IOWA
Iowa City Press-Citizen
By Rob Daniel
Iowa City Press-Citizen
It was a matter of what the bishops of Catholic dioceses across the United States should do, the national director of a network of survivors of sex abuse by Catholic priests said.
If David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, were the bishop of a diocese, and the 60 or so people sitting in front of him were priests, there would be a "zero tolerance" policy in terms of sexual abuse of children by priests. He said he would go after priests who do not report abuse by other priests and he would push for priests who were accused of molesting children to fight the accusations fairly, without resorting to intimidating their accuser.
"If you're accused, you will act as Jesus would," Clohessy said Saturday. "You will defend yourself, but you will not attack your accuser."
The remarks were part of "A Weekend of Hope and Understanding," a two-day conference held Friday and Saturday in Iowa City at Faith United Church of Christ and the Iowa City Public Library. The goal of the conference, according to event organizers Iowa City Call to Action and Concerned Catholics of the Davenport Diocese, was to encourage victims of sexual abuse by priests to come forward and to get support from other Catholics and fellow survivors.