It is clear to me that one of the important and "potential for good" stories of this past decade should be the courage of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy (and those who supported them) who dared to publicly speak about the sexual abuse they experienced by their priest and/or church member. In so doing, the long time betrayal and cover-up by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church was exposed, corroborated and proven, beyond any doubt, by the churches own documents. Seven years later, cases of sexual abuse and cover-up in the Catholic Church continue to be identified, most recently in Ireland. It is a hard truth for the masses to take in and yet, until they do, the opportunity given by the silence that has been shattered can not be fully realized. The church and the majority of people continue to role model denial, rationalization and/or blaming others (especially the survivors who told) for what happened. The church does this for the obvious…greed and protection of itself. However, the masses seem incapable, unwilling or terrified of accepting that a survivor’s truth does not negate their truth but neither does their truth negate a survivor’s…that the very same priest that sexually abused a survivor may well have appropriately loved and comforted them. But perhaps most importantly the masses ongoing refusal to accept these church documented truths leaves all the children yet to come, catholic or otherwise, in greater danger of being victimized by people they should be able to trust.
While we may never really know the extent of the abuse and cover-up in the Catholic Church, the countless stories this past decade about clergy sexual abuse should help everyone who cares about our children come to understand if sexual abuse can happen in “holy institutions” it also can happen in all others, including the family. Only then, when the scope of this heinous crime and urgency in addressing it is accepted and realized, will the potential really exist for creating meaningful changes that results in better protection for all children, catholic or otherwise.
