DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
February 20, 2006
By PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The co-founders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) went to the Archdiocese of Detroit headquarters Monday afternoon to protest the Catholic Churchs opposition to changing Michigan laws to give victims of priest sexual abuse more time to sue for damages.
David Clohessy of St. Louis, Mo., and Barbara Blaine of Chicago took their protest to the archdioceses chancery office on Washington Blvd. in downtown Detroit.
In a letter the two slid under the chancery door, SNAP asked Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida to endorse or stay neutral on possible legislation that would give victims of sex crimes more time to bring lawsuits seeking monetary damages for long-ago abuse.
Currently, Michigan law contains a statute of limitations on bringing lawsuits seeking damages for past abuse. In most cases, the state law requires a victim to file a civil lawsuit within two to three years of the abuse. If the abuse happened when the person was a child, the victim has up until one year past an 18th birthday to file a lawsuit.