Sins of the Fathers
ChrisOLeary.com > Sins > TOC > VOS ESTIS Violations 2020.10.21

October 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.

And to beg you.

PLEASE enforce Vos Estis.

PLEASE tell 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, was witnessed, at least in part, by then Father and now Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, and was privately acknowledged by the Archdiocese St. Louis.

February 5, 2018

Your claims were acknowledged by Deacon Phil Hengen, the Archdiocese of Saint Louis...

...Please know that you and all victims of abuse are in my prayers and I do hope that you are able to find peace in the future. I wish you the best.

Sandra Price
Archdiocese of St. Louis

But publicly denied.

…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...

In addition to refusing to lying about my case and me, the Archdiocese of St. Louis refuses to help me.

Still.

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.

Where is the Pledge to Heal that the USCCB talks about?

The fact is, the ONLY thing ArchStL will do to help survivors is, if a survivor doesn't already 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.

All of which is compounded by the Smear Campaign the Archdiocese of St. Louis continues to run against me, in violation of Vos Estis, and which had led my parish to shun me.

So here I am, again, 17 months after Vos Estis went into effect, writing to let you know that Vos Estis is not working in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, at least; it has had no effect on the treatment of survivors by Archbishop Robert Carlson and ArchStL.

I've lost EVERYTHING.

And I'm PLEADING with you to help me.

And us.

AMDG

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