Victims Group Takes Message to Masses

By Rowan Callick
The Australian
November 26, 2012

www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/victims-group-takes-message-to-masses/story-fngburq5-1226523818472

PARISHIONERS at morning mass at St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral in Melbourne yesterday politely received flyers handed out by members of the international Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests urging them to "come forward with any information or suspicions of child abuse".

The president and founder of SNAP, American lawyer Barbara Blaine, said "many survivors are still suffering in secrecy and shame" and the group wanted to let parishioners know about its existence and encourage them to report crimes to police. The SNAP members were asked by cathedral security staff to remain outside the grounds.

Ms Blaine, who said she was abused when she was 12 and 13, has visited 12 countries in her campaign, and says SNAP has 12,000 members in 56 countries.

She said she remained a member of the Catholic Church. "My faith is in God, not in these church officials," she said.

But Lydia Soires, a parishioner, said that "while I am sympathetic to their cause, we are many of us victims in one way or another . . . While they say this is an attempt to reconcile, it actually creates hostility."