WHAT’S WRONG WITH PEDOPHILIA?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue raises a serious question:

The mainstream media never tire of lambasting the Catholic Church for not responding strongly enough to allegations of the sexual abuse of minors, yet these very same people show absolutely no interest in reporting on attempts to legitimate pedophilia. Many in the mental health profession who seek to normalize pedophilia met last week in Baltimore, an event that was summarily ignored by the media. Fortunately, attorney Matt Barber, Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action, and Dr. Judith Reisman, a visiting law professor at Liberty University School of Law, were in attendance. To read a summary of their findings, click here.

B4U-ACT is the driving force behind this movement. Its goal is to reconceptualize our thinking about what they politely call “Minor-Attracted Persons.” If they had it their way, sex between adults and minors would no longer be taboo, and pedophilia would no longer be listed as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association. So where is the outrage? To be specific, where is the outrage from those who are fixated on priestly sexual abuse?

Put this first-hand account of the B4U-ACT conference with the Catholic League’s first-hand account of the SNAP conference (see today’s earlier release), and what emerges is a two-pronged attack: the pedophilia-friendly psychiatrists want to undermine traditional standards of morality, and SNAP (and its allies) want to undermine its most prominent voice, namely the Catholic Church. To say they represent twin devils is to understate the issue.

SNAP—VICTIMS’ GROUP—EXPOSED

Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains what this news release is all about:

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a conference in Washington, D.C. last month that was open to the public. Trusted sources of the Catholic League were there, and their findings are the basis of a report that I wrote, “SNAP EXPOSED: Unmasking the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.”

This report puts an end to the debate over the real motives of those involved in the victims’ lobby. SNAP, along with BishopAccountability and the lawyers they work with, are an agenda-driven movement that uses victims, real and alleged, to smear and sunder the best interests of the Catholic Church. Not only do they entertain conspiracy theories that are themselves disturbing, they are not above lying about some bishops. Moreover, the way they intentionally seek to manipulate the media is utterly shameless. It’s all in the report—SNAP has finally been unmasked.

Copies of the report have been sent to every bishop in the nation, as well as to many in the media, and others. To read it click here.

SNAP STANDS BY CHILD PORN BUDDY

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: [email protected]

ARCHBISHOP DOLAN LIBELED BY SNAP

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the reaction of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to the news that an elderly New York priest was arrested for a sexual infraction:

A 16-year-old girl started working in a Bronx parish last Saturday and now claims she was inappropriately touched by an 87-year-old priest. She returned to work on Monday, where she now says she was touched the wrong way again. Then she voluntarily decided to go back to work on Tuesday, where she now claims she was wrongly touched for the third time. On Wednesday, the cops show up, with TV cameras rolling, and handcuff the elderly priest—who has never had a single allegation made against him in over 60 years as a priest—treating him as if he were Jack the Ripper.

If this isn’t surreal enough, consider that the phony victims’ group, SNAP, is accusing New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan of covering up the alleged misconduct, even though Dolan knew nothing about it. Moreover, when Dolan learned of the arrest, he immediately informed the cleric that he cannot function as a priest and must leave the parish until the matter is settled. So to accuse the New York Archbishop of a cover-up is obscene.

SNAP also says that Archbishop Dolan was guilty of “acting secretively” in a previous case involving Msgr. Wallace Harris. This is libelous: Dolan was the Archbishop of Milwaukee when Harris was suspended. When Cardinal Edward Egan, Dolan’s predecessor, learned of the alleged misconduct by Harris—which supposedly happened 30 years earlier—he notified the D.A.’s office.

According to SNAP’s press release today, these cases also show the Church’s tolerance of pedophilia. But neither of the two cases involved pedophilia: in both instances, the alleged victims were teenagers. The name of the game is to paint priests as child abusers, which is a bold-face lie. It’s time the media turned its cameras on the liars at SNAP.

Contact SNAP honcho David Clohessy: [email protected]

VICTIMS’ GROUPS OPPOSE RIGHTS FOR PRIESTS

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the three most prominent so-called victims’ groups:

BishopAccountability, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the National Survivors Advocates Coalition (NSAC) are so consumed with their agenda that they are ready to throw the constitutional rights of accused priests overboard.

