A message from SNAPDFW’s facilitator, Lisa Kendzior
Acknowledge your courage
;)
It takes courage to acknowledge that we’ve been abused and it is not easy to even admit it to ourselves. Just browsing this website is a big step.Know that you are not alone!
If you’ve been victimized by clergy, please know that you are not alone. You can get better. You can reach out to others who’ve been hurt just like you have.
Together, we can heal one another.
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;)
SNAP survivors of priest rape come to Britain for pope trip, ask action, not lip service, to protect children
Americans Therese Albrecht and SNAP president Barbara Blaine are in Britain representing fellow survivors of priest sexual abuse during the pope's current trip there. They want more openness about abuse in the Catholic Church."We are asking that the Pope and the Vatican establish a worldwide database with the names of all of the known and credibly-accused predator priests." -- SNAP President Barbara Blaine in Britain
Read the entire story on the Voice of America website ...
Watch VOA video of SNAP survivors interviewed in Britain:
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Human rights jurist claims immunity protecting pope from legal action in pedophile crisis needs moral improvement
In a book set to be published in tandem with the popes visit to Britain, a leading British jurist has claimed that the diplomatic immunity model of international relations needs to be replaced by a more moral legal order, so that someday soon not even a pope will be above the law.Read the article Should the Pope face charges? in the Canadian publication McLeans ...
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According an Associate Press story filed today, an independent Belgian commission reported that hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two.
Professor Peter Adriaenssens, chairman of the commission, said the abuse in Belgium may have been even more rampant than the 200-page report suggests, because his panel's work was interrupted and all its files seized in a June 24 raid by Belgian judicial authorities who are conducting their own probe.
"Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse that blighted the lives of victims. He called the report's findings "a body blow" to the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium." -- Raf Casert, Associated Press
Belgian church authorities said they would react on Monday to the report. The Vatican had no immediate comment.
Read the entire AP story on the MSNBC website ...
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Belgian Cardinal pressured victim to protect bishop with secrecy until he retired, says tapes released and verified
The New York Times reported today that a Belgian cardinal, Godfried Danneels, pressed a sexual abuse victim to either accept a private apology or wait until a bishop accused of the victim's rape had retired before pressing charges, according to tapes recorded by the victim, and verified by the church as genuine. "The cardinal warned the victim against trying to blackmail the church and suggested that he accept a private apology from the bishop and not drag 'his name through the mud.'
The victim responded, 'He has dragged my whole life through the mud, from 5 until 18 years old,” and asked, 'Why do you feel sorry for him and not for me?' "
The tapes, which church authorities have verified as accurate, are among the more revealing documents in the continuing scandal of sexual abuse by clerics and subsequent cover-ups by the church. And having a record of a cardinal entreating an abuse victim to keep his silence is another embarrassment for the Catholic Church, which continues to be much more protective of its abusive hierarchy than of its victims.
Read the full story in the New York Times today ...
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Irish abuse survivor 'shattered' by leadership of 'clerical culture' in abuse crisis considers option 'this is not the church for me'
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A survivor of clerical sexual abuse, well-known in Ireland, is considering quitting the Roman church following the pope's decision to keep two Dublin auxiliary archbishops implicated in the abuse scandal in office. Marie Collins has doggedly remained a Catholic in the hopes that the church will reform. However, describing last week's revelation as the "final nail in the coffin" of her hope that the church would change as lead by the clerical culture, Collins said she has "really gone beyond the point I was at before".
"I have always said my Christianity is not in doubt. I am not disillusioned with my faith in God or Christ. But I am just at the point where I'm considering that I don't need to call myself a Catholic anymore, in a church where clerical power holds sway. My hope of reform coming from within the clerical church is gone." -- Marie Collins, Irish abuse survivor.
Read the full story in the Sunday's Irish publication the SundayTribune online ...
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Sexual theology of Roman Catholic Church in deep crisis, says priest/former-editor of Irish Bishops’ magazine
The sexual theology of the Roman Catholic Church is in deep crisis. So says Kevin Hegarty, priest and former editor of the Irish Bishop's magazine Intercom.The majority of Catholic couples were ignoring its teaching on contraception, while its teaching on homosexuality had, rightly he thought, attracted much criticism.
He also said the sexual scandals had dealt the church its worst blow in Ireland in living memory.
Read the entire report in today's Irish Times ...
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Survivors respond to pope's refusal to accept resignations of Irish bishops implicated in sexual abuse by priests scandal
Andrew Madden, who was abused as an altar boy in Dublin, said he was "disappointed" by the pope's decision not to accept the auxiliary bishops' resignations. However, he said, "I am not surprised; I have long since given up hope of the Catholic Church getting its act together when it comes to child protection."The Catholic Church, right from the Vatican down, has refused to fully acknowledge this problem," Madden said.
Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the U.S. based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), issued a statement saying, "By rejecting the resignations of two complicit Irish bishops, the pope is rubbing more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of thousands of child sex abuse victims and millions of betrayed Catholics.
"By this move, the Pope has done irreparable damage to the already deeply damaged image of a selfish church hierarchy."-- SNAP president Barbara Blaine
"He's sending an alarming message to church employees across the globe: Even widespread documentation of the concealing of child sex crimes and the coddling of criminals won't cost you your job in the church," the statement said.
Read the article "Pope declines resignation of Dublin auxiliary bishops" including Madden's statement on the National Catholic Reporter website ...
Read the AP story and SNAP president Blaine's full statement on the SNAP national website ...
