ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on August 06, 2012
As hundreds of American Catholic nuns meeting this week in St. Louis, clergy sex abuse victims will protest outside urging them to address the under-reported issue of clergy sex crimes and cover ups by nuns.
A nationwide self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is upset with the main organization of nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). SNAP says the LCWR “refuses to take any real steps to heal the wounded or protect the vulnerable.”
“It’s stunning, really, to see nuns moving more timidly and slowly on child sex crimes and cover ups than bishops,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “Abuse by nuns is certainly more common than anyone suspects, and inaction by nuns’ groups contributes to this secrecy.”
For at least eight years, SNAP has repeatedly prodded the sisters’ organization to
–let childhood sexual victims to speak at the nun’s conference,
–actively reach out to victims of nun abuse, and
–post the names, photos and whereabouts of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting nuns on church websites.
SNAP’s first protest will be tomorrow, Monday, August 6,from 8:45 p.m. until 10:15 p.m. outside the Millennium Hotel, 200 S. Fourth (between Clark & Walnut) in downtown St. Louis.
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