UNITED STATES
The Republic of Gilead
On March 12th, the New York Times reported that lawyers for the Catholic church and priests accused in two Missouri sexual abuse cases — John Doe BP v. Fr. Michael Tierney and the Kansas City diocese and Jane Doe v. Fr. Joseph D. Ross and the St. Louis archdiocese — are trying to compel the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to disclose over twenty years of e-mails. SNAP is a clergy abuse victims’ advocacy group founded in 1988, which drew international attention last year for filing a complaint against the Vatican in the International Criminal Court.
The article states that those e-mails could include correspondence with clergy abuse victims, witnesses, journalists, and stakeholders. A Kansas City judge ruled that SNAP must comply because it likely has information of relevance to the abuse cases. SNAP has been subpoenaed five times in St. Louis and Kansas City over the past few months, and national director David Clohessy has been extensively questioned by lawyers.
The SNAP website hit back, decrying the legal pressure as an “attack” from Catholic officials and an affront to the confidentiality of their allies.
“Abuse victims and SNAP are being attacked by lawyers for KC Bishop Robert Finn and pedophile priests. We’re fighting hard to protect the confidentiality of victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and others who come to us for help.”
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