An advocacy group for victims of sex abuse by priests said yesterday it will withdraw from a lawsuit that prompted Roman Catholic bishops to bar the group from this week's meeting on ousting predators from the priesthood.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said his group wanted to remove any obstacles to talks and will formally withdraw from the lawsuit today.
"We don't want anything to get in the way of genuine dialogue that might ultimately benefit children," Clohessy said in a letter to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "We hope you see it as a tangible step toward reconciliation and toward making the church safer."
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the conference of bishops, said she could not comment until today, when conference administrators would have their first chance to review the group's offer.
Clohessy had been scheduled to address the bishops during the opening session of their three-day meeting that starts Thursday in Dallas.
He and members of SNAP, along with other victims, had also been invited to meet privately with three cardinals and address a closed session of the panel of bishops devising a national policy on disciplining abusive clergy.
But when SNAP joined a class-action lawsuit in Minnesota against the conference and several dioceses, seeking to void confidentiality agreements in settlements with victims, Gregory withdrew the invitation.