Barbara Blaine

Barbara Blaine is the founder and former president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a national advocacy group for survivors of clerical sexual abuse. She resigned from the presidency effective February 3, 2017; "in an emailed statement...[Blaine wrote] 'It has been the greatest honor of my life to have found and been your president for the past 29 years. Change however is inevitable. ...Please know that the recent lawsuit filed against SNAP, as the others in the past which have no merit, had absolutely no bearing on my leaving. The discussions and process of my departure has been ongoing.'".

Blaine was allegedly sexually abused during her teenage years from junior high school until graduation (the abuse occurred from 1969–1974) by a priest. She revealed this in 1989. The priest, Chet Warren, was removed from ministry and has been defrocked after she and others came forward.

Blaine was born in Toledo, Ohio, and currently resides in Chicago. She has a bachelor's degree from St. Louis University, a master's degree in social work from Washington University in St. Louis and a law degree from DePaul University School of Law.

Blaine worked as a lay missionary in Jamaica before moving to Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood in 1983 to take a job with Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace movement. She then held a decade-long position with the Catholic Worker, a social service agency. Blaine also opened a homeless facility in a former convent at the now-shuttered Little Flower Catholic Church on the South Side. In 2002 she also worked as an assistant Cook County Public Guardian in Patrick Murphy's office.

...
Wikipedia