BishopAccountability.org
	Solitary SNAP Member Holds News Conference outside Springfield Chancery Offices By Rebecca Drake The Iobserver September 1, 2011 http://www.iobserve.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=1112&cntnt01origid=57&cntnt01returnid=58 SPRINGFIELD – Bill Nash, a local member of the national organization Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was the lone representative who showed up for a "sidewalk news conference" in front of the chancery of the Springfield Diocese today. A press release e-mailed to local media and SNAP members Thursday morning stated that the goal of the conference was to discuss the diocese's recent release on its website of the names of 15 priests credibly accused of clerical sexual abuse of children. "We are very grateful," Nash told reporters, "but we'd like to see this list more complete." Nash also commended the diocese for maintaining a priest monitor to supervise accused priests but said, "These guys need to be watched 24-7" and, in some cases, should be in jail. "It's all about protecting children," Nash said. "How can children be safe if we don't know who these people are?" He said the diocese "is not transparent about the priests they are protecting." Asked by a reporter why it is important to SNAP to have names of deceased priests publicized on the website, Nash said, "I meet new victims every year." He described one of these victims as "a woman in her 80s" who had been abused by a priest when she was a child and "had been carrying this around with her for all these years." "We need that affirmation, that validation," Nash said, referring to the public list of accused priests. "A priest monitor is not enough." Diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont later met with reporters inside the Bishop Joseph F. Maguire Pastoral Center, across from the chancery, and commented on SNAP's charge that the diocese "quietly posted the names of 15 accused priests on their website." "We have been working on the list of names for over a year. All have been publicly known and we haven't hidden them," Dupont said. In a written statement given to reporters, Dupont stated: "The posting on our website was part of an ongoing reorganization of that site to be more informative. With one exception, all these names have previously and widely been made known. It has long been our stated policy to work with all victims who come forward through our Review Board process, extending all necessary help that is warranted. If the allegation is found to be credible and the priest is alive – that information would be duly reported as we have in the past." Responding to a reporter who asked why the names of deceased priests accused of abuse are not publicized, Dupont reiterated his written statement that "if the priest found with a credible allegation is deceased and therefore does not have the basic right and ability to defend themselves then that name would not be released, although the victim would still receive all the services and assistance required. We remain fully committed to healing all victims." When speaking with reporters, Dupont also addressed SNAP's documented support of Dr. Steve Taylor, a Louisiana psychiatrist presently serving a prison sentence on 23 counts of possession of child pornography. An Aug. 7, 2011 news story in New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper reported that, "In 2009, before his conviction, national figures in the sexual abuse movement – such as journalist Jason Berry and Barbara Blaine, the national founder of SNAP, or Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests – wrote on Taylor's behalf to the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, which was then considering whether to lift Taylor's medical license." "Their lack of openness with regard to their relationship and support of Dr. Taylor is deeply disturbing to all true child advocates," Dupont wrote in his Sept. 1 statement. When asked by a local television reporter to comment on SNAP's support of Taylor, Nash said he did not know about the charges against Taylor..
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