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SNAP confronts women religious leaders on behalf of those abused by nuns; 'come clean' as model for church
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DALLAS -- Standing in a 105 degree temperature outside the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Dallas, four members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a press conference as heads of women religious communities were checking in inside the hotel lobby at the outset of the annual gathering for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).The SNAP assembly included Steve Theisen, Therese Albrecht, SNAP's National Director David Clohessy and SNAP DFW's Lisa Kendzior.
Clohessy said that the purpose for the conference was to send a message to the women religious leadership that it should do more to “come clean” about abusive nuns. He called for LCWR to develop a national abuse policy that could be a model for the bishops and for the entire world. Sadly, he said, efforts to work with LCWR have been rebuffed for the past six years.
Read the story in National Catholic Reporter online ...
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Largest organization of American Nuns to hold annual meeting in Dallas; SNAP DFW urges your presence and support
Dear Friends,I am writing to ask you to support a very important and rare event taking place next week in Dallas. The largest organization of American nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), is holding their annual conference next week at the Hyatt Regency on Reunion Blvd. in Dallas.
"I am suggesting that an hour or two of your time to stand with victims in this situation, may be the single most significant use of your time all year. " -- SNAPDFW facilitator Lisa Kendzior
SNAP is going to have a presence as the National Director, David Clohessy, and the gentleman who is responsible for bringing this issue to the forefrontand a survivor of sexual abuse at the hand of a nun, Steve Theisen of Iowa, are coming to Dallas.
We need survivors and supporters to stand with them on Tuesday, August 10th at 1:00 pm and Wednesday, August 11th at 11:00 am on the sidewalk outside the Hyatt Regency downtown.
The purpose is to handout leaflets urging the nuns to:
* let SNAP survivors who were molested by nuns speak to their national nuns conference in Dallas this week, and;
* launch an independent self survey to learn how widespread such sex crimes are
Unknown to many:
* the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) refused to join the Dallas Charter;
* the LCWR is a canonically approved membership organization for Catholic sisters in America; and
* are only held accountable to a far distant Vatican Office called The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
For 7 years, victims of nun sexual abuse have asked the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) for simple and inexpensive actions:
* Allow survivors to speak at National and Regional Conferences;
* Allow survivors to speak at member communities;
* Place a "To Report an Abuse" SNAP link on LCWR website;
* Ask member communities to do the same in their publications or on their website; and:
* Provide SNAP with contact numbers for communities' Victim Assistance Coordinators.
For 7 years the LCWR has refused.
The LCWR has more than 1500 members, who represent more than 90 percent of the 59,000 women religious in the United States.
Sadly, female sexual predators who are members of religious communities are capable of committing sexual abuse with terrifying exploitation but without the typical lack of suspicion.
Society's comfort level with intimate touching between women and children enables female abusers to initiate contact far easier without suspicion. The reality of a female practicing pedophilia is shocking but must not be ignored if we are to protect those that are most vulnerable.
This is going to be a big deal and I am suggesting that an hour or two of your time to stand with victims in this situation, may be the single most significant use of your time all year. I urge you to consider standing in solidarity with those who have suffered in this way. Your support would mean a great deal to them.
Lisa
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Ratzinger papacy investigates again: this time, Medjugorjan Blessed Virgin 'sightings' targeted by inquisitors
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Adding the mystics of Medjugorje to his potential heretic hit-list -- along with gay seminarians and "uppity" women in genuine ministries -- the German pope has cranked up the smoke and mirrors intended to further enshroud the sexual perversion crisis of the imploding Roman priesthood and its hierarchy, exacerbated by the pope himself and his own secretive, blame-throwing, ideologically absolutist regime.BBC News and the American Paulist Catholic news outlet CathNewsUSA report that in March, 2010 the Vatican announced that a 20-strong commission will report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Inquisition) on claims that the Virgin Mary appears on a daily basis in a town in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
It is said she speaks in Croatian, uttering the words: “I’ve come because there are many true believers here. I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world.”
The Roman Church, under the Polish and German papacies, has long debated the credibility of the sightings. So the timing of this commission must give any mature observer of world events pause.
Read the story in the BBC report 'Vatican investigates Bosnia "apparition" of Virgin Mary' ...
Read the CathNewsUSA story 'Vatican announces Medjugorje investigation' ...
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On 20 November 2009, the global community celebrated the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the unique document that sets international standards for the care, treatment and protection of all individuals below age 18.Like all UN member states signing the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican is required by international law to submit regular reports on its efforts to safeguard child rights.
But the Vatican has ignored repeated UN requests to file the report for years.
In 2009, a Vatican official announced to a UN assembly that the long-delinquent report was being "finalized as we speak."
Not so. The head of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child told the Associated Press just this month (July, 2010) that:
"... the UN required Vatican report "is now almost 13 years overdue."
"A LEGALLY BINDING INSTRUMENT"
According to the UNICEF website Unite for Children, filing the report is a legally binding, international responsibility:
""The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too." Unite for Children, UNICEF
LINKS
Read 'Vatican breaks UN treaty on children's safety; SNAP responds' on the SNAP national website ...
Download the 16 page executive summary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child from the UNICEF website ...
For more on the CRC, visit Unite for Children on the UNICEF website ...
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Convicted Mother Teresa spiritual advisor used status to prey on unsuspecting families and children; SNAP responds
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled to keep Fr. Donald McGuire behind bars. McGuire is an unrepentant, narcissistic, serial child predator who used his status as a Jesuit and Mother Teresa’s spiritual adviser to prey on unsuspecting families and kids."This case should remind all sex abuse victims that even the most high profile, widely-respected and cunning child molesting cleric can sometimes be prosecuted and kept away from kids if only we are brave, patient and persistent." -- SNAP founder Barbara Blaine
Read SNAP founder and president Barbara Blaine's full statement on the SNAP national website ...
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