SNAP to protest LCWR meeting in St. Louis (schedule posted)

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is planning on protesting outside the hotel where the Leadership Conference of Women Religious are meeting in their annual assembly.  Why?  For years they have been trying to work with the LCWR to prevent abuse of children by nuns.

My emphases and comments.

MO – Sex abuse victims to protest outside nuns’ conference
POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY

As hundreds of American Catholic nuns meeting this week in St. Louis, clergy sex abuse victims will protest outside urging them to address the under-reported issue of clergy sex crimes and cover ups by nuns. [UNDER-REPORTED]

A nationwide self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is upset with the main organization of nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). SNAP says the LCWR “refuses to take any real steps to heal the wounded or protect the vulnerable.

“It’s stunning, really, to see nuns moving more timidly and slowly on child sex crimes and cover ups than bishops,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “Abuse by nuns is certainly more common than anyone suspects, and inaction by nuns’ groups contributes to this secrecy.”

For at least eight years, [8 years!] SNAP has repeatedly prodded the sisters’ organization to
–let childhood sexual victims to speak at the nun’s conference,
–actively reach out to victims of nun abuse, and
–post the names, photos and whereabouts of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting nuns on church websites.

[NB:] SNAP’s first protest will be tomorrow, Monday, August 6,from 8:45 p.m. until 10:15 p.m. outside the Millennium Hotel, 200 S. Fourth (between Clark & Walnut) in downtown St. Louis

“The scandal of child molesting nuns takes a backseat to abuse by priests, remaining dangerously in the shadows,” said Steve Theisen of Iowa SNAP who was sexually victimized by a nun as a child. “More and more, we’re hearing from men and women who were molested, as young kids and vulnerable adults, by nuns across the country. Yet nun officials have done little to determine just how widespread such crimes and cover ups are or take effective steps to stop them in the future.”

It’s ironic that the LCWR makes the same excuses for inaction now what bishops used 20 years ago,” said David Clohessy, SNAP’s director. “They make essentially bureaucratic claims like ‘our structure doesn’t permit us to do more’ and their meetings are not ‘the best venue’ to address these issues. It’s very disheartening.”

[…]

How much coverage will this get in the local or national mainstream media?

We need PHOTOS.

Anyone in St. Louis?

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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21 Comments

  1. Midwest St. Michael says:

    Well LCWR – where’s your “transparency”? You bash the bishops and the “male dominated patriarchal institutional Church” for their lack of it – where, pray tell, is yours?

    Waiting… waiting… waiting…

    [crickets]

  2. Kathleen10 says:

    This may very well be the case for all I know. As bad as it is to consider priests doing this kind of thing, I almost feel physically ill at the thought of…no…I can’t say it. It’s too gross.
    If this has happened then yes, let’s all come out from the shadows…shall we? Let’s shed the best disinfectant, sunlight, on whatever has happened. As Catholics, we need to know.

    BUT, the Survivors Network Against Priests (SNAP) or whatever the acronym stands for, has been totally DISCREDITED. See the Catholic League for more information on this terrible group, whose agenda is more about tearing down priests and the Catholic Church than it is any search for “truth”. There is a whole encyclopedia of information about how in one state they have relentlessly harassed and pursued one priest. The head of SNAP, a gentleman whose name I can’t recall, was removed as visible leader since he admitted he lied about the data the group was using to harass the church. He just made it up! I think he assumed no one would know the difference but thankfully, somebody checked. He was also investigated for providing “counseling” in his home for victims of sexual abuse. Unfortunately, he has no experience and no education on the topic! So now, we see a lady has taken over as Chief Harasser. I am dismayed to see this group be the go to group when the topic is sex abuse.
    Again, see the Catholic League files for more information about this terrible group.
    This does not mean we ought not know alot more about this horrible topic of sex abuse by nuns…….sigh……anybody tired beside me?

  3. “How much coverage will this get in the local or national mainstream media?”

