David G. Clohessy (born c. 1956) is known as an American activist and leader for victims of clergy abuse. He served for more than two decades, until December 2017, as the executive director and spokesman for the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). He remained on the board after his resignation. Based in Chicago, SNAP is the largest and oldest national self-help group for victims of clergy molestation in the United States.

Biography

Clohessy was reared as a Catholic. His brother Kevin became a priest. After lower school, Clohessy studied at and graduated in 1978 from

Drury University Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,700 undergraduate and grad ...

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. After college, he began work as a

union organizer A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

for the

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is an international collection of autonomous community-based organizations that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registrati ...

(ACORN). He has also worked as a public relations director. He has been based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. His work included serving on the staff of

St. Louis Mayor The mayor of St. Louis is the chief executive officer of St. Louis's city government. The mayor has a duty to enforce city ordinances and the power to either approve or veto city ordinances passed by the Board of Aldermen. The current mayor ...

Freeman Bosley Jr. Freeman R. Bosley Jr. (born July 20, 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American politician who served as the 43rd mayor of St. Louis (from 1993 to 1997), and the city's first African-American mayor. Early life and education Bosley graduated fro ...

Sexual abuse by clergy

Clohessy has said that he was the victim of sexual abuse as a teenager (from 1969-1973) by priest Fr. John J. Whiteley, in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City The Diocese of Jefferson City ( la, Dioecesis Civitatis Jeffersoniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the state of Missouri in the United States, The diocese consists of 38 counties in mainly rura ...

. He began to work on this issue as an activist in the late 1980s, when other victims of clergy abuse began to speak out. In 1989 Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was founded by

Barbara Blaine Barbara Ann Blaine (July 6, 1956 – September 24, 2017) was the founder in 1988 and president until February 2017 of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a national advocacy group in the United States for survivors of clergy, ...

. Clohessy was one of four abuse survivors to speak to the full US Conference of Catholic Bishops at its June 2002 meeting in Dallas, which attracted thousands of journalists and at which the US church's first nationwide policy on child sexual abuse was adopted. Since his years of adult activism against clergy abuse, Clohessy has struggled with the fact that in 2002 his brother, Father Kevin Clohessy had "a credible accusation" against him for being inappropriate sexually while a priest. His brother has since voluntarily left the priesthood. The allegation was never proven. In 2019, the Diocese of Jefferson City listed Kevin Clohessy among its list of 'credibly accused' clerics on its website, part of a national effort by the Catholic Church to be more transparent about the abuses. In 2012 it was reported that Clohessy has faced legal trouble for failing to release information on alleged clergy abuse victims. A court order had mandated him to release the records. The information was originally requested by the court in an effort to trace the possible violation of a

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

in a sexual abuse case. After Clohessy was deposed, the Missouri State Supreme Court refused to intervene in the case.
/ref> Clohessy described this court order as the most significant legal challenge faced by SNAP in its 23 years.

References

External links

David Clohessy in the media

- ''Drury University Magazine''
Priest scandal puts focus on victims' advocate
- ''The Post-Dispatch'', St Louis, MO

''The New York Times Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Clohessy, David Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from St. Louis Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in the United States Activists for victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church Drury University alumni American trade unionists

Biography

Sexual abuse by clergy

See also

References

External links