BROWNSVILLE (TX)
Brownsville Herald
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ
The Brownsville Herald
March 31, 2005 — Discussions are under way for the establishment of a local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Miguel Prats, state coordinator for the Texas chapters, said he has been in “serious discussions” with victims of abuse for setting up a Rio Grande Valley chapter.
“The chances are good that we will have a chapter, but there is a lot to starting a SNAP chapter,” Prats said in a telephone interview from Houston. “When I’m dealing with victims, I have to give them plenty of space. … We have already been through hell and back.”
SNAP is a volunteer self-help organization comprised of survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the survivors’ supporters. Its mission is to support one another by healing and by pursuing justice and institutional change by holding perpetrators responsible and the church accountable, according to its mission statement.
Prats said the discussion of a Valley Chapter began less than two weeks ago following the March 16 publication of a story of former Monsignor Ivan M. Rovira’s alleged abuse of two boys that happened 24 years ago.
Posted by kshaw at March 31, 2005 06:52 AM