On January 2, the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), David Clohessy, was deposed for going public with information he allegedly obtained from a lawyer in violation of a court gag order issued by Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle. Barbara Dorris, another SNAP officer, has also been served with a subpoena.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch on this issue:
SNAP has been working in concert with its legal allies and media buddies for decades. The goal? To discredit the Catholic Church. At one time, we even thought SNAP officials were honest brokers, but those days are long gone; our inside report on the SNAP conference held last July demonstrates its anti-Catholic agenda [click here].
The Post-Dispatch is so exercised by the right of St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson to fight back against SNAP that it is beckoning Catholics to rebel at Mass this weekend by refusing to put money in the collection basket. Does it really think it has that kind of clout? Yet it weeps for its Catholic-bashing friends by arguing that the litigation “has strained SNAP’s finances.” It should instead ask why SNAP’s lawyers who grease the operation aren’t writing checks, or taking the case pro-bono.
We noticed, too, the cheap shot at Judge Mesle: she is described as “a minister’s daughter.” So how many reporters at the paper were raised by committed atheists? How many have a liberal rabbi as their father? How many were born to an unwed mother?
The online story in the Post-Dispatch shows a picture of SNAP officials protesting outside the Vatican on March 25, 2010. Thus does it unwittingly make our point: SNAP, always consorting with its lawyer and media allies, knew to be there the day the New York Times broke a “scandal” story. But perhaps the Post-Dispatch believes they were there on a retreat.
Contact the editorial page editor, Gilbert Bailon: gbailon@post-dispatch.com
