes, offer confidential, one-on-one support and that’s been unbelievably good,” he said. Since COVID, most of the support has been online.

The average age of disclosure for child sex abuse is 52. It can present in a variety of ways. Two examples are addiction and antisocial behavior. The behavior of the abuser can be gradual, which is one of the reasons children don’t realize what is happening.

SNAP is the oldest support group for men and women wounded by religious and institutional authorities. Stories may be shared on the website, snapnetwork.org.