SNAP Founder Barbara Blaine Who Battled Pedophile Priests Dies at 61

CHICAGO, IL Barbara Blaine, who forced society and the courts to reckon with the long-kept secret of priest pedophilia within the Catholic Church, has died at age 61. The founder and former president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests of SNAP, Blaine passed away Sunday following a recent cardiac event. Her family attributed the cause of Blaine's death to a sudden tear in a blood vessel to her heart.

Barbara Dorris, SNAP managing director, praised Blaine for her advocacy work on behalf of childhood sex abuse victims in a statement on the organization’s website: “Few people have done more to protect kids and help victims than Barbara Blaine. 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. She started-and for almost 30 years-worked extremely hard to help build the world’s most successful organization of child sex abuse victims. Her contributions to a safer society would be hard to overstate.”

Blaine, who claimed she was abused in eighth grade by a Toledo, OH, priest, founded SNAP in 1988 to help other survivors of sexual abuse by religious authority figures after her own pleas for her help went ignored by the Toledo’s bishop. As her network of survivors grew, SNAP held its first meeting in 1991 at a Chicago Holiday Inn.

SNAP is credited with helping thousands of survivors. After the Boston Globe published 850 articles about pedophile priests in 2002, SNAP was inundated with requests for help from victims who had been abused by priests as children, according to the group’s website. Today SNAP claims over 20,000 members who met in support groups at 60 cities in the United States and across the globe.

In February, Blaine abruptly resigned from SNAP after an ex-employee filed a lawsuit against her and others alleging that sex abuse victims’ cases were being referred to law firms in exchange for donations to the organization. Lawyers for priests also accused SNAP of coaching people to fabricate stories of priest abuse. Still, survivors and activists expressed their shock and condolences across social media on Monday, calling Blaine their hero.

“Very sadden[ed] and shocked to hear the news that Barbara Blaine has passed away. Way too soon,” a survivor posted on Facebook. “There are a handful of people who were encouraging, helpful and supportive when I decided to come forward about the clergy sexual abuse. She was one of them. Her voice and passion will be incredibly missed. I don't think this is a void that can be filled. RIP Barbara. And thank you.”

AP Photo/Matt Rourke/File