In a breakdown of the archdiocese’s monitoring of priests suspected of abusing children, a Catholic priest accused in the 1980s of molesting a child worked weekends for the past seven years at a Palatine parish where neither the pastor nor parishioners knew of his past.
When the Archdiocese of Chicago on Saturday stripped Rev. Marion Snieg of his duties at a nursing home because of new allegations of abuse, officials noted he had been removed from parish ministry in 1993. Since that year, they said, Snieg had been monitored under the archdiocese’s sex abuse policies, which have been held up as a national model.
But archdiocese officials acknowledged Wednesday they did not know Snieg had been working as a weekend assistant at St. Thomas of Villanova, where he said mass and heard confessions.
“We’re not perfect. We’re trying to make adjustments and here’s such a situation,” said James Dwyer, a spokesman for the archdiocese.
Snieg, 74, had been serving as a chaplain at the Addolorata Villa nursing home in Wheeling and, under the archdiocese’s policies on handling priests accused of abuse, was being monitored by a staff member there, Dwyer said.
It was unclear Wednesday how Snieg came to work at St. Thomas in Palatine.
Rev. Ray Yadron, pastor at the parish since June 1994, said he learned of Snieg’s past only after two additional allegations surfaced recently that Snieg had abused two children more than 40 years ago.
“I was stunned, shocked and saddened,” said Yadron.
Yadron said he had heard no complaints of misconduct by Snieg at St. Thomas in the seven years Snieg worked there. “I don’t think he was ever alone with a child,” Yadron said.
Nevertheless, Snieg’s situation raises new questions about the archdiocese’s handling of priests accused of abuse.
In 1992, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin implemented a child-sex abuse policy that has become a model for other dioceses. The policy requires the archdiocese to report all credible complaints of sexual misconduct by clergy to prosecutors and child welfare workers, to remove abusive priests from public ministry immediately and to place them in a monitoring program.
Little information has been made public about the monitoring procedures, however, and parishioners have largely had to take it on faith that the program works.
Barbara Blaine, founder of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the archdiocese’s handling of Snieg was a prime example of why it is not enough to monitor abusive priests. The only way to ensure that an abusive priest does not improperly use his position of authority again is to remove him from the priesthood, she said.
“I just think that there’s no possible way to monitor anyone 24 hours a day,” Blaine said. “They are not in jail. And as long as they are priests, able to wear collars, they carry all kinds of respect and authority.”
Snieg was first accused in 1987 of engaging in sexual misconduct with a child in the 1950s when he was an associate pastor at St. Jane de Chantal on the Southwest Side. At that time, Snieg’s case was handled by an informal commission, which reviewed the allegation and determined that the veteran priest did not pose a danger to children.
Snieg, who could not be reached Wednesday for comment, was allowed to remain in parish ministry until the archdiocese adopted its tougher policy for handling child molestation complaints.
After Snieg finished his term as pastor at St. Rosalie Church in Harwood Heights, he was removed from parish ministry. In 1993 he was made a part-time chaplain at the Wheeling nursing home and placed under monitoring, Dwyer said.
Dwyer said he did not have details about Snieg’s monitoring program. He said a staff member at the nursing home supervised Snieg to make sure he had no contact with children.
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During the past month, two men separately informed the archdiocese that Snieg allegedly had abused them in the 1950s. One of the men wrote a four-page letter March 21 to the archdiocese saying he was 13 when Snieg allegedly abused him.
“Father Snieg seemed to like older boys, he took them swimming … and even took vacations with his favorites,” according to the letter, obtained by the Tribune.
The archdiocese investigated the allegations and last week informed Snieg that he was being removed from his part-time position at the nursing home.
Yadron, unaware of the allegations, said Snieg informed him that for health reasons Snieg would no longer be able to assist with weekend mass.
“Father Marion has helped us over the last seven years or so, and he will be missed,” Yadron wrote to parishioners. “His kind and gentle ways were a great gift to our parish. Our prayers are with him.”
John Pistone, a church deacon, said the announcement did not surprise parishioners because Snieg’s health had been poor–he struggled to walk and had trouble moving one side of his body following a stroke.
Over the weekend, however, parishioners learned of Snieg’s past.
“I feel very sad,” Pistone said. “I feel sad certainly for the victims. I feel sad for Father Snieg. He was always a gentleman and a fine priest. There was no inkling of this prior situation. It is a sad time in our church.”
Parishioner Andy Brzozkiewicz said he learned of the allegations after reading newspaper accounts. “It’s sad for me,” he said. “I thought a lot of the man.”