NJ- Catholic officials want to bury predators quietly; SNAP responds
For immediate release: Monday, March 17, 2014
Statement by New Jersey SNAP leader Mark Crawford (732-632-7687, [email protected])
Once again, for clearly selfish reasons, Newark Catholic officials are taking secretive steps to reduce public attention on predator priests. Shame on them.
Church officials will claim that this is about being sensitive to victims. It's not. Church officials' use of the phrase "negative publicity" shows their true intent: it's about keeping predator priests out of the news. Church officials know that every time a child molesting cleric is mentioned in public, other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers might step forward. Preventing such disclosures continues to be a top priority in the Catholic hierarchy.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 15,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])
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
Showing 5 comments
As a child a Priest snuck up behind me and grabbed me, I can only remember grasping
for air and then the rest is a blank;" my childhood is very bleak.
I started to remember in my fifty’s" because another man in my fifty’s did the
same to me and again I grasped for air" but this time I started to remember a Fr. Thomas Hanley. from St Paul’s School in Wilmington, Delaware.
I also have looked at how un-educated It left me ;" cold hard fact to snap into reality" to late in your life
I tried to go back to school a few times " but only to find it didn’t help me
no matter what" it’s as though my brain shut down on me year’s ago" due to the Priest scaring me to death" & looking back I couldn’t picture anything in my mind & I still can’t also if I read something I couldn’t comprehend it" nor would it stay in my mind
I didn’t get to live a normal life" I also missed out on my children’s life". It’s as though your hear but your not and this is very difficult to explain. Back years ago if I had remember they wouldn’t believed me “so the police would have never been called to help me;” It’s like even NOW " this very day " the law still won’t help the victim’s" for the simple " the law can’t bring themselves to believe a man wearing a black & white uniform w/ a collar ( a Priest ) is capable of rape" is this really 2014 ?
http://wh.gov/lUF7O