Those of you who have read these virtual pages over the years know that I don’t believe the Catholic Church was ever a spiritual organization but a political one. It was founded to be the state religion of the Roman empire and was the corrupt king maker in much of Europe until the reformation. With 24/7 instant news it became difficult to hide that corruption when the victims of pedophile priests started coming forward. Now the conservative plutocrats that make up the Catholic hierarchy are fighting back proving once again there is very little spirituality involved but a lot of politics and lust for power.
Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose more than two decades of e-mails that could include correspondence with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, the police, prosecutors and journalists.
The group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the litigation. But the group has been subpoenaed five times in recent months in Kansas City and St. Louis, and its national director, David Clohessy, was questioned by a battery of lawyers for more than six hours this year. A judge in Kansas City ruled that the network must comply because it “almost certainly” had information relevant to the case.
The network and its allies say the legal action is part of a campaign by the church to cripple an organization that has been the most visible defender of victims, and a relentless adversary, for more than two decades. “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and an advocate for victims of clergy sex crimes, “it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s what they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”
Of course the very evil Bill Donohue is involved.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue is sick and tired of coddling rape victims. That’s why he supports efforts by lawyers for two Missouri priests accused of sexual abuse to cripple an organization that advocates on behalf of the victims of pedophile priests – Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
The Roman Catholic Church has been a power hungry plutocracy from the beginning. They have less power today but little else has changed.
Update:
Charles Pierce as usual has a great take.
I spent the afternoon scouring the various versions of the Gospels that we have lying around Blog HQ, and I haven’t found one that renders Christ’s famous admonition as, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, but lawyer up first, and cover your asses with SLAPP suits.”
There’s not much else to say. This is what happens when you don’t put criminals in jail. The sheer audacity of the clan of the red beanie continues to amaze and astound. And their spokesman is decided unscriptural: