BishopAccountability.org
	Snap: Make Amends, Not Apologies to Forced Adoption Victims Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests July 26, 2011 http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/2011_statements/072511_snap_make_amends_not_apologies_to_forced_adoption_victims.htm Statement by Steven Spaner, SNAP Australia Coordinator (SNAPspaner@gmail.com) and David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director (+1-314-566-9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com) Apologies are cheap, easy and largely meaningless. If one is truly sorry, one makes amends. These 150,000 grieving women had at least 150,000 babies, some of whom were apparently exposed to the drugs that their mothers were given and are now reported to be linked to cancer. For sure these 150,000 children were exposed to the trauma experienced by their mothers. These 300,000 victims deserve tangible help now. Though the offenses may have been years ago, many of these mothers, we believe, are still suffering; many of these babies, now adults, may be suffering birth trauma or trauma from poor/abusive placements. There is no accounting of the fate of these children. We find it very hard to believe that the head of Catholic Health Australia "became aware of the past practices after the ABC began its investigations." We strongly suspect that he and other church officials knew of this horror long ago but kept it hidden. If Catholic officials won't do what's right for the health and well being of these 300,000 victims, we urge governmental officials to step in and force them to take responsibility for their decades of callous wrong-doing. (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 23 years and have more than 10,000 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 websites are SNAPaustralia.org and SNAPnetwork.org) Contact - David Clohessy (+1-314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Steven Spaner (SNAPspaner@gmail.com), Barbara Blaine (+1-312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com), Peter Isely (+1-414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com), Barbara Dorris (+1-314-862-7688 home, +1-314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)
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