Saying "Sayonara" to SNAP: Executive director Barbara Dorris (l) and Regional director Joelle Casteix (r)

How the mighty have fallen. Executive Director Barbara Dorris, Regional Director Joelle Casteix, and other longtime board members have resigned from their leadership positions at the lawyer-funded hate group SNAP, marking yet another significant downfall for the once-influential organization.

Their departures come after word that SNAP has finally settled a high-profile lawsuit that exposed lawyer kickback schemes, a callous exploitation of abuse victims, and SNAP's abiding ideological hatred of the Catholic Church.

News of the settlement and the departures were first reported by Brian Roewe at the sympathetic National Catholic Reporter, who buried the story on a late Friday afternoon.

Is anything left?

After last year's shocking lawsuit surfaced, longtime SNAP stalwarts and media blowhards David Clohessy and Barbara Blaine (SNAP's founder) abruptly resigned. The lawsuit – filed by SNAP's own former fundraising director Gretchen Hammond – may have been the straw the broke the camel's back. Also around the same time, a falsely accused priest in Michigan sued SNAP for defamation.

Indeed, the period leading up to all of the resignations is replete with examples of SNAP's rogue behavior and reckless actions in their campaign of hatred against the Catholic Church:

• In August 2016, a federal judge ruled that SNAP maliciously defamed priest Rev. Xiu Hui "Joseph" Jiang and ordered that SNAP "pay the reasonable expenses, including plaintiff's attorney's fees" for defaming him.
• In 2014, after years of attacking the Church for alleged "inaction" on abuse cases, it was revealed that SNAP did not call police or alert Church officials even though it knew "for several weeks" about a shocking sex abuse allegation against a Chicago priest. Instead, it held a circus-like press conference.
• SNAP published the email addresses and personal phone numbers of accused priests to incite harassment against them.
• In 2013, we exclusively reported that SNAP founder Barbara Blaine admitted that she not only wrote a letter on behalf of a doctor arrested with kiddie porn and but also outlined a plan to cover it up.
• SNAP sued for the right to harass and intimidate parishioners at Sunday Mass.
• In 2012, we revealed that the vast majority of SNAP's funding comes from kickbacks from Church-suing tort lawyers.
• In 2012, we exclusively reported that SNAP's Clohessy admitted under oath in a deposition that SNAP had released false information to the press.
• In 2012, Clohessy actually accused Philadelphia's Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of faking his cancer to avoid appearing at a deposition. However, within 36 hours of Clohessy's callous remark, Bevilacqua passed away.

Indeed, SNAP's intense animus against the Catholic Church cannot be overstated. As SNAP continues its rapid decline into oblivion, some measure of justice will have been served for the many priests and other innocent victims of its reckless and malicious campaign of defamation and hatred.

[See also: **TheMediaReport.com Special Report** Facts About SNAP That Will Shock You]

Rev. Joseph Jiang (c) punches back against the bullies at SNAP:
SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris (l) and National Director David Clohessy (r)

Finally! A falsely accused priest has had enough and is not going to take it any more.

After being twice accused and cleared on wild charges of sex abuse, Rev. Xiu Hui "Joseph" Jiang has filed a federal lawsuit against his accusers, the lawyer-funded, anti-Catholic group SNAP, and members of the St. Louis police department for publicly accusing him of being a child molester.

Something rotten in Denmark

[**CLICK to read Rev. Jiang's federal lawsuit**]

In both 2012 and 2014, Rev. Jiang was publicly accused of abuse charges which received wide media attention with SNAP breathlessly claiming that Jiang was a dangerous child molester on the prowl. Yet even at a glance the accusations against Jiang were clearly bogus.

In his lawsuit, Fr. Jiang sets forth a litany of facts which demonstrate just how crazy one accuser's claims were from the start:

• The accuser's fourth-grade teacher has stated that it was "virtually impossible" that Fr. Jiang pulled the accuser "out of line" at school and abused him as claimed;
• "The alleged victim had made previous unfounded allegations of sexual abuse";
• "[The accuser's] fourth-grade teacher indicated that [the accuser] was a serial exaggerator to the point of being 'delusional'";
• "[The accuser's] parents had a history of making unfounded claims against the Catholic Church for monetary gain";
• "[The accuser] has never had any personal acquaintance with Fr. Joseph, and he could not identify Fr. Joseph's name when he made the allegation";
• "[A parent of the accuser once] physically assaulted the principal of [a Catholic school] by choking him or her";
• "The accusations were brought by a deeply troubled and unreliable 12-year-old boy at the suggestion of his abusive father."

