TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
Two members of SNAP, the advocacy group for victims of clergy sexual abuse, became embroiled in an emotional showdown with a Toledo diocesan official yesterday when they were barred from church property while trying to deliver a letter to Bishop Leonard Blair.
Claudia Vercellotti and Jon Schoonmaker, co-coordinators of the local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, were blocked at the Catholic Center’s sidewalk by Patty Stein, building manager.
After a long and smoldering standoff, the SNAP representatives handed Ms. Stein a letter urging Bishop Blair to forbid the Rev. Gerald Robinson from wearing clerical garb during his murder trial, slated to begin Monday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
The SNAP officials said in the letter they “fear that allowing Father Robinson to dress in clerical garb may unduly bias the proceedings” and “inappropriately influence the jury.”