Barbara Blaine Tells Story of SNAP's Founding, St. Louis Priest Attacks SNAP, Discussion of Yoder's Legacy Continues: New Notes on Abuse Crisis

This week, National Catholic Reporter is publishing a week-long series of articles looking back at the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church. I highly recommend this series to you. I was particularly moved by hearing Barbara Blaine's story of how she (and others) came to found the group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. I'm not sure I had ever heard all the details of her own painful, liberating story — certainly not in her first-person narrative.

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Phil Lawler Upbraids Bill Donohue for Minimizing Scandal of Archbishop Carlson's Recent Deposition

At CatholicCulture, Phil Lawler (no bleeding-heart liberal, he) takes Bill Donohue to task for his continued insistence that Archbishop Robert Carlson is being framed by the nasty anti-Catholic secular media due to his statement in a recent deposition that he did not know in 1984 that it was a crime for an adult to have sex with a minor. Lawler tells Donohue:

Footnotes: Women, Violence, and Marriage; Irish Homes for Unwed Mothers; Archbishop Carlson's Testimony in Minnesota

Footnotes

Footnotes to previous discussions here this week:

David Clohessy for SNAP: Twice-Arrested Priest in St. Louis Still Being Defended by Small, Vocal Group of Local Catholics

I'd like to point readers today to David Clohessy's posting at the SNAP blog site about the small but loud bunch of Catholics rallying around Father Joseph Jiang in St. Louis, after a teenaged girl alleged that Jiang sexually abused her when she was fifteen years old. As David notes, the girls' parents believe her, as do the police, prosecutors, and St. Louis's most experienced attorney dealing with clergy abuse cases, Ken Chackes.

A Reader Writes: "How Sick Is It That So Many Well-Meaning, Practicing Catholics Are Able to Be Desensitized to the Horrible Reality of Clergy Sex Abuse?"

In a comment a moment ago here, Mary writes,