News Story of the Day
Collateral damage: the family upheaval that results from abuse
By John Meagher, October 29 2017, Irish Independent
Betrayal. It's the first word that Dr Marie Keenan thinks of when she considers the overriding emotion experienced when a family member is revealed to be a sex offender.
"That sense of betrayal is enormous," she says. "This is someone they loved, whom they thought they knew intimately, and now they are having to confront the most horrific news."
Dr Keenan, a lecturer at the School of Social Policy, University College Dublin, is one of the country's foremost experts of the impact of sex abuse - not just on the actual victims, but those other people caught in the slipstream.
THE LOST CHILDREN OF TUAM
OCT. 28, 2017, NY Times
Ireland Wanted to Forget. But the Dead Don’t Always Stay Buried.
TUAM, Ireland
Behold a child.
A slight girl all of 6, she leaves the modest family farm, where the father minds the livestock and the mother keeps a painful secret, and walks out to the main road. Off she goes to primary school, off to the Sisters of Mercy.
Her auburn hair in ringlets, this child named Catherine is bound for Tuam, the ancient County Galway town whose name derives from a Latin term for “burial mound.” It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese, a proud distinction announced by the skyscraping cathedral that for generations has loomed over factory and field.
SIX SETTLEMENTS ANNOUNCED IN NYC CHILD SEX ABUSE CASES AGAINST CATHOLIC PRIESTS
By Lindsay Tuchman, October 26, 2017, Spectrum News NY1
Six new settlements in some child sex abuse cases facing the Catholic Church were announced Wednesday as part of a new program within the Diocese of Brooklyn, which also covers Queens, and the Archdiocese of New York, which covers the other three boroughs. As NY1's Lindsay Tuchman reports, two unidentified abusers were also revealed.
The law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates presented the photos of some Catholic priests who are accused of sexually abusing children in the city.
Stolen Childhoods
By Maria Panaritis, The Inquirer
Decades later, the damage from one Philadelphia predator priest still torments a generation of victims.
Priest pleads guilty to reduced misdemeanor charges of sex assaulting a child at Wauwatosa school
By Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
More former students sue over alleged abuse at boarding school
Nine former students of a now-closed boarding school have filed lawsuits this month saying they suffered severe abuse as part of a “culture of silence and secrecy” among officials at two schools in West Virginia and Tennessee.
The lawsuits, filed in Kanawha Circuit Court from Oct. 13-17, are the latest legal actions taken in the case of Miracle Meadows School in Salem, Harrison County. Two other former students filed a similar lawsuit in January.
St. Pius first NM stop for Perrault
By Olivier Uyttebrouck. October 20th, 2017, Albuquerque Journal
St. Pius X High School leaders were hit with a “bombshell” in 1970 when they were told of allegations of sexual abuse against the Rev. Arthur Perrault, a teacher at the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s flagship high school.
Those allegations remained secret for decades, but documents released this week pull back the curtain on how those school leaders and the archbishop responded.
Man wants mom's tombstone to say she 'supported priest rapist victims,' but diocese objects
By Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, October 20, 2017
Marguerite Ridgeway was a fervent Catholic until her faith was shaken when church sex abuse scandals came to light, particularly a decades-old trauma recounted by her daughter-in-law.
Now Ridgeway’s son wants to install a marker at his late mother’s gravesite in Wheaton bearing the inscription “She supported priest rapist victims.”
New Mexico judge orders release of clergy sex abuse records
By Associated Press, October 19, 2017, Fox News
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Hundreds of pages of court records related to sexual abuse allegations against clergy members are being made public in response to an order from a New Mexico judge, marking the largest disclosure of such records since alleged victims began suing the Archdiocese of Santa Fe nearly three decades ago.
Church officials said in a statement issued after Wednesday's release that they hope the disclosure along with the recent publication of a list of clergy accused of sexual misconduct will serve as an additional step in healing for survivors, their families and parishioners.
France considers tough new laws to fight sexual harassment and abuse
By Kim Willsher, The Gaurdian
French MPs are to debate legislation to crack down on sexist or sexual aggression and harassment, especially assaults on children.
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director