Special Report: Sexual Abuse Crisis: 5 Years after the Papal Summit
Looking Back
It was March 2019, and the papal summit on clergy sexual abuse had just concluded one month earlier. St Michael’s College hosted a symposium entitled The Wounded Body of Christ: Listening and Responding to Abuse in the Church. Cathie Pead of newly-formed Concerned Lay Catholics went along to learn what she could. A panel of clergy sexual abuse survivors presented their stories. All three survivors’ stories were deeply moving, and their courage, resilience and generosity in sharing were awe-inspiring. But one speaker, Leona Huggins, stood out. Leona was one of 12 survivors -and the only Canadian –invited to Rome to be part of the summit proceedings in February. One remark she shared, stayed with Cathie long after the event ended. It was: “Do lay people even think of us? Do they pray for us?” It was at this point that we realized CLC could play a role in educating the laity about clergy sexual abuse and begin to reach out to survivors in a spirit of prayerful compassion and respect.
Educating the Laity
We researched the issue in its many dimensions and provided reliable information and resources regarding trauma, sexual abuse, stories of survivors and the church’s response. You can find tools, resources, presentations and reports on our website:
Fostering Healing and Reconciliation and Reaching out to Abuse Survivors https://concernedlaycatholics.ca/childabuse
The Role of the Laity in Healing the Church with Sr. Nuala Kenny, SC, MD.
The Trauma of Sexual Abuse with Andrea Bevan, MSW/RSW
What Can I do? Lay Leaders Responding to the Abuse Crisis with Creativity and Compassion
https://www.awakecommunity.org/courageous-conversations/#seasonone
Article outlining areas that need to be addressed if we are to advance healing and transformation by Brenda Coleman, Cathie Pead and Bob McCabe
Walking With Survivors
The voices of survivors need to be at the centre of this work. We are grateful for the courage and generosity of the survivors who have been willing to share their stories with us and to allow us to walk with them as they continue their journey towards healing. Our work has included:
Synodal Conversations: The participation of survivors and their families and allies in our Synodal conversations. Their contributions can be found in our Synodal Report (pp 5-6; 37-43) here:
First Friday Fellowship and Parish Conversations
provided more opportunities to centre survivor voices and bring them into a place of encounter with concerned Catholics.
CLC Niagara
Brenda Coleman of CLC Niagara shares her reflections on the work they have been doing with survivors.
I’ll give you some idea of what has happened locally:
During our conversations with the survivors at the Listening sessions for the Synod, they told us how much it helped them to speak to the CLC members. For many, it was the first time they had spoken to anyone from the Church about their experiences.
They said it helped them tremendously just to have us listen and hear how much their lives had been altered since the abuse took place. For a few, it was the first time they had talked about it with anyone….
Click here to read more of Brenda's reflections...
Quite a few told us their own parents didn’t believe them when they told them of the abuse. So, for them it was a huge relief when someone from the Church finally listened and believed them.
They told us speaking with us had been so helpful that they would like very much to speak to others and that they would be willing to speak to parish groups.
A couple of CLC members from our diocese obtained permission from their parish priests. The parish conversations took place just over a year ago.
What started out as an opportunity for 2 survivors to tell their stories and be heard became much more.
We found the parish conversations gave the laity a chance to tell their stories as well.
A number of people at both presentations said they also had personal experience with clergy abuse: several had sons or relatives who had been abused. One mother and daughter told us that after their son and brother had been abused, he took his own life. The mother thanked the survivors for coming and that they were speaking in place of their son who couldn’t be there.
Other laity in the audience spoke of their pain and frustration at this whole sad chapter in the life of the Church they loved so well. About how they had friends who had left the Church because of this, and how they are embarrassed to tell people that they still come to Church.
So, it was a time of great emotion, but healing, not just for the survivors, but the laity as well.
It was obvious at both presentations there is a tremendous need for dialogue within the Church for healing to continue.
It is obvious that this subject has not gone away.
In addition to the parish conversations, a few of our CLC members have met personally with local survivors. We have reached out to them, but also some have initiated contact with us.
When you meet with people face to face who have been abused by clergy, you have no choice but to sit and listen. Quite often what they tell us is said with anger. I believe this is because they have lived with this pain for so long that when someone finally listens, all the frustration and pain just boil over. The ones we have met locally all know of others who, like them, who have been abused and for some, by the same priest.
We have learned there is an informal network of survivors out there in Niagara. Although we haven’t met all of them, the ones we have met are deeply appreciative of us wanting to meet with them.
