The day after a Cincinnati priest is indicted on rape charges, there are calls for the Pope to replace Cincinnati's Archbishop and his Auxiliary Bishop.
The local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is not doing enough to protect children and has ignored its own Degrees on Child Protection. Dan Frondorf with SNAP tells Newsradio 700WLW that the Archdiocese had been warned for six years about inappropriate behavior by Father Geoff Drew but never took any action to limit his involvement with kids. Instead, they moved him to the parish with the biggest Catholic grade school in Ohio. Frondorf says for that alone Bishop Joseph Binzer should be "kicked out of the priesthood right now."
The local rep for SNAP says he has no faith in Archbishop Dennis Schnurr either, given the close relationship he has held with Binzer for the past 15 years. Schnurr has said that he did not know that there had been mulitple complaints against Father Drew but Frondorf says he is "suspicious" of that claim. Frondorf says their failure to act put hundreds of kids at risk.
Like Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, Frondorf told our Scott Sloan that he too believes there are many more victims of Father Drew out there who are afraid to come forward. He is offering them the support of his organization and advising them to go directly to police instead of reporting the abuse to the church. The criminal charges against Drew go back thirty years to before he was ordained a priest but allegations of inappropriate behavior around children has been reported to the Archdiocese several times over the past six years.
Father Geoff Drew is currently being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center on nine charges of rape which carry a potential sentence of life in prison if he is convicted.
If you missed Scott Sloans show, you can catch up at his podcast page at 700wlw.com