For almost six months, Bishop Tobin and his staff recklessly and callously chose silence over warning, and opted to alert no one about a credible allegation of child sexual abuse against a Catholic priest. That is inexcusable. Six months is a long time to intimidate other victims, threaten witnesses, destroy evidence, and fabricate alibis.

Regardless of what law enforcement does or doesn't do with this case, Tobin had a moral and civic duty to promptly warn the public and his parishioners about this serious allegation.

That he chose self-serving secrecy over simple prudence is very disturbing.

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered this cleric's crimes will find the courage to call police, get help, start recovering and protect others.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 21 years and have more than 9,000 members across the country. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers.