August 3, 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 to enforce VOS ESTIS.

I am a survivor in St. Louis, MO.

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.

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 sum, and as the Archdiocese of St. Louis makes clear on its own website, and despite the enaction of VOS ESTIS, the Archdiocese of St. Louis offers survivors of abuse NOTHING in terms of help.

The ONLY thing they 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.

In violation of VOS ESTIS, the Archdiocese of St. Louis has publicly told the people of St. Louis that I'm lying...

…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...

And, despite the enaction of VOS ESTIS and my having made him aware of the problem and made multiple personal appeals to him both before and after June 1, 2019, Archbishop Carlson refuses to retract the lies, clear my name, and restore my reputation.

Much less help me.

What's more, the Archdiocese of St. Louis has lied to law enforcement about me.

And worse.

Back in November 2019, I was violated by an employee of the Archdiocese of St. Louis during the course of a prayer service for survivors.

Since 2017, I've been trying to make the Church and you aware of problems with how the Archdiocese of St. Louis treats survivors, but I've never received a reply.

Much less help.

So here I am again, coming up on 13 months after 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.

But will you?

AMDG

Chris O'Leary
510 Baker Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63119
U.S.A.