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	Giving Voice to Victims By David Clohessy, Peter Isely, Joelle Casteix and Barbara Dorris Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests April 20, 2008 http://snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2008_press_releases/042008_snap_leafletting_bishops_backsliding.htm Victims to hand fliers to Catholics blasting backsliding bishops Pope admits badly handled crisis, but US officials deny & backpedal Group attacks Vaticans top American Cardinal & Long Island prelate The two undercut Pontiffs message of hope and reconciliation, SNAP says Their insensitive denials only rub salt into wounds of victims & Catholics Self help group also asks parishioners to invite victims to speak in churches What: As parishioners leave & enter mass (and pedestrians walk by), clergy sex abuse victims will hand out fliers urging them to -- follow the Popes example and invite victims to speak in their churches, and -- speak out against two high-ranking church officials whose recent remarks undercut the Pope by denying or minimizing US bishops wrongdoing in child sex cases When: TODAY, Sunday, April 20, from 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. Where: On sidewalk outside St. Patricks Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan Who: Four-six clergy abuse survivors who are members of a support group called SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including Why: Earlier this week, the Pope met with victims and urged each Catholic to do what you can to foster healing and reconciliation, and to assist those who have been hurt. For many victims, speaking before Catholic groups about their experiences is very healing. SNAP hopes more Catholics will be moved by the Pontiffs remarks this week and will invite victims to give talks at parishes. Earlier this week, the Pope candidly admitted that the scandal has been sometimes very badly handled by US bishops. Yet on Friday, a top Vatican official, Cardinal William Levada, largely blamed the crisis on therapists who allegedly gave bishops bad advice about predator priests. Levada denied that theres a broad base of bishops guilty of aiding and abetting pedophiles. http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=1902 Considerable evidence suggests otherwise, as do recent survey results that show substantial and growing dissatisfaction by Catholics over the US hierarchys cover ups. (A lengthy Dallas Morning News investigation - published on June 12, 2002 - found that 2/3 of all US bishops quietly shuffled predators around, despite proof that they had molested kids.) Levada is the former archbishop of San Francisco. And in a Newsday interview yesterday, Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy made similarly deceptive comments, saying there may have been some bishops that mishandled the crisis. Murphy, who was a close and controversial associate of Bostons severely discredited Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned over the crisis. Murphy once said he should have been less quick to judge lay Catholics whove criticized him, but has rarely admitted his reckless and secretive decisions regarding predator priests in Boston or on Long Island.
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