Cambria County resident is the new leader of SNAP
About five years ago, only a handful of people close to Shaun Dougherty knew he had been sexually abused as a child.
It was a private matter. Over time, though, the Westmont, Cambria County, resident started to share his story locally, statewide, nationally and ultimately internationally, leading to him becoming one of the most well-known victim advocates in the United States.
His public role recently grew even more when he was elected as the new board president for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a worldwide nonprofit that provides support group meetings, legal advice and lobbying efforts for victims.
The official transition between former president Tim Lennon and Mr. Dougherty occurred last week.
Mr. Dougherty, who joined the SNAP board in 2019, said becoming president is “quite a big honor” and “a humbling experience.”
“Luckily, I’ve kind of been stair-stepping to it,” Mr. Dougherty said. “It is an enormous undertaking, an enormous responsibility.”
Since being elected to his four-year term, Mr. Dougherty has received messages from individuals in about two dozen nations. He wants the organization to have one unified message throughout all those countries and others.
“First and foremost, get the word of SNAP and contact information of SNAP to as many survivors of childhood abuse that I can,” he said. “Make sure that people out there know that there’s an organization of support for them that can help talk them through these things that are going on, their feelings, their anxieties, their frustrations.”
‘A world apart’
Mr. Dougherty alleges he was abused by a priest at St. Clement Church in Cambria County. His life was scarred as a result. As a young man, Mr. Dougherty abused drugs andalcohol, even attempting suicide by ingesting pills.
Then, in 2016, his abuse was mentioned in a state grand jury report that provided in-depth details about decades of sexual abuse and cover-up within the Roman Catholic Diocese of AltoonaJohnstown. His name was redacted, but Mr. Dougherty recognized his incident of abuse from the priest’s testimony.
He started to get therapy, attend SNAP meetings and speak publicly after the report was released, which Mr. Dougherty said has changed his life.
“Moving forward, I can tell you where I am now from where I was in 2016 are a world apart,” he said. “Where I will be at the end of my tenure as SNAP president, who knows? It’s an ongoing education.”
Mr. Dougherty has done countless interviews, including with some of the most prominent news outlets in the world — MSNBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and the National Catholic Register — and met with members of Pope Francis’ inner circle during “The Protection of Minors in the Church” gathering inside the Vatican.
“Shaun is just a dynamo when working with the media,” SNAP Executive Director Zach Hiner said. “He’s very charismatic. He really puts a great face on the survivor movement publicly, and I’m excited to be working with someone like that who has such a good ability to speak for other survivors, and on behalf of other survivors, and advocate for things that make a difference for children and survivors.”
Mr. Dougherty has met with leaders in Pennsylvania government, advocating for victims — specifically, supporting eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual abuse, or at least creating a two-year retroactive window for civil cases to be brought — causes championed by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks.
“He has worked harder than everyone else out there on this issue in Pennsylvania, trying to rally support, working legislators,” Mr. Rozzi said.