PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
An organization representing survivors of pedophile priests met with Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., Thursday to ask his help in getting the Justice Department to investigate the Catholic Church.
The request comes in the wake of a controversy over a column Santorum wrote in 2002 blaming the Catholic sex scandal on Boston liberals. Members of the the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) feel the comments were hurtful to them, but want to use the controversy to try to convince Santorum to join them in trying to get law enforcement to hold the church accountable, just as teachers and others in position of authority over children.
Tammy Lerner of Lowhill Township is director of the Pennsylvania chapter of SNAP. She and two national SNAP officials met with Santorum and also planned to meet with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who used the U.S. Senate floor as his podium to criticize Santorum for his comments
Santorum, who is up for re-election in Pennsylvania next year, wrote a column for a Catholic Web site in 2002 saying that promoting alternative lifestyles feeds such aberrant behavior as priests molesting children.
"Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," Santorum wrote, "When the culture is sick, every element of it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm," Santorum said.
Santorum, who is Catholic, refused to retract the statement when asked about it by a Boston Globe reporter.