By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
November 16, 2011

More than 40 attendees stood on the steps of the Kansas City Star Nov. 9 in support of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic church.

Some held signs, which read “We love our priests,” “Justice for BishopFinn.com,” “We support Bishop Finn. He must stay.”

The Catholic League organized the press conference to shed light on the agenda of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and defend the Catholic church.

“We don’t do too many of these press conferences outside of New York because we have a lot to do just in New York itself, but we wanted to be here to make our point. We stand very strongly behind Bishop Robert Finn,” Catholic League President Bill Donohue said.

Finn has been charged with a misdemeanor for failing to report suspected abuse of a child by a priest. Donohue detailed the situation and recapped the ad titled “Taking aim at Bishop Finn,” which ran in last week’s edition of the Northeast News. The Kansas City Star refused to run the ad without an explanation, he said. Donahue said the “anti-Finn” campaign is driven by politics and the SNAP organization which carries a targeted agenda against the Catholic church.

“We want to let people know there’s another side to this story,” he said. “Nobody should make a decision about somebody’s innocence or guilt because it’s driven by the likes of SNAP and the SNAP boys and the Kansas City Star.”

“Nobody’s here to cover up for priests who did anything wrong,” stressed Larry Stroud, who also spoke during the press conference. “We’re here in support of the truth.”