As for his suit against SNAP, Jiang argues that the trial lawyer-funded group "conducted a defamatory smear campaign against Fr. Joseph throughout the case." SNAP published media statements which were "false and malicious" and "were extremely damaging to Fr. Joseph's reputation. They were calculated to inflame public opinion against Fr. Joseph, without any regard for the truth or the facts of the case."

The priest's suit also asserts that SNAP was involved with both the accusers and St. Louis police in a "conspiracy" against Fr. Jiang.

Indeed, one of Jiang's accusers who has filed a civil lawsuit against Fr. Jiang and the Church is represented by St. Louis trial lawyer Ken Chackes, who has previously admitted to donating money to SNAP and receiving client referrals from the group. (Not that this should be a surprise to anyone.)

Pot meets kettle

The irony in all of this is that while SNAP has for years claimed in the media that Church officials have never been held "accountable" for their handling of abusive priests in the past, it has been SNAP itself which has never been held accountable for its reckless statements against innocent priests, destroying lives and reputations without consequence.

We congratulate Fr. Jiang on his lawsuit, and we hope that a successful outcome will spur other falsely accused priests to fight back as well.

Barbara Dorris from SNAP: Foggy with the facts

If there were any lingering doubts about the "shoot now, ask questions later" tactics of the anti-Catholic group SNAP, then a hysterical media statement by SNAP "Outreach Director" Barbara Dorris should eliminate any such suspicions.

Dorris screeches that Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput is somehow offending abuse victims by "housing" Msgr. William Lynn upon his release from prison after his wrong conviction was overturned.

However, as Ralph Cipriano reports over at BigTrial.net, it was Judge Teresa Sarmina who ordered that Lynn be housed in a church rectory as part of the conditions of his release on bail:

"The conditions basically amount to house arrest. Lynn has to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle at all times. He will be restricted to staying on two floors of the rectory at St. William's parish at 6200 Rising Sun Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. He will have to check in with his parole officer every week. He will need his parole officer's permission whenever he wants to leave the rectory to visit, say his doctor or his lawyer."

In other words, Abp. Chaput is hardly "supporting" and "helping" Msgr. Lynn in any special way. A Pennsylvania appeals court unanimously declared that Msgr. Lynn was wrongly convicted, and Lynn is returning to Church property as any other innocent priest.

Where does Dorris suggest that Lynn go? To a cardboard box under a freeway? A shack in Nome, Alaska? Dorris doesn't say.

SNAP has become unglued – yet again.

(Thank you to reader K.W. for the tip! We appreciate it!)

Masters of malice: SNAP leaders David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris

Lest there be any remaining doubt about the nastiness and true motives of the anti-Catholic group SNAP, the organization is now publishing on its web site the personal phone numbers and email addresses of priests who have merely been accused of abuse.

TheMediaReport.com has examined two recent media statements where SNAP has published such personal information. In both cases, the accusations against the clerics date back many decades, and neither cleric has ever been charged criminally.

Below are redacted screenshots from recent media statements composed by SNAP leaders David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris:

[We are not linking to SNAP's media statements and have redacted identifying information in order to protect the privacy of the priests.]

We cannot imagine any other reason that SNAP would publish priests' personal phone numbers and email addresses except to incite the group's followers and the public to contact the clerics and harass them. Publishing priests' personal contact information obviously does nothing to benefit victims in any way.

This practice by SNAP is disgraceful and only adds more evidence to the fact that SNAP is a mean-spirited and bigoted organization whose real agenda has absolutely nothing to do with sex abuse.

[See also: *SNAP UNCOVERED* Shocking Facts About the Media's Favorite Church-Bashing Group]

Running out of targets? SNAP's David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris

Is the anti-Catholic group SNAP running out of Catholic clerics to target and resorting to attacking innocent men? It sure seems like it. Even though an abuse accusation against Wheeling, West Virginia, Bishop Michael J. Bransfield was thoroughly debunked and discredited months ago, SNAP is trying to drum up some more publicity for itself by trying to put a spotlight on the bogus case.

A proven false accusation

Last April, during the high-profile Philadelphia clergy abuse trial, a witness claimed on the stand that 40 years ago in the 1970s that an admittedly abusive priest motioned to a car carrying Bransfield and some boys and told him that Bransfield was abusing "the one in the front seat."

