Barbara Blaine, Founder of Priest-Abuse Victims Group SNAP, Dies at 61
Chicago Tribune’s Manya Brachear Pashman reports that Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and a survivor of abuse herself, died on Sunday at age 61 of a blood vessel tear in the heart. Barbara Dorris, the managing director of SNAP, said, “Her relentless advocacy enabled millions to eventually accept a long unbelievable reality: that tens of thousands of priests raped and fondled hundreds of thousands of kids while bishops hid these heinous crimes.” Brachear Pashman adds, “Blaine stepped down as president this year after a lawsuit filed by a former employee claimed that SNAP exploited victims of sexual abuse by clergy in return for financial kickbacks from attorneys.”