Wow! How blessed I am to have witnessed the strength, love and courage by not only the speakers at the 2015 SNAP Conference, but also those who attended. We met many victims who are at different stages of recovery.
People may not realize it or want to think about it, but members of the SNAP (Survivors of those Abused by Priests) Community have either been sexually abused or have had a member of their family or someone close to them abused.
Their stories are heart wrenching. And that is what is most sad and the biggest reason I wrote my book. There are too many instances of clergy sexual abuse, old and new, that have been covered up. And not just covered up, but ignored over and over, victimizing survivors again and again.
A short trailer was shown for “Spotlight” which is a major motion picture coming out in November 2015. As described at the conference by SNAP, Spotlight is a two hour movie about “a team of dedicated, award-winning reporters, who with the help of then, New England SNAP director Phil Saviano, began uncovering massive complicity of top church officials.” In 2001, a newly arrived Boston Globe editor asked “Why are all these clergy abuse lawsuit documents sealed? Can’t we do anything about that?” The Globe’s investigative reporters went to work “uncovering decades-old, widespread corruption and a cover-up that in Boston alone had hidden the crimes of more than 200 priests.” This is a movie I don’t intend to miss. Watch for it! (Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams)
Trailer for Spotlight click here
Carol Kuhnert was born and raised a devout Catholic in Saint Louis, Missouri. She worked full time for the Civil Service Commission before eventually leaving to become a stay-at-home wife and mother. She and her husband, Joe, raised four children in the Catholic faith and are now enjoying the joys of grand-parenting.