SNAP, watchdog group that fought Catholic Church, faces upheaval

SATURDAY, FEB. 11, 2017, 5 P.M.
By Jim Salter
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS – A victims’ support group that helped force the Roman Catholic Church to confront the problem of child-molesting priests is going through upheaval of its own, including the resignations of two top leaders and a potentially reputation-damaging lawsuit.

Barbara Blaine, who founded the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, in 1988, stepped down as president Feb. 3, about a month after the resignation of long-time executive director David Clohessy.

The change in leadership was sandwiched around a Jan. 17 lawsuit accusing SNAP of exploiting the victims it purports to serve by taking kickbacks from lawyers.

Blaine and Clohessy said their resignations were planned months ago and were unrelated to the lawsuit. They said they simply decided it was time to step aside after decades with the nonprofit group.

But the turnover and the lawsuit have created a tumultuous time for an organization that has been one of the loudest voices holding the Catholic Church accountable for sexual abuse by priests.

SNAP’s new leader, Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, said the organization remains as strong as ever and will persevere. Clohessy said SNAP’s strength isn’t in its leadership but in the hundreds of volunteers “who so generously work to protect kids, expose predators and help survivors.”

The organization is not nearly as visible as it was during the height of the sexual abuse scandal more than a decade ago, in part because many of the victims from decades ago have come forward and been heard, and the church, under pressure from SNAP and others, is more aggressively policing itself.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/feb/11/snap-watchdog-group-that-fought-catholic-church-fa/