A priest accused of abuse who worked and lives in Sacramento is tilting at windmills by suing the bishop who publicly exposed him. In 30 years, we've never seen such a suit succeed, but we suspect the priest's real goal is to deter other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers from speaking up.

Fr. J. Patrick Foley is apparently upset that San Diego's bishop put his name on a list of credibly accused clerics last year. But so has the Sacramento bishop, yet Foley's not suing him. Ditto with Oakland's bishop. And Santa Rosa's bishop. Fr. Foley also worked in Dubuque, but he is not yet listed there. When he is, we wonder if Fr. Foley will extend his suit to cover the prelate in Iowa.



We hope that this lawsuit fails and that important information about abusers continues to be made public by church officials in California. And we hope others with information or suspicions about Fr. Foley won't be intimidated by these tactics and will find the courage to speak up and make a report today.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)