A Sioux City man who says he was sexually abused by a priest in the local Catholic Diocese when he was 12 returned home Thursday and challenges the Diocese to release more names of past abusers.
Tim Lennon is now 72 years old and is President of SNAP, a national advocacy group for victims of clergy and institutional sex abuse,
Lennon wants the Iowa Attorney General’s office to investigate the Catholic Church in the state:
OC……around sexual abuse. ;23
Lennon says the Catholic Church should release the names of bishops, nuns and others involved in the church who are accused of sex abuse.
OC………or Deacons. :27
He spoke about the priest he knew as a boy while growing up in Sioux City, and what happened after he and his family put their trust in him:
OC……….effects are lifelong. :32
(Lennon at age 12)
Lennon suppressed the memories, and says he was 43 years old when he first remembered being molested by Father Peter Murphy, who died in 1980:
OC……..Father Murphy’s dead. :34
Those memories came flooding back when his own children turned 12:
OC……….kinds of stuff. ;28
Lennon says the Diocese knew what Father Murphy was doing, as he was transferred from one parish to another.
OC……..they knew. :11
He says he is not speaking with the Diocese of Sioux City while he is in town and that in the past there has not been cooperation:
OC…….and Illinois investigations. :10
Lennon did receive a personal apology from current Bishop R. Walker Nickless in 2016.
He now lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a national leader in the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Lennon says the support he receives from his family and fellow survivors has helped him cope with what he endured as a boy:
OC……….the hard times. 1:06
SNAP has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years.
They have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in their network.
Their website is SNAPnetwork.org.
Updated 11:14pm 5/23/19
