The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, established in 1989, is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit organization support group of survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their supporters in the United States.

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 cleric ...

, a survivor of sex abuse by a priest, was the founding president. SNAP, which initially focused on the Roman Catholic Church, had 12,000 members in 56 countries . It has branches for religious groups, such as SNAP Baptist, SNAP

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

, and SNAP Presbyterian, for non-religious groups ( Scouts, families), and for geographic regions, e.g., SNAP

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and SNAP Germany. , Tim Lennon is the president.

Activities

On June 13, 2002, SNAP's David Clohessy addressed the

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

at its high-profile meeting in Dallas, Texas. He asserted that many church-going Catholics had strong concerns about the way in which bishops were handling the growing child sexual abuse scandal. Clohessy said, "We're not here because you want us to be. We're not here because we've earned it or have fought hard for it. We're here because children are a gift from God, and Catholic parents know this! That's why 87% of them think that if you've helped molesters commit their crimes, you should resign." In 2004, SNAP acknowledged accepting donations from leading attorneys who had represented clients in abuse cases, but maintained that it did not direct clients to these attorneys. On August 8, 2009, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who served as the first chair of the National Review Board established by the U.S. Catholic bishops to investigate clergy sex abuse, addressed SNAP's annual gathering. He admitted he was at first naïve about the scope of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and urged bishops who covered up crimes to be prosecuted. In 2009 SNAP supported a legislative bill in New York that would push Catholic Church dioceses to disclose the names of all clergy who have been transferred or retired due to "credible allegations" of abuse. On June 9, 2009, a group of survivors of clergy abuse protested the appointment of Joseph Cistone as bishop of the Saginaw, Michigan diocese. Retired Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Archdiocese of Detroit is a member and strong supporter of SNAP and has helped SNAP do fundraising work. According to the '' National Catholic Reporter'', Gumbleton was punished by the Vatican and removed as a parish pastor because of work he did with SNAP and concerns he had about the Church's response to child sexual abuse. SNAP's president, Barbara Blaine, and national director, David Clohessy, resigned from their SNAP positions, effective February 4, 2017, and December 31, 2016, respectively. According to the '' Chicago Tribune'', "Barbara Dorris, SNAP's outreach director, has become the managing director". Three other longtime leaders, board president Mary Ellen Kruger and outreach director Barbara Dorris, both of St. Louis, and board member Mary Dispenza, left in March 2018.

Defamation lawsuit and sanctions

In 2015 SNAP was ordered by US District Court

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Carol E. Jackson to release information on alleged sex abuse victims, during the discovery process of a

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

suit by an accused priest against whom charges were dropped. According to David Clohessy, the director and spokesman, it is the most significant legal battle facing the organization in its 23 years and that he personally may be fined or jailed. SNAP refused to provide the judge's order, claiming "rape crisis center privilege". In August 2016, Judge Jackson found that no such

privilege Privilege may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Privilege'' (film), a 1967 film directed by Peter Watkins * ''Privilege'' (Ivor Cutler album), 1983 * ''Privilege'' (Television Personalities album), 1990 * ''Privilege (Abridged)'', an alb ...

exists and imposed sanctions against SNAP. The judge found that SNAP had defamed him and conspired against the priest, and order that SNAP pay the priest's legal fees. SNAP's attorney stated they were considering an appeal.

''Hammond v. SNAP''

On January 18, 2017, a former fundraiser for SNAP, Gretchen Rachel Hammond, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the organization in Cook County, Illinois. Hammond had been employed by SNAP as a Director of Development from July 2011 through February 2013. In the lawsuit, Hammond alleged that SNAP fired her in retaliation for confronting the organization for "colluding with survivors' attorneys." The lawsuit stated that "SNAP does not focus on protecting or helping survivors—it exploits them. SNAP routinely accepts financial kickbacks from attorneys in the form of 'donations.' In exchange for the kickbacks, SNAP refers survivors as potential clients to attorneys, who then file lawsuits on behalf of the survivors against the Catholic Church." According to the Catholic News Agency, the lawsuit claimed that SNAP "receives 'substantial contributions' from attorneys sometimes totaling more than 40 or 50 percent of its annual contributions. A prominent Minnesota attorney who represents clergy abuse survivors reportedly donated several six-figure annual sums, including over $415,000 in 2008. Other unnamed attorney-donors who represent abuse survivors reportedly came from California, Chicago, Seattle, and Delaware." The lawsuit also cited emails sent by David Clohessy and Barbara Blaine to survivors and "prominent attorneys". In one such email, Clohessy urges a survivor to sue the Wisconsin archdiocese "i sure hope you DO pursue the WI isconsinbankruptcy … Every nickle (sic) they don't have is a nickle (sic) that they can't spend on defense lawyers, PR staff,gay-bashing, women-hating, contraceptive-battling, etc." SNAP denied the allegations. Outreach Director Barbara Dorris told the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'', "That's simply just not true," outreach director Barbara Dorris said about misrepresenting the best interest of abuse victims. "We have been and always will be a self-help support group for victims." Dorris added that she couldn't remember if Hammond, who identifies as a transgender woman and is currently a journalist for the LGBT paper '' Windy City Times'' in Chicago, had been fired or not. SNAP president Barbara Blaine issued a statement which read "The allegations are not true. This will be proven in court. SNAP leaders are now, and always have been, devoted to following the SNAP mission: To help victims heal and to prevent further sexual abuse." On January 24, 2017, the '' Chicago Sun Times'' reported that Clohessy "voluntarily resigned" from SNAP "effective Dec. 31", according to a two-paragraph email from SNAP Board Chairwoman Mary Ellen Kruger. Clohessy told the ''

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'' "that the lawsuit had nothing to do with his resignation and called the allegations in the case 'preposterous.'" Blaine died in 2017. The lawsuit was settled in early 2018. Clohessy returned to SNAP as a spokesperson.

References

External links

Home Page of SNAP
{{Abuse Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in the United States * Sexual abuse advocacy and support groups Organizations established in 1989 501(c)(3) organizations

Activities

Defamation lawsuit and sanctions

''Hammond v. SNAP''

See also

References

External links