Friends, I am truly honored to share this post with you today, the first in what I hope will be a long-running series lifting up the voices of survivors. Since sharing an invitation on this blog three weeks ago, I have received responses from 21 people who have experienced sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and agreed to share their voices in this way. I am grateful to be able to include a diverse collection of perspectives - from women and men, young and old, those who were abused as children and those abused as adults, those who have remained Catholic and those who have left the Church (and every gray area in between).
There was one thought that stood out to me above the rest. That's the first time I've heard the idea that the predator priest's are "weaponizing God." My head is spinning right now.
That... with each level of impossibility that is stripped away, another lies beneath... Perhaps someday, this spiral will end, and we will 'know it all;' perhaps not. Let us not deny support and empathy to those whose hellish truths are exposed only after we have already achieved 'horror fatigue and exhaustion.'
There was one thought that stood out to me above the rest. That's the first time I've heard the idea that the predator priest's are "weaponizing God." My head is spinning right now.
That... with each level of impossibility that is stripped away, another lies beneath... Perhaps someday, this spiral will end, and we will 'know it all;' perhaps not. Let us not deny support and empathy to those whose hellish truths are exposed only after we have already achieved 'horror fatigue and exhaustion.'