News Story of the Day
Jesuits to pay 281k to settle lawsuits against former SLU president Daniel O'Connell
By Danny Wicentowski on Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 6:00 am, Riverfront Times
In the late 1960s, while Daniel O'Connell was a "very popular" professor at Saint Louis University, a female undergraduate alleges that he used his position to sexually abuse her during counseling sessions. Years later, in 2012, the woman filed a lawsuit claiming that O'Connell held her on his lap while he masturbated and told her that sex would bring her closer to God.
Ex-pastor pleads guilty to child porn charge
A Louisville Roman Catholic priest was taken into custody Monday after pleading guilty to a single felony count of accessing child porn.
Stephen Pohl, 57, a former pastor at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, admitted to accessing the pornographic images of nude underage boys on computers at the church rectory and office between January and August 2015.
After criminal charges, attention turns again to Cosby's honorary degrees
BY LAURA BENSHOFF, December 31, 2015, Newsworks
In the wake of felony sexual assault charges against comedian Bill Cosby in Montgomery County, public pressure is increasing on area universities to revoke honorary degrees granted to the famous television dad.
On Wednesday, the Montgomery County district attorney's office filed three felony charges against comedian Bill Cosby, stemming from an alleged 2004 sexual assault.
Controversial Joliet bishop laid to rest
By Nick Swedberg and Erin Gallagher, December 30, 2015, Chicago Tribune
Bishop Joseph Imesch spent nearly three decades as a dedicated shepherd to the members of the Joliet Diocese.
In that time, he forged deep bonds of friendship, and fought hard for major changes to the church he believed were due.
In God we trust? Priests in New Hampshire made that hard to do
By RAY DUCKLER, Monitor staff, Tuesday, December 29, 2015
David Ouellette, 53, had one correction to make.
Yes, Catholic priests were more than merely respected figures in his community when he was growing up in Rochester. They were placed on a pedestal, revered, almost God-like, right?
“You got most of that right,” Ouellette told me. “The only thing you have wrong is that they weren’t looked at as God-like. In my family, they were God.”
Alaska can learn from new movie 'Spotlight' how to bring abuse out of the shadows
Trevor Storrs, December 27, 2015, Alaska Dispatch News
The new Star Wars movie has grabbed everyone’s attention. However, there is another must-see movie – "Spotlight." This new movie, directed by Thomas McCarthy, stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams as the real-life Spotlight investigative journalist team for The Boston Globe. In 2001, they uncovered a pattern of sex abuse by Catholic priests in Boston and how the Catholic Church covered it up.
Convicted Somerset County priest seeks public relations help
By Liz Zemba Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, Trib Live News
A Somerset County priest awaiting sentencing on charges he traveled overseas to molest orphaned boys maintains his innocence and is soliciting public relations firms to tell his story, drawing the ire of a national support group for clergy-abuse survivors.
Child Molesting Priest Seeks To Hire A PR Agency
2015-12-22 by Everything PR
Everything-PR has exclusively learned that Father Joseph D. Maurizio, a priest in Federal Prison for child sexual abuse charges has contacted a number of public relations firms seeking an agency willing to work the media to assist him in getting out of jail, or receiving a lenient sentence.
Abuse Survivors Group Asks Superior Bishop To Revisit Investigation Of Priest
An advocacy group for those abused by priests is calling on the new leader of Superior's Catholic Diocese to look into the case of an Ashland priest suspended by the district six years ago.
The previous leader of the diocese, Bishop Peter Christensen, suspended Father Henry Willenborg from parish duties at Our Lady of the Lake in Ashland over accusations that he had sex with a minor. David Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the newly appointed Bishop James Powers should release information on the Franciscans' investigation into Father Willenborg.
Rockland priest abuse: Dolan sends rep to Mass
PEARL RIVER - Parishioners at St. Margaret of Antioch Church will notice something missing at Mass Sunday morning: their pastor.
Rockland County authorities are prepared to probe Msgr. John O'Keefe, who has been accused of sexually abusing a child more than 30 years ago.
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