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz expressed his concerns this week that unscrupulous lawyers may try to plunder the bishops’ conference for making commitments on how best to handle accused priests. For merely raising this concern, SNAP urged Catholics in his diocese to stop making contributions. Last month, when a case against the Louisville diocese was thrown out, SNAP lashed out at the judge for dismissing it on the basis of a technicality. The technicality? The First Amendment.

BishopAccountability said this week that priests should be removed from ministry before the accusation is investigated. Similarly, SNAP said this week, “We strongly and repeatedly beg people to call authorities—police and prosecutors—with any information or suspicions no matter how small or seemingly insufficient.” Here’s a good one: after typing “rights of priests” in the search engine of NSAC, the first article to appear calls for the suspension of rights for accused priests.

When an innocent Jesuit priest was recently nominated to be the House Chaplain, both SNAP and NSAC opposed him simply because some accused priests belong to his religious order.

BishopAccountability openly admits that it does not verify allegations made against priests before listing information on its website. That includes Father Charles Murphy, who died last weekend after being victimized by two bogus lawsuits against him that went nowhere. Worse, after NSAC ripped a columnist who pointed out what a travesty the Murphy case is, it concluded, “Perhaps Rev. Murphy was an innocent man, poorly treated.” It just doesn’t get much lower than this.

CREDIBILITY OF VICTIMS’ GROUPS SHOT

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the reaction of two victims’ watchdog groups, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and BishopAccountability.org, to reports this week on sexual abuse:

On Monday, the Vatican issued guidelines on how to address the issue of sexual abuse. The day before, SNAP condemned the guidelines. On Wednesday, the bishops’ conference released the John Jay College of Criminal Justice report on the “Causes and Context” of abuse. The day before, BishopAccountability condemned the report.

We knew their credibility was shot long ago—both are relentless critics of the Catholic Church and neither is open to reason. Regrettably, not everyone has figured them out, and this includes many in the media. Either that, or the enemies of the Church are just given a pass.

What happened this week should be a wake-up call to fair-minded journalists. If the critics of any person or institution are to be deemed credible, they must first pass the test of rationality. But to SNAP and BishopAccountability, evidence doesn’t matter. They’ve made up their minds, and nothing the Catholic Church can do will alter it.

Those in the media who continue to give voice to these irrational sources cast doubt on their own integrity.

VATICAN ABUSE NORMS RELEASED

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the Vatican’s guidelines on sex abuse and the early reaction to it:

The three most noteworthy features of the Vatican’s new guidelines are (a) its commitment to the due process rights of priests (b) its insistence on cooperation with civil authorities and (c) its restatement of episcopal authority in these matters.

It was reassuring to learn that the Vatican says, “The accused cleric is presumed innocent until the contrary is proven.” Significantly, the guidelines say that “the prescriptions of civil law regarding the reporting of such crimes to the designated authority should always be followed.” It also puts the ultimate authority in these matters squarely in the hands of the bishops or major superiors.

The guidelines are respectful of episcopal autonomy and do not attempt a universal template. This is important because cooperation with the civil authorities in some nations is tantamount to suicide: hostile environments for Catholics exist, and any cooperation with the authorities in these nations is bound to come at the expense of justice. With regard to authority in these matters, the Vatican understands the role that diocesan review boards play, but it also recognizes that they are not a substitute for the authority lodged in the bishop.

The news story by the Associated Press speaks of priests who “rape and molest children,” referring to them as “pedophile priests.” It is factually wrong: few were raped, most were not children, and pedophilia is not the problem. In fact, the data show that “inappropriate touching” has been the most common form of abuse, and that most of the victims were postpubescent males, meaning that homosexuality was at work.

Finally, I was disappointed to read that John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, who cited criticism of the guidelines by SNAP, did not inform his readers that those comments were made yesterday, before the Vatican’s statement was released.

NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT SNAP PSYCHIATRIST

Bill Donohue comments on today’s Times-Picayune article on Louisiana psychiatrist Dr. Steve Taylor and his association with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP):

Dr. Steve Taylor, who is sitting in prison after pleading guilty to charges of accessing kiddie porn, seems to have a very curious mindset, and an even more curious relationship with SNAP. At first, he said he downloaded the child porn for “scientific” purposes—he wanted to see what interested pedophiles. Then he said he never obtained such fare, going so far as to say he didn’t recall ever admitting to doing so in the first place. But when his lawyer told him they had him dead to right, his slippery memory snapped back in place, just in time to cop a plea.

