SNAP’s clergy abuse victims mark 25 years and eye new targets
David Gibson
(RNS) When victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests first organized into a small band of volunteer activists in the late 1980s, reports of clergy molesting children were still new and relatively few. Most were minimized as anomalies or dismissed altogether much the way the victims were.
But today, as the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, marks its 25th anniversary at a conference in Chicago (Aug. 1-3), its members can take satisfaction in seeing that its claims have been validated, and a few (though hardly all) of its recommendations have been implemented by the church hierarchy.
And instead of facing constant verbal attacks and the occasional angry parishioner spitting on them at a protest, SNAPs members today are far more likely to receive a handshake and a word of thanks, and maybe even a donation.
http://www.religionnews.com/2014/07/29/snaps-clergy-abuse-victims-mark-25-years-eye-new-targets/