However, two grown men who were actually in the car years ago with Bransfield at the time, including the alleged "victim in the front seat," came forward back in July to flatly refute the decades-old hearsay claim. [Read more about this in our 7/30/12 story, including statements from the men asserting that the allegations were completely false.]

Itching for a story that is not there

Again, despite the fact that the accusation was debunked months ago, even by the alleged "victim," SNAP continues to attack the bishop over it. (SNAP claims that a police investigation is "ongoing," but the police announced its investigation of Bransfield before the two men came forward to flatly refute the shoddy claim.)

Last week, SNAP issued a media statement which consisted of a wacky letter to Bishop Bransfield that asked that the cleric "hold a public Q&A session to address and take questions" about the allegation.

Fortunately, however, even the Church-obsessed media didn't take the bait on SNAP's stunt, and the diocese has fired back at SNAP. Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston spokesman Bryan Minor promptly sent a reply email to SNAP stating that "the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston disagree(s) with SNAP's assessment of how our Bishop handled the allegations" and "I know that you believe more live media and Q and A should have been offered, and we will not reach common ground on that matter, unfortunately." Bravo, Mr. Minor.

An innocent Philadelphia priest finally returns to ministry

Meanwhile, on Monday (10/15/12), the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced it was returning Rev. Joseph L. DiGregorio to ministry, and SNAP immediately issued one of its unhinged and nasty media statements.

Fr. DiGregorio enjoyed over four decades of completely unblemished ministry until 2005, when a woman came forward to claim that he and another priest (since deceased) abused her nearly four decades earlier, in "1967 or 1968."

Even though the Philadelphia review board had already thoroughly investigated the claim and recommended the priest's return to ministry, the archdiocese removed the cleric a second time in 2011 – not because there was any new information about his case, but solely because of public pressure from the high-profile grand jury report.

Upon being ripped from ministry this second time, DiGregorio took to the media and vehemently asserted his innocence. On February 18, 2011, the priest appeared on The Dom Giordano Show, WPHT 1210AM, in Philadelphia. DiGregorio forcefully announced to the radio audience:

"I have not in my whole life ever, ever, ever acted in an inappropriate way – not only with a child, but with anybody. Period.

"Every statement [the accuser] made concerning me is an absolute lie, completely and totally a lie. I never once touched her. I never once groped her or did anything inappropriate. I was never in her company alone. The only times I saw her was when she came to the rectory to see [another priest].

"In my almost 45 years of me being a priest my character and integrity have never been questioned. Almost 20 of those 45 years were spent as an army chaplain in the United States Army. I was deployed in Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm for almost a year, and again in Operation Iraqi Freedom for 10 months.

"I love my country, I love my Church. I am not intimidated by false accusations against my character. I am, however, angry – very angry – and I intend to fight these accusations with every legal means at my disposal."

Fr. DiGregorio also cited a number of wild inconsistencies in the accuser's bogus tale.

DiGregorio's case provides a textbook example of the Church being especially cautious in returning accused priests to ministry – cautious to the point where many would say it borders on unfairness to falsely accused priests. In viewing the facts of DiGregorio's case, any clear-thinking person would conclude that the accusation against the man was completely bogus. Obviously there is no such clear thinking at SNAP.

[Note: We invite you to read more. Fr. DiGregorio was the subject of a chapter in the book by TheMediaReport.com's Dave Pierre, Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories. [Click to read the chapter about Fr. DiGregio for free (pdf file).]]

Smacking of desperation

SNAP's latest false and mean-spirited attacks reek of a shrinking group that is rapidly declining in influence and is desperate for attention.

SNAP's own survival rests on the group's ability to keep the issue of clergy abuse alive in the media. If it fails to do so, SNAP might as well pack itself up. It sure looks like panic time at SNAP.

These episodes also illustrate that SNAP does not give a rip about fairness and honesty. In the eyes of SNAP, any accused priest – no matter how flimsy the accusation – is a guilty priest. Another objective in SNAP's attacks on the Catholic Church becomes more clear: Get and keep as many men out of the priesthood as possible.

Tom McGregor at the Dallas Blog has exclusively reported that SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) expelled an alleged abuse victim of Catholic sex abuse from its annual conference last weekend in Chicago.

McGregor writes:

A man victimized by grievous sex abuse by a Jesuit priest decades ago in Chicago attempted to join a SNAP (Survivors' Network of the Abused by Priests) conference in Rosemont, Illinois to speak with a Jesuit priest to discuss his concerns.

Unfortunately, SNAP administrator, Barbara Dorris, ordered the victim to depart from the premises of a hotel lobby. She even assigned hotel security to escort him out of the building.

