IOWA
WHO

BY REID CHANDLER

DES MOINES, Iowa – It’s Saturday morning, and Smokey Row Cafe is full the sounds of footsteps and coffee cups clanking down on ceramic plates. It’s a busy atmosphere, but in the noise, a small group of survivors are huddled in a back corner, hoping to meet some new faces.

The Iowa SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) group isn’t a large organization, but it’s a resource of support for anyone who needs it. People like John Chambers, who says he was abused by a priest while attending Dowling Catholic High School in the 1960s, joined SNAP only after the group was highlighted by a Boston Globe investigative report in 2002, uncovering a massive scandal within the Boston Archdiocese to cover up sexual abuse claims.

It’s that same group that’s highlighted in the Oscar Award-winning film, “Spotlight.” The 2015 film documents the…