Group Warns Victims of Priests’ Abuse : Religion: Organization says church can’t be trusted to investigate molestation reports and retaliates against accusers. Mahony counters that problems are quickly addressed.

Warning of retaliation and bad faith by the Roman Catholic Church, a nationwide organization of victims of sexual abuse by priests urged other victims Monday not to report the offenses to the church.

Instead, the group--including an Anaheim woman who said she was abused as a 13-year-old--said victims should take their complaints to law enforcement authorities, attorneys, counselors or family members.

In a Chicago press conference, the Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said that church authorities could not be trusted to investigate their own. In other cases, the victims charged that the church had retaliated against them by revealing their names without permission or by filing counter suits.

“We are here with a warning to other victims. Learn from our pain. Do not report your abuse to church authorities,” said Barbara Blaine, founder and director of SNAP.

The group said it will attend the June 17-19 meeting in New Orleans of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to ask for a pledge that the church will not publicly attack people who try to expose such abuse.

The recommendation comes at a time when the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have sought to step up their response to sexual abuse by the clergy.

Although the problem crosses denominational lines, much of the attention has focused on the Catholic Church. Last year, Jason Berry, author of the book “Lead Us Not Into Temptation,” reported that 400 priests had been reported for molesting children between 1984 and 1992. He also said the church has paid an estimated $400 million in settlements.

But the recommendation by the survivors group was questioned by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, and a spokesman for Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago.

“I don’t find it helpful. In fact, I’m puzzled by it,” Mahony said in Los Angeles. “Maybe some of it comes out of what some of these people experienced 15, 20 or 25 years ago. But that is not the reality today whatsoever. . . . We move so quickly to respond to that whole spectrum of needs.”

Mahony, who met privately with a delegation of victims last November in Washington, called charges of retaliation against them “just incredible. It is the farthest thing from our minds. We sense the real pain that has been caused in those people’s lives. Our major focus is how to heal that.”

The Los Angeles archbishop said that in many cases the church hears about the incidents from counselors or others. But he stressed that the church would like to know as soon as possible to get help quickly to victims. He added that the sooner an accusation is called to the church’s attention, the sooner offenders among the clergy can be removed from circumstances where others could be harmed.

But Mary Staggs, a 30-year-old Anaheim woman who said she was sexually molested repeatedly by a priest beginning when she was 13, said Monday that the priest who allegedly abused her is now the pastor of a large parish. She said the church reached a settlement with her in 1991, but she declined to state the sum.

“I’m being contacted by many survivors in Orange County who have made reports to the bishops and the bishops are still rebuffing them,” she said in a telephone interview from Chicago.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Orange did not return phone calls.

Times researcher Tracy Shryer contributed to this story from Chicago. Stammer reported from Los Angeles.