McGregor posted an email from the alleged victim, who apparently wanted to air "his concerns about the dangerous alliance between the Jesuits and SNAP."

So while SNAP makes its living by organizing angry protests and pickets outside of chancery offices demanding that bishops do as it demands, it appears that when it comes to dissent within its own ranks, the group summons security for those who do not toe the party line. Evidently, dissent is not tolerated.

So much for SNAP's stated mission to "provide support" for clergy abuse victims.

Looking very grateful: Barbara Dorris, 'Outreach Director' of SNAP

The anti-Catholic advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) says it is "grateful" that a criminal jury acquitted a man of felony assault after he brutally attacked an elderly priest that he said abused him some 37 years ago in 1975.

On May 10, 2010, William Lynch used a ruse to enter a retirement home for retired priests. He then violently thrashed 65-year-old Rev. Jerold Lindner in front of shocked witnesses until the priest was bruised and bloody. Lynch readily admitted to the angry beating. [Read more about the case]

Following the acquittal last week in the high-profile trial, SNAP issued a media statement written by its alleged "Outreach Director" Barbara Dorris:

Violence is always wrong. Still, we are grateful for this verdict. The odds that Lynch would ever reoffend are infinitely small.

We hope this case prods lawmakers to reform predator friendly laws that prevent child sex abuse victims from exposing predators in civil and criminal court.

Noticeably absent from SNAP's shifty statement is any condemnation of Lynch's merciless attack. As far as Dorris' weak statement that "Violence is always wrong," well, even the Catholic Church does not believe that.

Dorris' "Violence is always wrong" statement is also insincere and disingenuous. Whether or not Lynch would "reoffend" should not determine whether Lynch is guilty of the crime to which he confessed. (If a priest became incapacitated after abusing a minor, would SNAP be O.K. with a jury acquitting the cleric because the chances of him abusing again were "infinitely small"? Of course not. And neither would we.)

And contrary to Dorris' mean-spirited claim, this purported case of vigilante justice had absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the status of so-called "predator-friendly laws."

The bottom line: SNAP isn't fooling anybody. The organization's hatred for the Catholic Church is so untethered that it is downright giddy over the fact that Lynch got away with his savage assault.

Blurry vision: SNAP National Director David Clohessy

In a letter to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, the hysterical anti-Catholic group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is now demanding that 61-year-old Msgr. William Lynn, recently acquitted of three criminal charges but found guilty of a single third-degree child endangerment charge from actions nearly two decades ago, be "defrocked" from the priesthood.

SNAP claims, "This (request) is not about being vindictive," yet common sense suggests otherwise.

If SNAP really wanted to see discipline for those who have failed to report cases of suspected abusive priests, it should start by looking into disturbing episodes from within its own organization. As we have reported before:

• SNAP National Director David Clohessy fully knew in the early 1990's of allegations that his brother, Kevin – a Catholic priest – was sexually abusing innocent boys.
  For two decades, David Clohessy has been railing against Church leaders for allegedly not calling authorities when becoming aware of suspected abuse by priests. Meanwhile, Clohessy himself did not report his own brother to authorities, and he may very well have jeopardized the safety of numerous innocent children by his admitted inaction … [Read more]
• According to SNAP's own standards, it is "reckless" to delay reporting a suspected priest to the police "even for one day." Yet when SNAP received word in February 2010 that a Los Angeles-area priest who admitted the abuse of 16-year-old girl in 1966 was still in ministry, it did not call the police. Neither did it call the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Instead, rather than protect children, it called its allies at the New York Times in order to trumpet a big media story … [Read more]
• SNAP's "Outreach Director" Barbara Dorris has publicly claimed that in 1991 she walked in on a priest molesting an innocent girl. Yet she has refused to this day to publicly identify the priest. Why? Doesn't her apparent inaction endanger children? … [Read more]

What disciplinary measures has SNAP taken against its own leaders for their own admitted inactions and failures to protect children? Why has SNAP demanded accountability from others while denying accountability for itself?

SNAP may first want to work on addressing its own dangerous actions before worrying about the internal affairs of other organizations. And if SNAP were really about protecting children – and the evidence continues to mount that left-wing politics is actually its real concern – it would cease its hypocritical practice of "Do what I say, not as I do."

Rachel Zoll, Associated Press and Andrew Stern, Reuters

The newly released annual audit of abuse in the Catholic Church reports that only seven credible abuse allegations were made against Catholic priests by current minors in all of 2011.

