Sins of the Fathers
ChrisOLeary.com > Sins > TOC > VOS ESTIS Violations 2020.9.2

September 21, 2020

Pope Francis
The Vatican

Holy Father,

I'm a survivor in St. Louis, MO and I'm writing to make you aware of violations of Vos Estis Lux Mundi by the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

I beg you.

PLEASE enforce Vos Estis.

PLEASE force the Archdiocese of St. Louis to help my fellow survivors and me.

I was sexually exploited, abused, and assaulted — raped — by Fr. LeRoy Valentine at the Church of the Immacolata in Richmond Heights, MO, a suburb of St. Louis, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Abuse that started during the sacrament of confession. Abuse that was witnessed, at least in part, by then Father and now Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York. Abuse that was acknowledge by the Archdiocese St. Louis.

But they still won't help me.

Despite Vos Estis.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is in violation of multiple aspects of Vos Estis, particularly...

Art. 5 – Care for persons
§1. ...those who state that they have been harmed, together with their families, are to be treated with dignity and respect, and, in particular, are to be...
c) offered medical assistance, including therapeutic and psychological assistance...
§2. The good name and the privacy of the persons involved, as well as the confidentiality of their personal data, shall be protected.

In spite of the rights that are laid out in Vos Estis, the Archdiocese of St. Louis — as it makes clear on its own website — offers survivors of abuse NOTHING in terms of help.

The ONLY thing ArchStL will do to help survivors is, if a survivor doesn't have a therapist, they will refer you to one.

But they won't pay for therapy.

Or anything.

That represents a CLEAR violation of Vos Estis.

What's worse, the Archdiocese of St. Louis continues to run a Smear Campaign against me, again in violation of Vos Estis.

…when asked to comment on O’Leary’s account, “The archdiocese’s record of Mr. O’Leary’s allegations are significantly different...” Jones also said the information O’Leary shared initially changed multiple times...

Here I am, again, coming up on 16 months since Vos Estis went into effect, writing to let you know it is not working in the Archdiocese of St. Louis; it has had no effect on the treatment of survivors by Archbishop Robert Carlson and ArchStL.

I'm survivor who's lost EVERYTHING at the hands of the Catholic Church, both back then and more recently.

PLEADING with you to help me.

And us.

AMDG

Chris O'Leary
510 Baker Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63119 USA
ivandoesnot@gmail.com
3one4.four94.13two4