It's time again for the SNAP Annual Conference! This year our conference will take place in Washington DC at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel.

Schedule

Friday, July 26

Conference speakers in plenary session from 7:00 to 10:00 PM

Saturday, July 27

Conference speakers and Breakout sessions from 9:00 AM until 5:30 PM

Saturday evening a special performance of Eclipsed, the experience of a young novice in one of the Magdalene Laundries. It tells the story of four girls scorned not only by society but their own families

Sunday, July 28

Conference speakers from 9:00 AM until noon

Some of the speakers are:

 Michael D’Antonio

Michael D’Antonio is the author of Mortal Sins, Sex Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal, which was published in April by Macmillan publishers. Praised as "The definitive history of the Catholic Church's 'most severe crisis since the Reformation" Mortal Sins tells the story of the clerical sexual abuse crisis from its beginning in America in the 1980s through today.  Before becoming a fulltime author and freelance writer Michael worked as a reporter and features writer in New England, Washington, D.C., and New York. During his tenure at Newsday on Long Island, he received the Pulitzer Prize, which he shared with a team of reporters there, and won several other awards, including the Alicia Patterson Fellowship He is also recipient of the Humanitas award for screenwriting and his books have been noted as editors picks and in annual “best of” lists by the The Christian Science Monitor, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, NPR's Science Friday, and Inc magazine.

Tom Doyle

Tom Doyle is an ordained priest who holds a doctorate in Canon Law and five separate master's degrees.   He is also a trained and licensed addictions therapist. Tom served at the Vatican Embassy  in the 1980’s where he became directly involved with the clergy sex abuse case of former Fr. Gilbert Gauthe that received national publicity.  Tom worked with Ray Mouton and the late Fr. Michael Peterson, M.D., to compose the report on the problem of sexual abuse by clergy that served as the notice to the Vatican and to the U.S. bishops about the grave nature of the sexual abuse by clergy.

He has served as an expert witness and consultant in criminal and civil cases throughout the U.S., in Canada, Ireland, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands and Israel. 

Lynne M. Abraham, Esquire

Ms. Abraham is a partner in Archer & Greiner’s Philadelphia Office. Her 18-year tenure as District Attorney is the longest in modern city history.  As leader of the largest prosecutor’s office in Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the nation, employing approximately 600 and handling more than 75,000 cases a year, Ms. Abraham forged a reputation as a tough and effective yet compassionate protector of public safety for more than 1.5 million citizens of the City and County of Philadelphia.  She was the first prosecutor and only one in the Country at that time to launch a multi-year Grand Jury Investigation into Clergy Sex Abuse, who compelled the Cardinal-Archbishop to testify about clergy abuse, and who also released all the names of priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who abused children.

  Christa Brown

Christa is the author of This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang, a combination memoir and exposé about clergy sex abuse and cover-ups in the largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. As one of the first to go public with substantiated molestation allegations against a Southern Baptist minister and documentation that others knew, Christa survived every attempt of the Baptist machine to shut her down, and she was the first survivor to address the SBC’s Executive Committee at the “Baptist Vatican” in Nashville. After a twenty-five year career as an appellate attorney, Christa now teaches yoga for cancer survivors, and she volunteers as a hospital ethics consultant. Christa blogs at StopBaptistPredators.

  Jeff Dion

Jeff Dion has championed crime victims' rights for more than two decades. Jeff began advocating for victims in 1982, when his twenty-three year old sister, Paulette, was murdered by a serial killer. In 1998, Jeff joined the staff of the National Center for Victims of Crime, where he currently serves as both Deputy Executive Director and the Director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association. In that capacity, he lectures throughout the country to foster greater communication and understanding among crime victims and attorneys.  Jeff, who is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, serves on the Board of Directors of ACTS, the social service organization that serves victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in Prince William County, VA.

   Juan Carlos Cruz   

In 2009, together with James Hamilton and José Andrés Murillo, Juan Carlos came forward with his story of abuse by Fr. Fernando Karadima, an emblematic priest in Chilean society. Born in Santiago, Chile, Juan Carlos studied journalism and worked in several newsrooms before moving to the United States in 2000, where he has worked for several Fortune 500 companies as their corporate communications executive. In April 2010, Cruz’s story broke in the New York Times, forever changing the dominance and cover-up of abuse in the Chilean Catholic Church. Because of his courage, other victims have felt empowered to come forward. Two best-selling books have been written about this case, and a movie is currently in the works.

Hotel Reservation

To make a hotel reservation call the hotel at, 703-413-1300, and be sure to say you are with the SNAP group. You can also book a room by clicking here, again be sure to say you are with the SNAP group.

Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel

2800 S Potomac Ave, Arlington, VA

703-413-1300

Conference Program Advertisements

There's still time to purchase ad space in the conference program.

click here to purchase ad space in the program!