Stop SNAPping!

From the eminent Ann Rodgers at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, word comes that as one investigation ends, another might just be beginning....

Three advocates for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests met with Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. yesterday, asking for a grand jury investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The meeting came on the heels of a Philadelphia grand jury report that castigated the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for past failure to remove such priests, though the cases were too old to prosecute.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national group, pointed out that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, archbishop of Philadelphia from 1988 to 2003, was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1983 to 1988.

"Only the most naive would believe that abuse, deceit and cover-up in Pittsburgh's Catholic hierarchy suddenly and magically ended with Bevilacqua's departure," said a letter that activists presented to Zappala. They held a news conference outside the courthouse after earlier leafletting outside St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland, and Zappala invited them in.

OK, it's getting a little ridiculous now. As Philly showed, everything is past statute -- and, as everyone should know by now, Donald Wuerl had religion on abuse a long, long time ago.

"If you're looking for a bishop who is going to oust these priests, [Wuerl] is the man for you," said Tim Bendig, 34, whose 1988 civil lawsuit led to Wuerl's fight in the Vatican for the right to remove predators.

Um, somebody send David Clohessy to talk to Bendig, because he's off being hysterical. Again.

The actions of Datillo and Wuerl are "somewhat encouraging" but not reassuring, said David Clohessy, of St. Louis, the national director of SNAP.

"Virtually every diocese can point to one or two cases that were seemingly handled well. That doesn't mean there was no cover-up," he said.

OK, between this and David Clohessy's local hand having no clue who Marcel Maciel was on live television the other night while trying to accuse Papa Ratzi of "letting abuse cases drop" with a straight face, I'm just... um... not the biggest believer of SNAP's right now.

Oh, and their president strongly implied to the AP the other day that it was better to have abusive priests defrocked, without supervision and in the general population as opposed to under watch and living lives of prayer and penance in an enclosure.

That sound you hear? It's the last drops of SNAP's credibility, rushing away....

I'll repeat the quote from the Sane Survivor, it's so good

"If you're looking for a bishop who is going to oust these priests, [Wuerl] is the man for you," said Tim Bendig, 34, whose 1988 civil lawsuit led to Wuerl's fight in the Vatican for the right to remove predators.

But, as usual, not even that first-hand assessment is good enough for David Clohessy. How tragically par for the course.

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