During the past week, the media and the American public could not help but draw comparisons between the recent child sex abuse scandal at Penn State and the endemic sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. But there are major differences that are hard to ignore. At Penn State, the predator and those who covered […]
Author: Barbara Blaine
Barbara Blaine is founder and president of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Since 1988, Blaine has reached out to help survivors, expose wrongdoers and prevent clergy sex crimes and cover ups. Previously Blaine worked as a volunteer high school teacher in Jamaica and assisted street-children to locate family members, ran a shelter for homeless families in Chicago and then represented abused and neglected children in juvenile court. Blaine holds graduate degrees in Law, Social Work and Theology. Blaine works tirelessly to protect the innocence and safety of children and to help survivors and their loved-ones find healing, information and support. She is married and lives in Chicago.
Vatican Wildfire Engulfs Pope in Catholic Sex Abuse and Cover-Up Crisis
Commentators use phrases like “tsunami” and “wildfire” to describe the Catholic sex abuse and cover-up crisis that is engulfing Europe right now. While the imagery is somewhat helpful, it obscures the origins of the scandal. Thousands of lives were not devastated by some unforeseen and unstoppable natural phenomenon; they were permanently scarred as the result of decades of deliberate and ongoing secrecy, recklessness and deceit by the self-serving Catholic church hierarchy.