Less than a month after being placed on leave, a Cincinnati-area priest has been indicted on nine counts of rape. We hope that today’s charges bring comfort to his victim and encourages others who may have seen, suspected, or suffered his abuse to come forward and make a report to police and prosecutors.

Fr. Geoff Drew, the former head of St. Ignatius Loyola Paris, allegedly abused a young boy while he was employed as the Music Minister at St. Jude School in Cincinnati. Our hearts ache for the victim and we hope that he is finding help as he navigates his healing journey.

While we are glad that Fr. Drew has been indicted, we cannot help but worry that there are other survivors who have yet to come forward. However, we know that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati had been warned about Fr. Drew’s inappropriate behavior for at least six years without taking action to keep him away from children, so we are afraid that there are others who are suffering in silence. We call on Archbishop Dennis Schnurr to personally visit every parish where Fr. Drew worked or attended and beg others who have information to come forward to police and prosecutors now.

We also hope that other church officials – both in the United States and in the Vatican – are paying attention to the situation in Cincinnati and will discipline Archbishop Schnurr and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Binzer, two men who were aware of the allegations against Fr. Drew but did nothing about them. Their inaction must be met with action immediately if the secrecy that allows abuse within the Catholic church to thrive is to be stamped out.

CONTACT: Dan Frondorf, SNAP Cincinnati (danielfrondorf@gmail.com, 513-706-7403), Zach Hiner, Executive Director (zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517-974-9009)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)