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	Clergy Sex Abuse Victims Call for Action By Michael Meenan NY1 April 21, 2008 http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=8&aid=80739 [wth video] Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests stood outside St. Patrick's Cathedral this morning, handing out flyers that highlight their five-point plan for combating clergy sex crimes. This comes on the heels of Pope Benedict XVI's unprecedented meeting with church sex abuse victims while he was in Washington, D.C. last week. Several times during his visit, the pope addressed the scandal. "Responding to this situation has not been easy and, as the president of your Episcopal Conference has indicated, it was 'sometimes very badly handled,'" said Benedict. Victims say they want the pope's strong words to be followed by stronger actions. "What we want is to make sure that the historic opening that has been created by the pope addressing this issue in the United States is going to be seized upon by victims around the world," said John Pilmaier of SNAP, "to begin to take the steps to really address this and solve this problem." "What we're asking the laity to do is to put pressure on the bishops to do what's right, ensure that justice is done for every survivor and to ensure that this does not happen to another generation of children," added Peter Isely of the SNAP national board. SNAP's action plan includes closing the loophole in church law that allows priests who have abused children to remain in ministry, reprimanding bishops who have transferred known sex offenders, and ordering bishops to turn over all sex offender clerics. Victim John Rodriguez of Brooklyn says that kids who were abused like him a long time ago are still suffering. "A lot of persons have committed suicide, a lot of persons have died, went into drugs," he said. Linda Coronado, a Texas Catholic in town for Sunday's Yankee Stadium Mass, stood by SNAP's effort to shed light on the abuse scandal. She wants to make sure that Catholics don't lose their faith. "The devil attacks you," she said. "That one priest, he's attacking a hundred souls because a hundred people are going to leave the church like that." One SNAP member says the fight actually strengthens his faith. "We're not trying to bring the church down," said Pilmaier. "Many of us are still Catholics." Members of this clergy sexual abuse survivor group say they know healing from the trauma can take a long time, but that with the pope being candid about the issue they want the wheels of justice to turn more quickly.
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