Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) stands by its friends who have been convicted on child pornography charges:
Dr. Steve Taylor is a psychiatrist who is sitting in a Louisiana jail awaiting transfer to a state prison. He pleaded guilty last April to 23 counts of attempted possession of child pornography. He is not just an ordinary shrink with a sick appetite—he worked with SNAP for years.
We now know, thanks to the reporting of Bruce Nolan in the Times-Picayune, that this child porn afficionado is so beloved by SNAP that its founder, Barbara Blaine, intervened on his behalf even before his conviction: she, along with her friend, noted Church-bashing author Jason Berry, wrote to the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, asking them to give due consideration to Taylor’s alleged humanitarian work before lifting his medical license.
Now why should it matter if Taylor has done some good work in the past? After all, SNAP has never shown the slightest interest in weighing the totality of an accused priest’s record before condemning him publicly, and neither has Berry. Indeed, SNAP advises on its website that when a priest is accused, parishioners who support him should do so “PRIVATELY.” [Its emphasis.] To support him publicly would be “terribly hurtful to victims.”
Blaine and Berry should immediately issue an apology to all victims, stating how contrite they are for causing such terrible hurt; they should also withdraw their public support for Dr. Taylor. To show how downright hypocritical these people are consider what happened last Thursday: SNAP issued a news release expressing its utter delight with the news that a North Carolina priest pleaded guilty to deleting child porn from his computer; he is sitting in a federal prison. His humanitarian record counted for nothing in their eyes.
Contact Blaine: SNAPblaine@gmail.com
