Dolan and Donohue Working Together to Attack Victims of Clergy Sexual Assault

SNAP Wisconsin
March 23, 2012

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The new Cardinal of New York Timothy Dolan has chosen to attack the victims of clergy childhood sexual assault using his close ally Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League.

Dolan is very media savvy. He knows he shouldn’t directly attack victims of clergy sexual abuse, so he lets and encourages Donohue to do it for him.

Bill Donohue is clearly comfortable in this role. In 2011 he took out an ad in the New York Times in which, when referring to the thousands of children who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests, he stated “Let’s get it straight- they weren’t children and they weren’t raped”. This year Donohue referred to victim/survivors who commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Boston Globe investigative report which exposed the clerical sex crimes of the Boston Archdiocese as “pitiful malcontents”.

Dolan clearly thinks highly of Donohue. In a blog post titled “Why we need the Catholic League” Dolan praised him saying “he’s stood up for a lot of us before, and I am glad to express my encouragement for the work he does,” The Cardinal adds “Keep at it, Bill! We need you! “

In a recent New York Times article “Church puts legal pressure on abuse victims group”, Donohue revealed a new strategy underway to target SNAP and victims of clergy sexual abuse stating “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 claims “The church has been to 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”.

Dolan obviously approves of Donohue’s remarks in the New York Times. A week later, the Cardinal published, on the Archdiocese of New York website and his own blog, a Catholic League “hit piece” titled “Catholic League Reports on SNAP Deposition.” In it, Donohue essentially calls David Clohessy, the Director of SNAP and survivor of clergy sexual abuse, a “con artist.”

Dolan and Donohue don’t simply attack victims of clergy sex crimes through published newspaper articles and blog posts. Donohue, who didn’t approve of a SNAP Wisconsin blog posting, issued a press release encouraging his followers to contact the author and express their feelings about the article. This is a sampling of what the author and survivor of clergy sexual assault received:

“I hope you know that hell awaits you and your father awaits also. I know you love father very much”.

“Don’t let your dislike of the Catholic Church cause you to be a deceitful person. You can only lose your credibility and worse your soul”.

“May God have mercy on your and your kind’s soul”.

“You might want to consider that bearing false witness is something we are commanded not to do, and this could be the result for you. And by the way God did not create HELL, the fallen angels did. HELL exists and we might go there” (signed…In charity…)

“What you reap you sow”

“You will ultimately not be successful. God will not allow it”.

“Shame on you for bringing your family name to such a low level”.

“There are consequences for thinking the Ten Commandments are suggestions. The time will come when you will rue the day for your actions”.

“I get the impression you never listened to your Mom”.

So, why is this a big deal?

Because somewhere out there is an 18 year old who was assaulted four years ago by a cleric. She is considering coming forward, reporting the crime to authorities, holding her perpetrator accountable and keeping other kids safe. She happens to pick up a copy of a newspaper, or reads somewhere online that the leaders of her church are attacking victims. Now she fears a backlash and worries that if she speaks out she and her family may be next. So she remains silent, and her perpetrator remains in ministry, and other children are harmed.

As the Cardinal Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan has an obligation to publically call on church officials, and those who speak in the name of the church, to stop attacking the victim/survivors of clergy sexual assault.