SNAP Media Events

Abuse victims launch four day, four city MO "outreach effort"

They start group for those hurt in Christian boarding schools

“AG & other officials must act now to protect vulnerable kids,” they say

Two survivors of childhood abuse will crisscross Missouri next week in what they’re calling "an outreach and education effort" to "help expose crimes against kids" in Christian boarding schools and prod officials to take immediate steps to "prevent more devastating harm to extremely vulnerable girls and boys."

They are:

--Amanda Householder of California, a nationally-known survivor, activist, and whistleblower who, in a highly unusual civil lawsuit, sued her parents for severely abusing purportedly ‘troubled kids’ at the two now-shuttered Christian reform/boarding schools they ran in southern Missouri for years. The couple face a trial this fall on 100+ felony charges. (Amanda’s experiences have been profiled on Dateline, Rolling Stone, the Daily Beast, Dr. Oz and an Amazon Prime documentary and numerous media outlets), and

--David Clohessy of St. Louis, the former long-time national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. (As a youngster, he and three of his brothers were sexually violated by a mid-Missouri priest.)

The events kick off on Monday, May 13 in St. Louis. The two, sometimes joined by other survivors and supporters, will also hold news conferences in Springfield on Tuesday, Jefferson City on Wednesday and Kansas City on Thursday.

SNAP & CALL TO ACTION stand with RGV survivors of clergy sexual abuse

The two groups urge all victims to come forward and find help

Remember: law enforcement reports can help ensure what you endured never happens to another

Statement from Brownsville Diocese survivor will also be shared at press event

Victim encourages others to share their truth: “We all deserve support”

WHAT: Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and a Catholic advocacy group, Call to Action, will read a statement by a survivor of clergy sexual abuse in the RGV. The groups will also provide context as to why victims should be believed, and why they often delay coming forward.

WHEN: Monday, April 22, 2024, at 10:00 am.

WHERE: Outside the Basilica de San Juan, 400 N. Virgen de San Juan Blvd, San Juan, Texas. We will be meeting on the public sidewalk on the west side of the Basilica. Enter the address 700 Oblate Street for GPS directions.

WHO: 3-5 victims, advocates and supporters, including David Saavedra, a McAllen counselor and advocate with Call to Action, and Patti Koo, SNAP San Antonio leader and survivor of adult abuse in McAllen, Texas, by a clergy/counselor.

WHY: We are gathering to support survivors of clergy sexual abuse and to educate the public on the importance of believing and supporting survivors, especially in a culture that often prizes a Church’s or a family’s “reputation” over the safety and well-being of its members. Not believing or supporting victims re-traumatizes them and hinders both their coming forward and their healing. We will stand in support of survivors. We believe them and we thank them for speaking out to ensure the safety of others. Victims deserve to live a full life, as they often speak of their childhoods being stolen by the one who abused them. If you, or someone you know has been abused by clergy or others, please reach out to SNAP and other support services. Survivors are also encouraged to report any abuse to law enforcement directly, instead of relying on the Diocese to pass along their truth. 

Victims beg MO AG to intervene in growing scandal

Four Christian boarding schools now face abuse reports

SNAP to Bailey: “Investigate, warn parents & prod local prosecutors”

Group also asks lawmakers to reform MO's 'predator-friendly statute of limitations'

WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference - with signs and childhood photos - child sex abuse victims and their supporters will

--hand-deliver a letter to Missouri's attorney general – signed by seven victims - urging him to investigate and warn the public about recent reports of abuse at largely unregulated ‘faith-based’ boarding schools in Missouri,

--urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered abuse there to come forward, and

--beg lawmakers to reform Missouri’s ‘archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly’ statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.

They will also testify at a legislative hearing in the afternoon and ask legislators to reform outdated child safety laws and give more abuse victims the chance to expose their predators in court.

WHEN
Monday, April 15 at 11:15 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Missouri Attorney General's office, 207 W. High Street (between Broadway and Washington) in Jefferson City

Victims to leaflet church where accused priest was ousted

With little attention, cleric was suspended 6 months ago

A 2nd predator priest, now deceased, also worked there

SNAP: ‘Bishop must do outreach to seek others in pain’

WHAT

Six months ago, a priest was quietly suspended after being accused of sexually abusing a child. Clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hold a brief sidewalk news conference and then leaflet around a Catholic parish and school where he worked and reportedly molested.

WHEN

Wednesday, March 20 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE

Outside Immaculate Conception-St. Mary's Church, 519 East 4th Street in Alton, IL (618 465 4284)

The Archdiocese of Washington DC (ADW) wants to thwart the will of the people of Maryland by
declaring the CVA unconstitutional.

ADW speaks out of both sides of its mouth after relying on funds obtained by the retroactive
application of asbestos civil cases.

The CVA was passed unanimously in the Maryland legislature and rapidly signed by the governor

WHAT: A sidewalk news conference, abuse survivors and advocates who are part of SNAP, the Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests, will demand that the ADW stop their immoral and unethical
practices of re-abusing and re-traumatizing survivors by attempting to have the Child Victims’ Act (CVA)
declared unconstitutional. In 2017 the ADW, along with the other two dioceses in Maryland quietly
snuck in a provision to the child abuse statutes that seemingly treated child abuse under statute of
repose restrictions. This seemingly prevented the ability for child abuse lawsuits from EVER being
resurrected through any retroactive changes in the statutes. However, even first year law students
understand that you can pretend to call a pig a duck, but that doesn’t make it a duck. Child abuse simply
does not follow the definition of repose. The ADW is doing this despite the fact that about 25 years ago,
they not only benefited from but actually encouraged the legislature to amend the existing statute of
repose for asbestos so that they, the ADW, could sue for retroactive damages, which they did.

WHEN: Wednesday 3/6/24 at approximately noon (immediately following the hearing scheduled to start
at 10 AM)

Ex-cleric & abuse victims beg KC archbishop to act

They want him to re-assign accused priest

‘To be safe, move him to a parish without a school,' SNAP says

Twice in six months, accused abusers are put in/near KC Catholic schools

Just last month, SNAP says an Overland Park priest pleaded guilty to child porn

WHAT

Holdings signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and a former Kansas City Kansas Catholic priest will publicly beg Kansas’ top church official to

--reverse his recent decision to transfer an accused child molesting priest to a Lenexa parish with a school,

--fire a recently-hired Mission Catholic school principal who faced a child sexual abuse lawsuit, and

--hold an unprecedented, historic joint open public Q & A session and invite the public to discuss how reports of crimes against kids are handled in his archdiocese.

They will also

--disclose that last month an Overland Park KS priest was sentenced to prison on child porn charges,

--prod the archbishop to publicly seek out any youngsters there he may have hurt, and

--publicly appeal to Lenexa parishioners to insist that their church officials ‘work harder to safeguard the vulnerable.’

Wrongful death suit filed vs. Missouri boarding school
Mom sues because her son, gang raped there, is now dead
Unusual case names eight defendants; two of them are sheriffs
It also accuses a company that transports kids to such facilities
Victims also call for better laws & enforcement 'to prevent more abuse'

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
--announce the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against a controversial, unlicensed, independent  and now-shuttered Baptist facility for 'troubled teenagers' in southern Missouri, and
--call on Missouri lawmakers to pass a new law that would expand the state's civil statute of limitations on abuse which would enable more child sex abuse victims to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes in court.
--urge local and state law enforcement agencies to more aggressively investigate similar schools and more vigorously prosecute wrongdoers.

WHEN
Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Federal Courthouse 400 E. 9th Street in downtown Kansas City, MO