BishopAccountability.org

Head of program that aids sex abuse victims of priests steps down as lawsuit against group looms

By Rich Schapiro
New York Daily News
February 04, 2017

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/head-program-aids-sex-abuse-victims-priests-steps-article-1.2964418

Barbara Blaine said the new lawsuit has nothing to do with her resignation.

The president and founder of a nonprofit dedicated to helping victims sexually abused by priests has resigned.

Barbara Blaine announced she was stepping down 10 days after her group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, was hit with a lawsuit claiming that it routinely gets kickbacks for referring cases to lawyers seeking to sue the Catholic Church.

“The lawsuit had nothing to do with it,” Blaine told the Daily News after she informed her colleagues and members in a Saturday letter.

“We’ve been sued many times. We win every time, and we’re going to win this one. I just need a break.”

Blaine founded SNAP in 1989 after battling her demons for many years following a sexual assault by an Ohio priest when she was in the eighth grade.

“I am extremely grateful to each of you who shared your story with me,” Blaine said in her letter.

“Your courage and creativity in responding to the evil you endured continues to inspire me every day.”




.


Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.