Concerned Lay Catholics
A Voice for Lay Catholics in Canada
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Christ- Eph. 4:15
Fostering Healing and Reconciliation and Reaching out to Abuse Survivors
In this section….
Clergy Child Abuse in the Catholic Church
CLC Response
Support Abuse Victims/Survivors and their Families by amplifying their voices
Advocate for the reforms that abuse survivors say will help them heal.
Pray for survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their families.
The Church’s Response
The Church in Canada
The Global Church
Clergy Child Abuse in the Catholic Church
Disclaimer
Concerned Lay Catholics is not able to provide professional assistance to those who may have been victimized. If you are an adult who experienced sexual abuse/assault, either as a child or as an adult, and need professional assistance, we encourage you to reach out to the appropriate mental health resources in your community which can be accessed through Sexual Assault Centers, Police Victims Services, or Social Services. [Directory of Services for Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse]
This website (Concerned Lay Catholics) is for information purposes only and does not offer nor provide professional advice of any kind -psychological, spiritual theological or legal- and should not be construed as such. The use of this site and any resources found herein is at the sole discretion of the user.
Children and vulnerable persons have been abused sexually, emotionally, spiritually and physically by individuals holding positions of power in the church, and more systematically where various levels of church authority either dismissed or were complicit in the abuse, and finally in conjunction with other institutions such as the residential school system in Canada, a system that the Catholic Church played a large role in.
Canadian Lay Catholics (CLC) Response
Prompted by the on-going clergy sexual abuse crisis, CLC invites all concerned lay Catholics to stand in solidarity with victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse [Statement of Solidarity] and to work for structural change within the Church.
We intend to demonstrate solidarity with all abuse survivors in three ways:
Hear their voice and amplify it. We wish to support abuse survivors/victims and their families by believing and affirming their stories of abuse.
Advocate for the reforms that will help abuse survivors to heal, and to prevent future abuse from happening.
Pray for survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their families
1. Hear Their Voice and Amplify It
Concerned Lay Catholics is committed to fostering healing and reconciliation for victims/survivors by amplifying their voices. The ability to speak and be heard and understood is a Divine gift.
Voices that have been silenced or ignored, both directly and indirectly, by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, include:
• victims/survivors,
• their families and friends
• the people in the pews
• residential school survivors
In the sections below, we introduce you to each of these groups and the factors that unite them. We also provide links to their individual stories should you wish to understand their first hand experiences.
Voices of Victims/Survivors
The voices of victims/survivors need to be heard and understood. We have been told by victims/survivors that they feel the Church wishes they would go away; that they feel their fellow Catholics do not care about them or even pray for them. In this section, therefore, we begin first with the personal and unique experiences of some of the victim/survivors we have met on this journey.
Their stories are difficult to tell just as they are difficult to hear, and We are grateful for their generosity in sharing their stories.
[Click here to visit our page dedicated to the Voices of Victims/Survivors]
Victims of the Residential Schools in Canada
Concerned Lay Catholics are also compelled to listen to the voices of survivors of residential schools in Canada. To learn about how the churches, including the Roman Catholic church abused Indigenous children while operating government-funded residential schools follow this link.
[Click here to visit our page dedicated to Residential School Survivors]
Understanding Trauma
Sadly, victims/survivors tell us that due to ignorance and discomfort, their fellow Catholics have often re-traumatized them by their response. In order to listen with compassion and love, we need to gain a deeper understanding of trauma, how it is experienced and how it is expressed. We have much to learn in this area. To help in this process, we consulted with experts in the treatment of sexual/emotional/spiritual trauma. Find here. [link to Understanding Trauma and FAQ]
We use both terms- victim and survivor -when speaking of those who have been sexually abused. Some people feel that the term victim allows their abuser to continue to have power over them and, for this reason, they prefer to call themselves ‘survivor.’ Others feel that the use of the term ‘survivor’ may allow their abuser to believe that the damage they did has been overcome so that their abusers do not avoid culpability, they prefer to use the term ‘victim’. CLC feels both perspectives must be respected and for this reason, we use both terms when speaking of those who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of priests.
Links:
link to Statement of Solidarity
2. Advocate for reforms
Abuse survivors tell us that in order to heal they need to see concrete changes in our Church. As Concerned Lay Catholics, we stand unequivocally with victims/survivors and invite you to join us.
You can learn more about some of the reforms that are being proposed by groups internationally here
3. Pray
Praying for Victims/Survivors is one thing every lay Catholic can do. Here can be found some prayers that you are invited to offer alone or with others, informally or formally
Links:
other prayers and resources related to Spirituality and Trauma
Our faith tells us that prayer makes all things possible.
What has been the church’s response?
Introduction
The church is the whole People of God according to Vatican II (Lumen Gentium). The church is not only the hierarchy, the clergy, and/or members of religious communities. It is the whole community of the baptized. https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/vatican-ii-themes-people-god
To ask what is ‘the church’ doing, then, is a big question. Many individuals and groups in dioceses around the world are taking action in myriad ways to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse. They are reaching out to survivors and their families, they are advocating for church reforms both locally and globally, they are educating themselves and others about the issue. And they are praying for survivors and for the whole community of the Church. We have provided links to some of these initiatives here.
[https://awakemilwaukee.org/; https://ccoc-pgh.org/; https://www.catholicsforrenewal.org/
Usually, however, when people ask this question, they mean what is the institutional church doing? - the hierarchy; those legally in charge. The response differs from diocese to diocese and religious order to religious order.
The Church in Canada
Here in Canada, responses vary from diocese to diocese but in 2018, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a document Protecting Minors from Sexual Abuse: A Call to the Catholic faithful in Canada for Healing, Reconciliation and Transformation.
The aim of the document is “to help Church leaders and all involved in Church ministry in Canada to become better informed about sexual abuse of minors; to share in the responsibility of protecting minors and safeguarding pastoral environments; to identify how parishes and institutions can be more accountable and transparent in dealing with instances of sexual abuse of minors; and to understand better the tragic consequences of such abuse so as to ensure the adequacy of pastoral and administrative responses toward survivors and victims.
We discuss this document in greater detail here (link)
Duty to Report
We reaffirm that all cases or suspected cases of child maltreatment, neglect or abuse, must be reported to child protection authorities in your jurisdiction. This is both the law in Canada and the policy of Canadian church authorities who take care never to interfere with on-going investigations by child welfare or law enforcement agencies.
Related Resources
Concerned Lay Catholics has researched and developed some pastoral tools that could be helpful to you in dealing with the topic of clergy sexual abuse within your parish - Visit our Parish Toolkit page for more details