Contact: Jeff Field, Director of Communications, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191, cl@catholicleague.org

NEW YORK, March 14, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds to today's editorial in the New York Times on the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP):

We now know from the deposition of SNAP director David Clohessy that he has been (a) lying to the media about his work (b) falsely advertising his group as a rape crisis center (c) working with unseemly lawyers (d) exploiting his clients by providing unauthorized "counseling" services (e) ripping off those who are truly in need of help by failing to contribute even a dime for licensed counselors, and (f) pursuing priests on the basis of legal criteria he admits he cannot explain.

Furthermore, we know from two people who went undercover last summer to a SNAP conference in the D.C. area that the Catholic Church is regarded by these activists as "the evil institution." Yet when the bishops finally decide to play hardball, they are slammed by the New York Times!

When the Times is sued, does it hire wimpy lawyers? Does it allow itself to be a punching bag? Not on your life: they hire the most aggressive attorneys they can buy. But when the bishops follow suit, they're accused of not showing "reconciliation" for the victims.

The New York Times needs to get it straight: when rapacious activists and lawyers, motivated by revenge -- not justice -- seek to bleed the Catholic Church by using methods that are unethical at best, and illegal at worst, then it is only fair that the bishops take a page out of the New York Times playbook and defend themselves. With vigor.