    This is a real conundrum for the liberal media. They must decide if the Church can be harmed more by ignore it to keep the “poor, innocent nuns” narrative alive *or* is it more useful to have “sexual abuse” and “Catholic” appear together in the news. It is hard to be a “journalist” these days.

  4. wmeyer says:

    Consistent in their hypocrisy. I suppose we should consider consistency positive. As in, I am positive these women cannot represent my faith.

  5. Clinton says:

    If there have been cases where the authorities have charged a sister for the sexual abuse of a
    child, they certainly haven’t received much coverage in the press. Surely, if a nun was convicted
    or even merely accused, it would make a splash in the media– or is the media that partisan?

    I suppose it’s possible that the congregations involved quietly settled out of court to avoid
    scandal, with provisos that the parties involved not discuss the case. I’m just wondering,
    if SNAP truly has knowledge of credible cases, why we haven’t seen nuns being cuffed and
    hauled off to court to be charged…

    Is this a case of a partisan media downplaying a story that doesn’t fit its agenda (much the
    same way it ignores the scandal of child sexual abuse among schoolteachers) or is it a case of
    SNAP making wild accusations, much the way it does against priests?

  6. Scott W. says:

    George Nails it. SNAP vs. LCWR. Who to root for? Watching two mendacious liberal narratives on a collision course is always good entertainment. It’s bit like when they want to promote the predator priest in every confessional, but then tried to pretend that homosexuality had nothing to do with it even in the fact of the fact that 60% of the abuse cases were priests and post-pubescent males.

    So will the media side with the politically useful nuns, or throw them under the bus? My prediction: throw them under the bus. The nun-abuse angle is simply enticingly easier in the age of lazy journalism.

  7. bigmikensc says:

    You can bet it won’t be front page news on the National catholic Fishwrap.

  8. Supertradmum says:

    I can imagine there was abuse, and the fellow from Iowa is proof. But in eight years of grade school, four years of high school and four years of undergraduate college, all taught by nuns, there has never been a case even sniffed of in my home diocese, which went bankrupt with priests’ sins to the tune of 37 million dollars. There was cruelty, as even I had my hands hit with a ruler when taking piano lessons from a crabby nun, but as of yet, no sex abuse cases involving sisters or nuns. [A friend and I have been building an extensive file of cases which you can dig up on the internet… all for the perusing.] Steve Theisen was abused by a Franciscan sister in the Dubuque diocese. I wish SNAP would work on the forgiveness aspect as well. I am not sure what a demonstration would prove, but the lack of convictions may either mean that these are few and far between with women, or a grand cover-up. It is even possible that sisters and nuns who are living now would not even know about such abuse, as Theisen’s abuse happened a long time ago and some of his writings indicate he has never and will never forgive. He is on FireThePope.com as well.

    The entire St. Louis scene unveiling today is sordid.

  9. Bryan Boyle says:

    This is just so rich on so many levels…all that’s missing is VOTF showing up and counter protesting both. You can’t tell the players without a scorecard on this one, can you?

    What is it they say about eating their young? I sure this will create a real conundrum…since there are so many members of one professional pressure group that are sympathetic to the others…the intersection of the three will create a secondary nexus of dissent 260-some-odd-miles to the east of the Fishwrap location.

    LOL. Making some popcorn to munch on for this one.

  10. Johnno says:

    Women = good

    Men = bad

    Welcome to a world steeped so far in Femenist heresy that is so anti-patriarchy that they will throw out justice to protect their false feminine deity, an idol to replace that evil male Judeo-Christian God.

  11. anilwang says:

    George, it’s pretty simple.

    It will be covered in exactly the same way similar liberal contradictions are covered (e.g. laws where the fathers threats their wives to have an abortion, or laws preventing women from being aborted because they are win), namely it will be covered but spun to support the liberal agenda.

    So in the SNAP versus LCWR situation, it will be stated that any abuse that happened was because of patriarchal history of the nuns which is now being remedied by the LCWR. So no need of supervision, since there would be world peace, “environmental justice”, “animal justice”, “social justice”, and no need for police if women ran the world. However, if the LCWR submits to the Vatican, the LCWR will return to the “bad old days” when bishops covered up abuses and no-one will be safe from the bishops and their “inquisition courts and albino assassins”. The “Vatican must be resisted for the sake of the children and women alike”.

