The SNAP claims that the coordinated legal action against the group from courts in Kansas City and St. Louis is integral to the Catholic Church’s campaign to silence victims of priestly sex abuse.
Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor told the media, “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced, it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s why they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, New York said that targeting SNAP was fully justified as “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.” Mr. Donohue further added that the leading bishops he knew about have resolved to fight back aggressively against SNAP. He said, “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”
Donohue also said that the bishops were rethinking their approach of paying large settlements: “The church has been too quick to write a check, and I think they’ve realized it would be a lot less expensive in the long run if we fought them one by one.”
However, Sister Mary Ann Walsh of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said that Donohue was wrong and that “there is no national strategy” that indicates bishops have agreed to get tough on SNAP.
SNAP was initially formed two decades back as a loose collective of people victimized as children by Catholic priests. They had the goal to help others return to normalcy and ease the pain by making referrals to therapists and lawyers. Later, with continuous rise in numbers, the group began to protest outside churches.
Last year, after Bishop Robert W. Finn becoming the first American bishop to be criminally indicted for failure to report suspected child abuse in Kansas City, SNAP started receiving pressure.
The SNAP director had received the first subpoena in the case of John Doe B.P. v. The Rev. Michael Tierney and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. In the case four plaintiffs recently came out in the open and accused Father Tierney of sexually abusing them years ago. The case was barred by the law of limitations in Missouri but the plaintiffs contend that they recovered their memories of abuse only recently.
Ten victims’ groups have filed a brief arguing that the subpoena was unconstitutional. The Missouri Press Association also filed a supporting brief challenging the constitutionality of the subpoena upon SNAP.
what comes up next? clergy – or clergy-payed – drive by shooting? the clergy behaviour reminds of the assassination of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, state attorney and judge in Italy – well known as ‘mafia-hunters’. May the US legal system stop and prevent this legal abuse by the RCC and their lawyers.
Thank for this article..
This vicious attack on SNAP/victims tells us only one thing.
To all victims who have been sexually abused by clerics, your voices are strong, powerful, and being heard…!..
The church officials can’t shut us up. They can’t shove all the victims back under their control of silence.
The can of worms has been opened, and that is only because very brave victims of clergy sex abuse are speaking up, coming forward, contacting the police, exposing the truth, and trying their hardest to not allow another child to be given the life sentence of harm which they were dealt.
For those who wish to help …On our website – SNAPnetwork.org – are simple suggestions for helping victims beat back this assault against them by top Catholic officials. Please check it out. Thanks.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511
“Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests” and all clergy.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims.
SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. 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 and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
My questions are basic. Where does SNAP get its funding? In addition, how much is Clohessy paid? Do they financially help represent the “victims” for legal costs associated with their lawsuits? Are they a 501c(3) organization and, if so, are they meeting the legal requirements of that classification by lobbying/filing lawsuits?
Some transparency would be nice for such a shadowy organization with so many legal interests.