UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert
Dear Friends,
I’m sure most of you have seen today’s New York Times article entitled “Church Using Priests’ Cases to Pressure Victims’ Network.”
I hope that you’ll consider responding to this important article by adding your comments on the NY Times site and by visiting the SNAP website too. SNAP deserves our financial and moral support.
The Catholic church in the United States has always played two games with individual survivors of abuse by its clergy—pastoral softball and legal hardball. But now we have confirmation from a straight-talking, knowledgeable player, William Donohue of the Catholic League, that SNAP as an organization is being targeted:
“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.”
The USCCB has issued a denial, but there is ample corroboration for Mr. Donohue’s assessment.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.