Yet nationally syndicated articles from the Associated Press' Rachel Zoll and Reuters' Andrew Stern might have you believe that child abuse is currently a major problem infecting the Catholic Church.

Both journalists are trumpeting the fact that decades-old abuse claims increased in 2011, but not bothering to mention the status of current allegations.

In truth, the number of credible accusations alleging abuse by a Catholic priest against a current minor went down. For 2010, the number of such allegations was eight. For 2011, the number went down to seven. (If there are roughly 41,406 Catholic priests in the United States, seven credibly accused priests would represent .000169 (or 0.0169%) of all U.S. priests.)

The raw numbers

Here are some other notable figures from the newly released report, most of which you won't see in the national media:

• 45% of all priests who were accused for 2011 were already deceased (this is a record high figure);
• 75% of all priests who were accused for 2011 are either deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or missing;
• over 90% of all abuse accusations last year allege incidents from at least two decades ago (the most common time period was from almost 40 years ago: 1975-1979).

Indeed, current accusations against Catholic priests are rare.

Sound bites from the professional Church critics

Reuters' Stern took an unfortunately lazy route for his article and went to the hysterical anti-Catholic groups SNAP and BishopAccountability.org for comment on the new data. SNAP's media-ready "Outreach Director" Barbara Dorris predictably dismissed the audits as "nearly meaningless," while the punchy director of BishopAccountability, Terence W. McKiernan, called the report a "serious disservice to the public" without any accompanying explanation. Uh-huh.

The pair's huffy responses recall a memorable line last year from C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts: "If the Catholic Church were to put out a press release today saying that they were going out of business, SNAP would say, 'Why didn't they do this sooner?' No matter what the Church does, it will never satisfy SNAP." Indeed.

Trailblazing achievements

Although even a single instance of a priest abusing an innocent minor is an outrage, the Catholic Church has shown that it is achieving exceptional success in its efforts to protect children.

No other organization that deals with youth even bothers to report such statistics publicly, and the newly released figures suggest that the Catholic Church may be the safest environment for children today.

The new report praised the Church for doing "a tremendous job of creating safe environments." In fact, just last year alone, the Church spent an unprecedented $32 million in child protection efforts.

Indeed, the Church's strides in protecting children are unparalleled and unsurpassed. Just don't expect the media to report this.

Al Jazeera: Anti-Catholic

What has prompted Aguilar to unleash her venom against the Church? Does it really have anything to do with the awful abuse of children? Not really.

Aguilar does not like the fact that Catholic bishops have forcefully spoken out against the government’s recent attack on religious freedom that attempts to force them to provide contraceptives in health insurance. (Her article is entitled, “The birth control bishops,” if you can stomach it.)

Aguilar realized, however, that she could not attack the Church on her own. So she did what most slippery journalists do when an attack on the Church is in order, and facts and honesty are not all that important.

She went to the angry folks at SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and BishopAccountability.org for support.

First up for Aguilar was SNAP “Outreach Director” Barbara Dorris, who, according to Aguilar, “says the [Church abuse] cover-ups are still happening across the country, yet we rarely hear about them in the national dialogue … ‘Bishops have gotten away with moving these predators from place to place, allowing them to start fresh. They are far more dangerous than the predators,’ [said Dorris].” Uh-huh.

(By the way, the article relays an oft-told story by Dorris of her walking in on a priest in 1991 at her parish abusing a young girl. Dorris has claimed that she called the police and social services, yet the man remains in ministry to this day. Yet, most notably, she refuses to divulge the name of this allegedly abusive priest. Why? Who is “covering up” now?)

Then there was the crabby Terence McKiernan from BishopAccountability.org, who, without a shred of supporting documentation, actually claimed, “Over the course of our conversation, a priest is abusing a child.”

Really?

Well, here are the facts: In all of 2010, there were eight credible allegations of Catholic priests contemporaneously abusing a minor in all of the United States. (See the 2010 CARA report.) Indeed, as we have reported several times before, almost all accusations against priests made today allege incidents from decades ago.

There are even more erroneous and mean-spirited claims in the hate-filled piece. (For example: “Catholic bishops in the US want every single act of sexual intercourse to lead to the conception and birth of a child, but once that child is born, they are on their own, especially if their priest abuses them.” Uhhh … no.)

The bottom line: Al Jazeera, SNAP, and BishopAccountability.org reveal – again – that honesty and truth are not important when attacking the Catholic Church.

(Thank you for the story tip, Matt!)