Pandora’s Box

It seems that my last post opened Pandora’s Box.  What I thought was going to be an expression of the reasons for my exit from SNAP turned into a flash point for people for and against the way SNAP operates.  I have received more email on both sides of this discussion than I expected.  It is running about 50/50 in support or opposition.  There are also the occasional nasty comments that seem to be focused on questioning the marital status of my parents at the time of my birth and the odd threat of retaliation for my “insensitive”  treatment of the leadership at SNAP.

With all due respect to those who have nothing but insults to throw,   Knock it off!

If you would like to have an open conversation about what I wrote, I am all in.  If you want to start demanding to know the religious affiliation of individuals in the organization, give it a rest.  I will not post any comments that attack the faith of individuals associated with SNAP at any level of that organization.  Everyone has the right to make decisions that are correct for them as individuals.  Whether or not a person remains a Catholic, converts to another faith or denomination or chooses to simply leave “organized” religion behind is a personal choice.

As I stated in my previous post, I don’t think it matters who is funding SNAP or how it was organized 22 years ago.  I believe that current methods, tactics and tools of the organization are not getting the job done.  I intended to draw a comparison between SNAP and the RCC in how they conducted business.

From my point of view, SNAP is engaged in a struggle with the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church.  While they are pursuing a course of action that I think is shortsighted, they are still not the bad guys.  That distinction is the sole domain of the hierarchy of the RCC and their apologists who are still denying that the church allowed the abuse of children and vulnerable adults to go on for decades.   I part company with SNAP when it comes to how I think we should collectively, as a community of survivors, engage our adversary.

I also don’t think that SNAP is the sum total of the survivor community.  The amount of email that came in more than backs up that thought.

Based on the feedback I received in the comments and emails that came in yesterday and today, it is clear that I hurt some feelings and possibly insulted other survivors.  That was not my intent.  I apologize to those who feel I have wrongly characterized their efforts on behalf of the survivor community.  I have reread my most recent post and, with the exception of some typos and misspellings that I have corrected, I stand by what I have written.

If you are one of the people that contacted me by email, rest assured I will not publish what you expressed in that correspondence without your permission.  If you sent your thoughts in a comment to this blog, they are fair game.  If you sent something that I saw as inappropriate or threatening, I will not publish it in this forum.  This is my blog and I will determine the content.  I am more than willing to publish both sides of this discussion as long as it is a civil discussion.

Time to get our collective eye on the ball.