SNAP wants details from Springfield

A St. Louis-based watchdog group is pressing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield to reveal more details about an internal investigation that found new cases of sexual and financial misconduct in the church.

"Watchdog" group? Yea, right! "Roman Catholic Faithful", they ain't...

"We like the fact that they have admitted this. It's a start," said Judy Jones of St. Louis, a member of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, at a news conference in front of the Springfield Diocese headquarters on Thursday. "We want to know what else they're going to do."

Specifically, the group wants names and details regarding several priests who, the church says, were found to have engaged in noncriminal sexual or financial misconduct.

Notice - the group "wants names and details"...What is this obsession and fixation with SNAP's wanting the details of financial misconduct or the lurid details of sexual sins committed with adults?

But Jones argued that withholding information about even noncriminal misconduct fostered an atmosphere of secrecy that produced a danger of child abuse and other crimes.

Continuing to withhold information about the finding, Jones argued, produces the impression that "they care more about the good of the church than they do about anybody who has been harmed, whether it be children or vulnerable adults."

I have a suggestion for SNAP - You want details, do your own investigation.

This group has no more right to the details of an internal investigation that you are I...While the prudential decision on what details to release to the public might be debatable, SNAP's arrogant approach only hurts and hinders matters.

As SNAP fades more and more into irrelevance, we might, in the short run, see more and more of the group as it tries to re-assert itself and its importance into the affairs of the Church. But this, too, shall pass.