BishopAccountability.org
	Court Backs Church; Sex Abuse Victims Respond SNAP January 27, 2011 http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/2011_statements/012611_court_backs_church_sex_abuse_victims_respond.htm Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com) How sad that church officials try to exploit legal technicalities in a clergy sexual assault case. It’s even sadder that Catholic officials are apparently succeeding in this callous effort. Those who report being sexually violated by clerics deserve their day in court. They shouldn’t be silenced because of archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statutes of limitations. And if such statutes exist, church officials should not try to take advantage of them. Instead, if church officials believe they are innocent, they should let the truth surface in court, instead of seizing on any legal maneuver they can to prevent witnesses and evidence from surfacing. Bishops can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim to be Christ’s representatives on earth while acting like cold-hearted CEOs, especially in clergy sexual misconduct cases. (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 22 years and have more than 10,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org) Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com ), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com), Peter Isely (414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com) http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=109876 Court Affirms Ruling Favoring SD Diocese Published: January 26, 2011 SIOUX FALLS, SD - A federal appeals court has upheld a judge's ruling favoring the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City in a lawsuit brought by a woman who says a priest sexually assaulted her in 1987. A judge last year granted summary judgment in favor of the diocese on the grounds that Pamela Baye and her husband, Sylvan Baye, filed their lawsuit after the statute of limitations ran out. The couple appealed, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis affirmed the decision this week. The lawsuit said it was during therapy in 2006 that Pamela Baye remembered the assault from 19 years earlier.
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