News Story of the Day

Listen to Barbara Blaine on WBEZ's Morning Shift!

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, of SNAP, met in Chicago this weekend for their annual conference. The organization functions as a support group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy members, and works to connect people with the resources to move on from that experience. Now, 25 years after their inception, SNAP’s founder Barbara Blaine explains what the new pope’s formation of commission for the protection of minors means for the group, and how they can work with the Church in order to heal.


Alleged abusive priest serving in Lafayette

By Claire Taylor

July 30, 2014

Here in the heart of Cajun country, where the first priest sex abuse scandal rocked the Roman Catholic Church faithful in the 1980s, allegations have surfaced that a priest who sexually abused a boy in the 1970s continues to minister in Lafayette.


SNAP’s clergy abuse victims mark 25 years and eye new targets

By David Gibson

July 29, 2014

(RNS) When victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests first organized into a small band of volunteer activists in the late 1980s, reports of clergy molesting children were still new and relatively few. Most were minimized as anomalies or dismissed altogether — much the way the victims were.


Fulton’s First Presbyterian named in lawsuit

July 24, 2014

A local church has been named one of the defendants in a lawsuit that also includes Jack Wayne Rogers, accusing Rogers of sexually assaulting the plaintiff when he was a child in 2000.


Wake-up call for Catholic hierarchs

By Mark Silk

July 21, 2014

Jennifer Haselberger’s affidavit ought to be sounding alarms throughout the length and breadth of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. What the former chancellor of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minnesota has done is to call into question the efficacy of the procedures the American church has put into place to assure the faithful and society at large that it is successfully dealing with the sexual abuse of minors by priests. 


Pope Francis raises eyebrows by saying pedophile priests include ‘bishops and cardinals’

By Josephine Mckenna

July 17, 2014

Pope Francis has provoked a debate within the Roman Catholic Church after being quoted as saying that one in 50 Catholic clerics is a pedophile.


Holding Church Shepherds Accountable

By the New York Times Editorial Board

July 17, 2014

When Pope Francis met earlier this month with victims of rape and sexual abuse by priests, he vowed to hold bishops accountable for covering up the scandal instead of confronting it.


Calls for Resignation Mount for Minnesota Archbishop in Scandals

Just two years ago, the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis was making headlines as a leader in the battle against same-sex marriage. But for the last year and a half, the archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, has been battling to hold onto his post in the face of a series of scandals, which further deepened on Tuesday with the filing of an explosive affidavit by the former chancellor of the archdiocese.


From Lafayette to Minnesota: A look at Archbishop Harry Flynn

From MPR News.

Click here to listen.


Watchdog group alleges Pope Francis covered up sex abuse

By Eric Morales

July 7, 2014

Buenos Aires - Pope Francis is accused of looking the other way when sex abuse occurred while he was still the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.


SNAP Network is a GuideStar Gold Participant