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Oddly enough, two sentences from a Republican politician about discrimination help explain why Pope Francis' latest choice for bishop is generating such distress and dispute.

Many in the US are wondering why debates over Religious Freedom and Restoration laws, which have quietly passed with little upset in more than 20 states, have suddenly become so heated.   

Why won’t Pope Francis back down on an obviously and severely hurtful move: giving Bishop Juan Barros Madrid his own diocese.   

John Pilmaier's dad, the roof over our heads as survivors, died Sunday; let’s keep his seat for him at the hearing tomorrow   

Most of you know John Pilmaier III, SNAP’s Wisconsin director and a corporate officer of the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA).  John’s dad, John Jr., died this Sunday of cancer, at home, surrounded  by his family.  There will be an empty seat, in other words, at the archdiocesan bankruptcy hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, that John Jr. most certainly would have attended if fate would have allowed him to get there.  Let’s remember him at the hearing tomorrow as we stand with our fellow survivors as John always stood with his son and with us:  11:00 a.m., Milwaukee Federal Courthouse, Judge Susan V. Kelley courtroom, first floor.  You can email John III at [email protected]  and his mom Lynn at [email protected].  I know they would appreciate hearing from us.  John’s obituary can be found here and where you can make donations in his memory.    

Remember the National Review Board, the panel set up 13 years ago to “oversee” bishops and “help investigate and look for solutions to the scandal.”

http://www.snapnetwork.org/news/otherstates/NY_Egan_Shuns_committee.htm   

Rarely is the concept of “supply and demand” cited as a contributing factor to the church’s on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis. But it should be.

A university professor writes in the National Catholic Reporter today: “Fewer than 26,265 diocesan priests remain in the U.S. today and of them, only 68 percent -- about 17,900 -- are still in active ministry. Only about one-third as many new priests are being ordained each year to make up for the ones who are retiring, dying or leaving active ministry.”   

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

That line, from the Wizard of Oz, leapt to mind when I read about Pope Francis’ recent endorsement of corporal punishment.

Or to be more accurate, that’s the line that I thought of after reading a Vatican spokesman’s defense of Francis’ remark.

Statement by David Clohessy  Executive Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,
Phone: (314) 566-9790,   E-mail: [email protected]

I hate to see hopes raised and then dashed. So at the risk of being the skunk at the garden party, let me make two points about the possibility of “new” church “processes” that allegedly will “ensure accountability” by complicit bishops.

For the third time in less than a year, Missouri SNAP has lost a dear, loyal and caring member. On Dec. 29, Kathy Woodard of St. Louis passed away. Her obituary ran in the Post-Dispatch on Jan. 11.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/stltoday/obituary.aspx?n=kathleen-m-woodard&pid=173809370&fhid=12331  

“If truth doesn't set you free, generosity of spirit will.”

― Katerina Stoykova Klemer

Trish McLelland has been set free. For decades, she exposed truth. And for her entire life, she personified generosity of spirit.

Already, this hero to our movement is deeply missed.

( Learn more about her here: http://www.dallasnews.com/obituary-headlines/20150107-trish-mclelland-68-who-built-database-of-abusive-clergy-dies.ece#commentsDiv )    

Ever wonder how many more child molesting US clerics there are who have never been publicly exposed?

Consider this: On December 9, in one tiny diocese - Gallup, New Mexico - a court filing revealed in five names of “never before disclosed” credibly accused child molesting clerics.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/11_12/2014_12_09_Mike_KOAT_new_named.htm