| The Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse
phenomenon that has unfolded like a deadly cloud over Church and society
is, without a doubt, the worst example of the Church gone awry since the
Inquisition. Unlike the Inquisition, however, the victims of this
nightmare will not be consigned to anonymous oblivion. Many of the
thousands who have had their bodies and their souls violated by members of
the clerical elite have emerged from the depressive and defeating pit of
victim hood to become Survivors. Though used and often cast aside by the
uncaring and callous official ministers of the Church, these men and women
have refused to stay beaten down and have risen to challenge the
ecclesiastical institution and the society that has stood too often silent
and complicit. The Survivors of Catholic clergy sexual abuse are unlike
any other sexual abuse victims. In an interview with the National Catholic
Reporter in August, 2003, Dr. Leslie Lothstein, of the Institute for the
Living, characterized the impact of sexual abuse by a priest as “soul
murder” and so it is. The priest, as Catholics are taught from their
earliest years, takes the place of Christ. When a devout and unquestioning
believer is violated by a priest the shock penetrates to the depths of the
soul. The victim experiences a unique kind of despondence because he or
she feels betrayed by one who has been trusted even more than a parent,
and even worse, abandoned by the God personified by the abusing cleric.
The utterly remarkable thing about the Survivors, including those whose
stories are told in this book, is that they are able to rise above their
spiritual devastation, emerging as strong and focused advocates for the
Truth. If any aspect of this entire debacle reflects the work of the true
Spirit of God it is the often incredible resilience of Survivors. Their
stories tell much more than sordid tales of clerical betrayal with the
consequent soul rape and murder. They take us to a deeper understanding of
the dark side of organized religion and certainly the dark side of
institutional Catholicism. We see the terrible consequences of the
irrational power that cleric’s hold over countless believers ... a power
grounded in their self-styled exalted role as essential intermediary
between the distant and often stern God, and the helpless sheeplike lay
folk. This power, which the victims are taught never to question, helps
forge what psychologists have labeled the “trauma bond.” This bond
explains why victims are all too often powerless to stop a repeating
clergy predator who abuses again and again, each time dragging his prey
even deeper into the pit of despair. This same bond is the reason why so
many wait in fear for years or even decades before coming into the light
to publicly name their abuse and the abuser. The Survivors’ stories reveal
a pathetically inept and traitorous hierarchical superstructure that was
so consumed by its own self concept and controlled by its addiction to
power that it was and remains blinded to the horrendous rape and pillage
going on in its very midst. The reaction to the betrayal by the hierarchy
has been both understandable anger and fury but also a surprising and
encouraging spiritual maturation of not only the Survivors but an ever
increasing number of lay people and even a small number of priests. They
are coming forward and shedding the chains of clericalist oppression and
laying claim to their right to be true members of the Church and not just
silent and docile fund sources, treated as if they were all four years
old. The Survivors of clergy sex abuse have “survived” much more than the
assaults on their bodies. They have survived spiritual devastation and
religious slavery that has kept the vast majority of the Catholic church’s
membership locked in a spiritual time warp from which they were not
allowed to venture past late infancy. The Survivors are a unique group.
They have suffered intensely. They have been betrayed by the clergy and
the church they trusted without question. They have emerged as prophets,
pointing the way to a healthier and more authentic church ..... a church
that is walking out of the dark shadows of the medieval museum into the
light of the Body of Christ. |
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