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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

The professional victims’ lobby is meeting in Boston this weekend for the “10th Anniversary Celebration & Conference.” Shamelessly, they are “celebrating” the 10th anniversary of media reports on the Boston clergy sexual abuse scandal. The speakers have quite a resume. We know from past experience what drives them.

• Actors and artists will set the tone with melodramatic precision
• Activists from SNAP, along with a suspended priest, will discuss their conspiracy theories about the “evil institution”
• Two psychiatrists and a psychologist will entertain the crowd with their fully discredited notions about “repressed memory”
• Bigoted lawyers will delight the audience by drawing analogies between Islamic terrorists and the Vatican
• Reporters and columnists who are so full of hate that they can’t see straight will recount their paranoid stories

One of the speakers, Kathy Dwyer, is already giving priests, brothers and nuns a “heads up.” These are her exact words: “PLEASE NOTE: We are asking any clerics (male or female) who may be planning on attending the conference to, out of respect for survivors, wear street clothes only.” But the only ones likely to attend don’t need to be told this anyway.

The event ends on Sunday at Boston’s Holy Cross Cathedral. But not for the purpose of going to Mass. Fittingly, they will hold a demonstration. What they will be demonstrating about no one really knows—the homosexual scandal effectively ended in the mid-1980s—but no doubt they will still find a way to bash the Catholic Church. It’s what they do.

I thought about going, at least to hang out, but the Giants are in the playoffs.

Contact Kathy Dwyer to register: kathleenmdwyer@aol.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), David Clohessy, and its outreach director, Barbara Dorris:

Yesterday I said, “[David] Clohessy never tires of lecturing the Catholic Church on the need for transparency, yet when he is in the hot seat he rebels.” I was referring to his anger at being subpoenaed to testify in a St. Louis court on Monday regarding public statements he made that were allegedly taken from lawyer Rebecca Randles in violation of a court gag order. Now Clohessy is justifying a double standard.

“We believe that there are two standards of transparency,” Clohessy said. He maintained there is one standard for “institutions that have enabled thousands of pedophiles,” and another for “organizations that enable kids to be safer and expose heinous crimes.” In other words, there should be one standard of justice for the Catholic Church, and another for SNAP.

A defense lawyer seized the moment. He noted that Clohessy wants bishops to suspend accused priests “the minute they are sued for abuse.” Accordingly, he then asked, does this mean SNAP should close its doors immediately if it is sued for defamation or libel? Clohessy flatly said, “No.” Interestingly, Clohessy refused to answer many questions during his deposition, complaining that “Church defense lawyers will likely ask that we be found in contempt of court and possibly fined or possibly jailed.” Reporters described him as looking “shaken and teary-eyed.”

Barbara Dorris is so contemptuous of priestly rights that she scoffed at the idea that an accused priest “has the same legal rights as any citizen.” She plainly said, “But of course, he doesn’t.” She then made the inane comment that a priest cannot marry or work at an abortion clinic (as if the civil law prevented him from doing so). But we know what she meant.

Looks like SNAP has snapped.

Contact Clohessy: SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Yesterday, the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), David Clohessy, was deposed in St. Louis regarding allegations that he issued news releases based on information contained in legal documents from attorney Rebecca Randles; those documents were subjected to a gag order last August by Jackson County, Missouri Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle.

Lawyers for Rev. Michael Tierney and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are seeking internal documents and correspondence from SNAP; Clohessy may have to turn over 23 years worth of such information. Judge Mesle ordered Clohessy to comply with her ruling because he “almost certainly has knowledge concerning issues relevant to this litigation.” An appeal by SNAP to the Missouri Supreme Court failed, thus forcing Clohessy to testify.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

This is just the beginning. The Catholic League has long charged that there is an incestuous relationship between SNAP and attorneys like Rebecca Randles; she is a protégé of Jeffrey Anderson, and both have been feeding and greasing SNAP for decades. It’s now time to blow the lid on this scam and get to the bottom of it.

Clohessy never tires of lecturing the Catholic Church on the need for transparency, yet when he is in the hot seat, he rebels. That is why he is having a press conference today in St. Louis blaming the Catholic Church for playing hardball. We’re delighted the Church is taking a tougher stance. The anti-Catholic activists at SNAP are so shaken by these events that one of its staffers has accused the Missouri Supreme Court of “an unprecedented, bullying maneuver” for simply enforcing the law.

Talk about turning the tables! What a great way to start the new year.

Contact Clohessy: SNAPclohessy@aol.com