A Reflection The McCarrick Report struck me as a blip in the news. Coverage was commendable, but strangely brief. A few news groups are using it as a starting point; that is a good sign. Yet, the first news of McCarrick in 2018 had far greater impact. It was...
This continues The Healing Voices Series on Alice Miller: Icon & Ideas Bishops are committed to meeting with survivors of abuse by clergy in accordance with The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a document ratified by all the bishops of the United States in 2002...
A Free Online Seminar Relationships, Strong Connections, & Mental Health in the Church The strain and pressure on people’s everyday relationships are mounting—and it’s not always clear where people can turn for help. Barna, in partnership with the Boone Center for the Family and Pepperdine University, set out to...
The Movement to Restore Trust is a lay organization in the Diocese of Buffalo whose model for discussion and engagement is worth a look.
Kathy O’Connell, Co-Founder * Living with clergy abuse has been a challenge for me, as I’m sure it’s been for other victim survivors. The PA grand jury report that was recently released has set our media and Catholics on fire making, but that has actually made it even more...
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, led by new chair Cardinal Sean O’Malley, met in the middle of April for the first time. Some good news that came out of the first meeting was a new focus on the voices of survivors. As reported by Elise Harris...
Excerpt by Ed Mazza, HUFFINGTON POST, April 25, 2017 “A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you.” In a surprise appearance via video at the TED 2017 conference in Vancouver, Canada, on Tuesday evening, Pope Francis said that tenderness is “the path of choice for...
Mary Jane Doerr Director, Office of Protection for Children and Youth Archdiocese of Chicago After a brutal wake-up call in 2002, the bishops of the United States formalized the response to allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. With the approval of the Charter for the...
Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, PhD DMin I remember over twenty years ago going to a Chicago meeting of one of the earliest groups of child sexual abuse victims within the Catholic Church. As a Catholic priest, I was made to feel welcome among them. They were just beginning to...
Mercy isn’t free; mercy requires effort, dedication and sacrifice. It requires we reject sin, selflessness and destructive desire. In effect, it requires doing things God’s way, not our way. Pope Francis in Misericordiae Vultus No. 14