By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Dr. Steve Taylor, a Louisiana psychiatrist who has worked with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and tried to convince the Louisiana legislature to allow the confessional seal to broken in sex abuse cases, has been sentenced to two years in prison for possession of child pornography.
The Times Picayune is reporting that Taylor, 71, was booked in 2008 with possessing more than 100 sexually explicit pictures of children on his computer. He was jailed on 107 counts at the time and was indicted by a grand jury in September. The court accepted a plea bargain from him this week on less severe charges. In exchange for his plea, state Judge Peter Garcia sentenced him to two years in prison.
Taylor collaborated with the Louisiana chapter of SNAP and also accompanied the group to the state legislature to assist them in their efforts to convince lawmakers to require clergy to report abuse suspicions. At the time, he told The Times-Picayune the right of clergy to keep confessions private did not outweigh the importance of discovering potential abuse cases. “The privilege is not as important as helping the next child,” he said. “The cycle has to be broken.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue is demanding answers about how much SNAP knew about Taylor’s “leisure-time activities” and when they knew it.
“Dr. Taylor got off easy, at least according to his own standards,” Donohue says, and referred to a contemptuous statement he made against the Catholic Church in which he voiced his objections to a unanimous decision by the Louisiana House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice protecting the confidential communication of priests, ministers, rabbis and other clergy members. At the time, Taylor said that the seal has to be broken because “We have faces now.”
“Well, SNAP, we now have the faces of the children your colleague downloaded to feed his sick habits. If breaking the priest-penitent privilege is something you support, will you now support turning over the patient records of Dr. Taylor? Will you support a probe of this matter? What if there is more evidence against him? What if there are more victims? You’re always looking for new victims, aren’t you? Strike when the iron is hot—who cares about psychiatrist-patient privilege?”
David Clohessy, SNAP’s national director, declined to comment on the case.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
