UNITED STATES
Young Feminists
Statement of NOW President Terry O’Neill
March 13, 2012
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is at it again. In addition to playing a major role in the right-wing war on women, the all-male hierarchy of the Catholic Church is trying to silence an organization dedicated to helping women and men who have been victimized by clergy.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is a tiny organization of almost all volunteers with an annual budget of less than a half million dollars. The threat SNAP poses to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is not based on its relative strength, but on the power of the truth. So, naturally, the bishops want to squash them like a bug. How’s that for Christian morals?
For decades, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church swept accusations of sexual abuse under the rug along with its collective conscience. Now, in two Missouri cases, attorneys for accused priests are inundating SNAP with subpoenas and other tactical measures that can be viewed as an abuse of the legal process.
The National Organization for Women wants to know: How much money are the bishops spending to demolish SNAP? Wouldn’t that money be better spent establishing processes for rooting out sexually abusive priests and caring for their victims?
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