Victims Divided Over Public Tactics of Clergy Abuse Support Group

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBQM9AGW2E.html

CORONA, Calif. (AP) - The leafletting outside St. Matthew Catholic Church started well on a recent Sunday, with some parishioners accepting the brochures about clergy abuse being handed out by people who said they were abused by priests.

Then one woman standing on a church balcony screamed at the demonstrators "You're evil!" and a man made an obscene gesture at them. The parish called police, who told the protesters they couldn't leaflet without a city permit.

The angry reaction came as no surprise to members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. Since the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. Roman Catholic church blew up in 2002, SNAP has often stepped forward to speak for victims.

While many victims have embraced SNAP as a support group and a means to win long-overdue justice, the group's tactics have alienated other Catholics and even some of the very people it hopes to help.

more