Catholic parish volunteer charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct with a minor: SNAP responds
Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director (949) 322-7434 jcasteix@gmail.com
Last week, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles hid a small notice in a parish newsletter to inform families that a church volunteer, prayer leader and former lector – Cesar Alvarez – has been charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. The parish is St. Ignatius of Loyola in Los Angeles.
We believe that this lazy attempt at outreach is a reckless and dangerous effort to lessen the impact of the crimes and make sure that few – if any – people learn of the risk Alvarez posed. Church officials are ignoring their own promises of openness and cooperation.
The Archdiocese must do more. We implore them to put this information on its website, issue a news release to both the English- and Spanish-speaking media, announce the news from the pulpit at all of the surrounding parishes, and most importantly, publicly urge victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward and report to law enforcement, NOT church officials.
You can view the notice here:
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