National--Victims group blasts child marriage
For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])
Thousands of kids in the US are getting married, often to adults and with court approval, according to alarming statistics in today’s New York Times. This must stop.
Lawmakers should quickly forbid such unions. And judges should immediately stop approving such unions.
A moratorium on this controversial and unhealthy practice is the most prudent first step in ensuring the rights and safety of children.
How can we claim that a girl too young to drive a car or a boy too young to vote can make a lifelong, binding legal pledge? That’s absurd and abusive.
We must be sensitive to beliefs that are different from our own. But we must not let adults endanger or victimize children because of their beliefs, whether religious or cultural. We have a duty to boys and girls to clearly distinguish between belief and behavior. The former we tolerate. The latter we sometimes tolerate. But not when it brings hurts individuals who are too young to make choices of this magnitude.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 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 (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [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
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