SNAP under Assault

By Bill White
Morning Call
April 10, 2012

http://blogs.mcall.com/bill_white/2012/04/snap-under-assault.html


Around here, many of us have been following the trial of Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn (left), accused of transferring pedophile priests to unwitting parishes to cover up their crimes, and Rev. William Brennan, accused of raping a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

It truly is a landmark case, since Lynn is the first U.S. church official ever charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving predators in jobs around children despite prior complaints. The testimony has been horrifying.

Still, these allegations in many cases just further dramatize what already has been reported in two Philadelphia grand jury reports about the way the Philadelphia Diocese covered up child sex abuse. In the long run, you could argue that dragging all this out into the sunlight will be a positive thing for us as a society, including the church if it leads to genuine reform and changed attitudes.

So I think I’ve been even more disturbed by the news from the Midwest, where Catholic officials have gone on the offensive in what appears to be an attempt to stifle one of their most outspoken critics and to intimidate victims, whistle blowers and others.

As I’ve written about child sex abuse over the years, I’ve come to very much admire the organization Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, its local representatives and its executive director, David Clohessy. I’ve seen firsthand the way they’ve provided a desperately needed voice for the victims of clergy abuse, many of whom just needed someone who would listen to them, and have applied pressure to change the disastrous church policies of the past.

Before I get to the specifics of what's been happening over the last several months, let me quote from the SNAP mission statement. There's more to it, but this is enough to give you the idea.

Our most powerful tool is the light of truth.

Through our actions, we bring healing, prevention and justice.

SNAP is an independent, confidential network of survivors of religious sexual abuse and their supporters who work to:

Protect the vulnerable:

We expose predators and those who shield them. We build policies and practices within secular and religious organizations that protect children now and in the future.

Heal the wounded:

We share our stories and empower others to confront the truth. Together, we find healthy mechanisms for healing.

Prevent the abuse:

We educate ourselves and our communities about the effects of abuse. We speak in a unified voice to bring about change by exposing the malignant actions of abusive religious ministers and the church officials who shield them.

In light of all the good this group has done, I was disturbed to see the tactics of lawyers for the church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases.

They have filed subpoenas to force SNAP to disclose 23 years of correspondence with victims, whistle blowers and others that might touch on the case against accused pedophile priests and church leaders in Kansas City and St. Louis. They also demanded any communications pertaining to repressed memory.

The subpoena in the St. Louis case was requested on behalf of attorneys for the St. Louis archdiocese and Archbishop Robert Carlson. The Kansas City subpoena was requested on behalf of the lawyers defending Rev. Michael Tierney, the accused priest in that case.

SNAP, not a large or well-heeled organization, says it has spent $50,000 and some 300 staff hours trying to pull documents together and to protect the confidentiality of its communications with these very vulnerable individuals, who it says should be covered under Missouri’s Rape Shield Law.

The whole thing reeks of an organized attempt to cripple a powerful voice for change in the way the church has been dealing with this horrible problem. So far, unfortunately, the Missouri courts have gone along with it, but SNAP has been receiving tremendous legal and other support and has set up an online petition at its website.

Clohessy spent six hours on the witness stand during a deposition over the Kansas City case, and he told me only once was he asked if he had had any contact with the plaintiff, which he had not.

“You know who asked the question?” he said. “Our lawyer.”

If SNAP had no contact with the alleged victim, why was it being subjected to this demand for information? Clohessy said the group has been so tied up dealing with these fishing expeditions that it has slowed down its ability to respond to victims.

“I think it’s about basically trying to deter people who need our help from contacting us, victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police officers. Silencing, derailing and hopefully bankrupting us.”

Although the confidentiality of victims — most of whom never take any kind of legal action — has received a lot of attention, Clohessy told me the first panicked call he got in the wake of the news about the Kansas City subpoena was from a Catholic layman. The man asked if Clohessy remembered an email the man had sent him, complaining about a deceptive column in his local parish bulletin.

“It wasn’t a confidential document,” Clohessy said, “and he did absolutely nothing wrong except to say, ‘Do you read this the way I read this?’” The problem is that his wife works for the local parish. “He’s convinced that if that document was turned over, his wife would end up getting fired or disciplined in some way.”

SNAP worries that other dioceses around the country will pursue the same kind of tactics as they face court challenges for predatory priests and institutional cover-ups.

I contacted the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and received a reply from spokeswoman Becky Summers, who pointed out that all the parties in the litigation have been instructed to refrain from making public statements but did acknowledge that although it was the attorney for the accused priest who requested the Clohessy deposition, a lawyer for the diocese did attend. She added, “The diocese has made it known that it is not seeking the names of any individuals who may have communicated with SNAP or seeking the public identification of any person who has requested anonymity.”

Other church and accused priest representatives have similarly declined to comment specifically, citing the gag order, but several press reports have quoted Catholic League President William Donohue, who argued that it’s about time the church got tough with SNAP, an organization he says is an “utter fraud.” The Catholic League says it is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization.

In a March 14 press release headlined “Bishops Should Only Hire Tough Lawyers,” Donohue addressed a New York Times editorial that was critical of the tactic of accused dioceses and priests targeting SNAP.

“When the Times is sued,” he wrote, “does it hire wimpy lawyers? Does it allow itself to be a punching bag? Not on your life: they hire the most aggressive attorneys they can buy. But when the bishops follow suit, they’re accused of not showing ‘reconciliation’ for the victims.

“The New York Times needs to get it straight: when rapacious activists and lawyers, motivated by revenge—not justice—seek to bleed the Catholic Church by using methods that are unethical at best, and illegal at worst, then it is only fair that the bishops take a page out of the New York Times playbook and defend themselves. With vigor.”