When we heard firsthand the experiences of people both at the church presentations and one-on-one in a park or coffee shop and heard from them how much it meant to them to have people from the Church listening to them with the ear of the heart. We know this dialogue should continue. This would mean healing, not just for them, but for the whole Church. Other laity in the audience spoke of their pain and frustration at this whole sad chapter in the life of the Church they loved so well. About how they had friends who had left the Church because of this, and how they are embarrassed to tell people that they still come to Church. So, it was a time of great emotion, but healing, not just for the survivors, but the laity as well. It was obvious at both presentations there is a tremendous need for dialogue within the Church for healing to continue. It is obvious that this subject has not gone away. In addition to the parish conversations, a few of our CLC members have met personally with local survivors. We have reached out to them, but also some have initiated contact with us. When you meet with people face to face who have been abused by clergy, you have no choice but to sit and listen. Quite often what they tell us is said with anger. I believe this is because they have lived with this pain for so long that when someone finally listens, all the frustration and pain just boil over. The ones we have met locally all know of others who, like them, who have been abused and for some, by the same priest. We have learned there is an informal network of survivors out there in Niagara. Although we haven’t met all of them, the ones we have met are deeply appreciative of us wanting to meet with them. When we heard firsthand the experiences of people both at the church presentations and one-on-one in a park or coffee shop and heard from them how much it meant to them to have people from the Church listening to them with the ear of the heart. We know this dialogue should continue. This would mean healing, not just for them, but for the whole Church.
As we continue to walk with survivors, you may wish to read the story of one of the survivors we have accompanied, Val Borrelli. Val shared his story with our friends at Awake (formerly Awake Milwaukee). You can read it here https://www.awakecommunity.org/blog/valentino-val-borrelli
Has Anything Changed in 5 Years?
In 2018, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published an 143 page document entitled Protecting Minors from Sexual Abuse: A Call to the Catholic faithful in Canada for Healing, Reconciliation and Transformation https://concernedlaycatholics.ca/protectingminorscccbdoc
At this crucial time of healing, the need for mutual support and co-responsibility among clergy, members of institutes and laity is paramount. All are being asked to take up the call to revitalize the Church by engaging new more collaborative forms of ministry. p 39
Our humble estimation at CLC is that this document is still largely waiting to be implemented. Some of the lessons regarding safeguarding of minors, reporting protocols, screening policies, seem to have been adopted in most if not all dioceses. But the larger lessons regarding pastoral care for victims and the transformation of clerical culture are still awaiting leaders brave enough to challenge the clerical structures and to open up their hearts to the suffering of victims and their families and communities.
It would be wrong to say nothing has changed. The Institute of Anthropology (IADC), an academic institute of the Pontifical Gregorian University, was created to promote safeguarding measures and the protection of children and vulnerable people through formation, education and interdisciplinary research. https://iadc.unigre.it/
Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada has also established a Centre designed to eliminate the threat and trauma of abuse of any kind, especially sexual abuse in society and in the Church. It does this through training, research, and offering concrete resources for help. https://ustpaul.ca/en/cpcs-our-aim_7753_1286.htm . CLC was invited to participate in a research project conducted by Dr. Karlijn Demasure on restoring trust. The results are to be published later this year.
As the complexity and scope of abuse in the church has become better understood, revisions to certain canon law provisions and to norms governing bishops, religious superiors and leaders of lay apostolates have been introduced. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-03/pope-francis-modifies-vos-estis-lux-mundi-abuse-procedures.html
Groups have formed inside and outside the church to play a more active role in promoting transparency and accountability. Here are a few…
https://www.awakecommunity.org/
Our Learnings
Over the five years that CLC has been active, we have gained a number of insights into the issues of clerical sexual abuse. These include:
The issue of clerical sexual abuse is complex and plays out at many levels- personal/interpersonal, emotional, mental, social, institutional, (geo) political and spiritual.
There are gaps between all the policies, documents, academic research and the lived lives of survivors. And these gaps cause more pain.
Many survivors in our own communities continue to suffer as a result not only of the abuse itself but what happened after the abuse when they told their families and reported it to their church leaders.
CLC cannot fix everything that has been broken by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but we can do something. To quote Daniel Berrigan, the moral distance between doing something and doing nothing is infinite.
Taking Action -Sign our Statement of Solidarity with Survivors of Clergy Abuse
We know that many lay Catholics feel powerless to do anything when it comes to clergy sexual abuse. If you are one of them, perhaps you might consider signing our statement of Solidarity with Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse as a gesture of support - and to show we have not forgotten them.
Click Here to Sign our CLC Statement of Solidarity with Clergy Sexual Abuse
Your name will appear on our Statement of Solidarity https://concernedlaycatholics.ca/statement-of-solidarity when you do.
CLC is planning to offer regular recorded interviews with survivors, allies and others involved in responding in faith to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. Keep watching our website and newsletters.
If you have questions or suggestions regarding CLC’s educating the laity and walking with survivors, please send it along to concernedlaycatholics@gmail.com
Further reading around the 5th anniversary of the summit
https://www.ucanews.com/news/canadian-cardinal-accused-of-assaulting-teenager/103954
https://international.la-croix.com/news/ethics/faith-in-action-for-the-abused/19299