Now it may be that Dr. Taylor’s memory is organically flawed: he has been working only half-days since he suffered a head injury in 1968 (the State Board of Medical Examiners made this call when it was determined that his judgment becomes impaired after four hours). In any event, in 2010 board members sanctioned him after they concluded he was a kiddie porn aficionado; he had previously been sanctioned for drug use, dementia, and other maladies.

What has not been determined is whether his suspect mental faculties (combined with his hatred of the Catholic Church, e.g., he wanted to bust the seal of confession) worked against the due process of rights of priests whom he pursued while working with SNAP. As it turns out, Taylor’s wife, the former Lyn Hill Hayward, founded the local SNAP chapter, and it was that affiliate which he served. For her part, she claims she was once abused by a priest friend of hers: they were such good friends that eight years after the alleged abuse, he officiated her marriage. It is not a giant leap of faith to wonder whether all of these factors compromised the rights of priests.

Nothing less than full disclosure of the contents of all records detailing the proceedings between Dr. Taylor and his SNAP clients will satisfy. We also need to know whether he and his wife violated conflict of interest standards. SNAP records should also be disclosed.

SNAP PSYCHIATRIST SENT TO PRISON

Dr. Steve Taylor, a Louisiana psychiatrist who has worked with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), has been sentenced to two years in prison for possession of child pornography.

The news drew the following response from Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

How many more morally debased psychiatrists are working with SNAP? Did SNAP leaders know about the leisure-time activities of Dr. Taylor? When did they know and what did they do about it? It’s time we learned the truth. What we know already is nauseating.

In 2008, Dr. Taylor’s computer was seized by the authorities after they learned that he was downloading child pornography. He was jailed on 107 counts at the time, and in September of last year a grand jury indicted him. The court accepted a plea bargain from him this week.

Dr. Taylor got off easy, at least according to his own standards. In 2003, speaking for SNAP clients, he argued that the confidentiality of the confessional seal should not be respected by the law. In a contemptuous statement against the Catholic Church, he voiced his objections to a unanimous decision by the Louisiana House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice protecting the confidential communication of priests, ministers, rabbis and other clergy members. He said at the time that the seal has to be broken because “We have faces now.”

Well, SNAP, we now have the faces of the children your colleague downloaded to feed his sick habits. If breaking the priest-penitent privilege is something you support, will you now support turning over the patient records of Dr. Taylor? Will you support a probe of this matter? What if there is more evidence against him? What if there are more victims? You’re always looking for new victims, aren’t you? Strike when the iron is hot—who cares about psychiatrist-patient privilege?

NEWS FLASH: PRIESTS HAVE RIGHTS

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on recent attacks on the rights of priests:

In an editorial that is pure boilerplate, the Seattle Times said yesterday that 37 priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese have been allowed to continue in ministry despite a finding of sexual misconduct by a grand jury. But the grand jury did not find anyone guilty—that’s not what they are empowered to do! Moreover, all of the accused were initially investigated and 24 have been suspended on a second look; most of the others have been found innocent or have left ministry. Most important, if mere accusations—not substantiated ones—are the new bar for contacting the authorities, then this should apply to all institutions.

Archbishop Dolan, who leads the bishops’ conference, reaffirmed last week the “resolve to deal firmly” with offending clerics. For this he was condemned by a wildly unreliable blog, the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, for engaging in a “shellgame.” Another website, BishopAccountability.org, took aim at the Bridgeport archdiocese for not listing the names of “accused priests”—not “credibly accused priests”—as if that were somehow unusual. SNAP, the professional victims’ group, expressed anger at the Philly archdiocese for doing what it is entitled to do—pay the fees of an accused cleric.

It is not just the secular media who are doing this. A Catholic dissident newspaper, the National Catholic Reporter, ripped into Archbishop Dolan for his remarks on “60 Minutes.” Dolan correctly said that the scandal is “over with”—most of the abuse took place between the mid-60s and the mid-80s (recent stories are about decades-old cases)—and for this he was treated with scorn by Jamie L. Manson. Unhappy with the Church’s teachings on sexual ethics, she spoke derisively and disrespectfully of the archbishop. Here’s the real problem: this newspaper wins annual awards from the Catholic Press Association, and the author was showered with an award from the same group last year.

*We regret that we confused the Catholic News Service with the Catholic Press Association in an earlier statement.