SNAP charges that Catholic lobbyists threatened lawmaker

May 07, 2010

Victims' rights advocates in Wisconsin have charged that lobbyists for the Catholic Church threatened that a state senator would be denied Communion if he supported a bill to extend the statute of limitations for sex-abuse cases. The legislator said the charge was "categorically untrue."

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) circulated an email message from a former lawmaker who claimed that Senator Jim Sullivan feared he would be barred from Communion if he backed the legislation. "I really object to the characterization," Sullivan said. He continued:

“This was a bill that was focused almost entirely on opening up a raft of new lawsuits specifically against the Catholic Church. I thought it was inequitable."

SNAP was disappointed that state legislators failed to vote on the proposed bill. The group held a press conference outside Sullivan's parish church, charging that Catholic lobbyists were exerting pressure on lawmakers to scuttle the bill.

 

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Further information:

• Lawmaker Denies Pressure from Catholic Church to Oppose Bill (WHBL)
• Did Catholic lobbyists play hardball? (Milwaukee Newsbuzz)
• Group Says Democrats Abandoned Clergy Abuse Victims (WUVM)