  12. Posted a link to the SNAP article on NCR’s Facebook page. NCR posted: “In her column today, Jamie Manson asks: What can the LCWR teach us about church leadership?”

    I replied, “That their policies on Sexual Abuse by Nuns is the same as Bishops’ policies 20 years ago?”

    The only response I got was that the abuse by LCWR nuns was not as bad as that by nuns in Ireland. As if that has any relevance on LCWR nuns at all.

    Here’s the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/NCRonline#!/NCRonline

  13. mrsmontoya says:

    I put out a call on Plurk to the St. Louis plurkers, there is a fairly decent Plurk photographer in that area. . .

  14. Bryan Boyle says:

    Ozark: I tried to scroll through the Fishwrap FB page. Sad. At least it makes it easy to figure out what side people are on.

  15. Jordanes says:

    A fight between the LCWR and SNAP? It reminds me of what they said about the Iran vs. Iraq War — it’s a pity they can’t both lose . . . .

  16. acardnal says:

    Jordanes says:
    7 August 2012 at 6:02 pm
    A fight between the LCWR and SNAP? It reminds me of what they said about the Iran vs. Iraq War — it’s a pity they can’t both lose . . . .

    Reminds me of a good ol’ Ali vs Frazier fight. And these gals know how to do the “rope a dope” with Rome.

  17. Stephen D says:

    Considering the close relationship between the LCWR and lesbians, I do not find it too hard to believe that there have been a few cases of abuse of minors by nuns. SNAP is obviously looking to justify its continued existence (as it has run out of priests to persecute) and has carefully considered the next source of possible complaint about the Church and there is really only this one left. I hope that they sue each other into oblivion.

  18. Filipino Catholic says:

    Father Z… I suppose you haven’t yet seen Tim Minchin’s Pope Song? It’s about the issue SNAP is protesting and it’s rather… acidic.

    SNAP versus LCWR… pedophilia versus patriarchalism… What does it matter, they’re both wrong in the first place! May they be added to the list of casualties in the war between the Church and her enemies!

    SA (sex abuse) stats: SA cases began declining approximately around the start of Bl. John Paul II’s pontificate.

    AD IESV PER MARIA,
    Filipino Catholic.

  19. Philangelus says:

    A fight between the LCWR and SNAP? It reminds me of what they said about the Iran vs. Iraq War — it’s a pity they can’t both lose . . . .

    I think at this point, it’s clear the Body of Christ has lost something when Catholics are fighting Catholics, and Satan’s probably got front row seats and a big box of popcorn.

  20. Johnno says:

    As I recall, America was playing on both sides of the Iran/Iraq war. Most likely someone like George Soros is supporting both the LCWR and SNAP… But in the end it’s always the devil.

  21. Angie Mcs says:

    George, your concerns about the choice the media will make was one of the first things that came to my mind. I myself went through years of sexual abuse as a child, although not at the hands of anyone in the Church. It is incredibly painful, even after over 50 years. One doesn’t get over it, one learns to live with it and make a life. SNAP, with it’s shrill voices, “statistics” and agenda of taking down anyone who may or may be guilty, will feed into the next media frenzy and will hurt a lot of good nuns, just as so many good priests were hurt and in some cases destroyed. The media is not interested in the facts: if they were, they would admit that sexual predators are in our schools, after school programs, camps; everywhere the children go, they find them. The only silver lining here is that these LCWR may finally be legitimately taken down and neutralized. And perhaps some of them will pay for what they did, keeping them so busy so that we don’t have to be subjected to their greed, or their ridiculous, over the top speeches. Guilt can build up over the years until it makes you crazy. : perhaps that’s why some of these nuns who are alleged to have committed these heinous acts now speak like they’ve been long lost the ability to communicate with the rest of humanity. OZARK CTHOLIC, they are already defensively justifying their behavior, comparing their number with the priests: one child is one too many.

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