Thank you. I left the convent ten years ago and only in the last few years have been able to realize and label my experience as emotional and spiritual abuse. This first episode has been so helpful in making more sense of my experience and bringing to light aspects I hadn’t considered. I’ll be sharing this podcast with all of my friends (sadly, a large number) who also experienced abuse in religious life and with my friends who are now formators in their dioceses or religious communities. Thank you again for your work - your community gives me hope and validates my own experience.
"its a story about hope" this is the mystery of truth telling, those that languish alone in their shame, confusion and pain learn they are not alone. As with cults, which is a form of grooming, perpetrators first establishes that their target can't trust her own mind. Thus the foundation of knowing and the ability to react strongly to the danger is systematically eroded in a victim to make her more pliable. It is easy to use dogma and religious terms to prove to the victims their mind is not trustworthy and they misunderstand the situation.
My hope that the church is not deaf to the devastation and that it doesn't go away without active restorative justice which begins with truth telling. The Sisters of the Little Way are doing something the church weeps for, has longed for, and is ready for, the restorative justice of speaking about the rot out loud, calling it out and healing the wounds through beauty
The sexually charged language your abuser used...I've heard a lot of language similar to that, not just in abusive situations, but in certain conversations about human sexuality and how it intersects with faith in Catholic pop theology circles.
That makes me pretty nervous. I'm not saying all those who use it are abusive, but I think an awful lot of abusive people can, and do, use it for cover because it's so popular.
I was 47 when it happened to me. He was our pastor and groomed our family for about a year before the improprieties and boundary violations started. Reporting him was a sham. The whole experience changed me forever. I’m still Catholic, but I don’t trust or esteem the Church any longer. I don’t think I ever will again.
Great podcast. Whoever hears you will hear me too.
As a survivor of clergy abuse who met my abuser in the convent, I can relate to this a million percent. Well done. I hope this podcast spreads far and wide.
Thank you. I left the convent ten years ago and only in the last few years have been able to realize and label my experience as emotional and spiritual abuse. This first episode has been so helpful in making more sense of my experience and bringing to light aspects I hadn’t considered. I’ll be sharing this podcast with all of my friends (sadly, a large number) who also experienced abuse in religious life and with my friends who are now formators in their dioceses or religious communities. Thank you again for your work - your community gives me hope and validates my own experience.
"its a story about hope" this is the mystery of truth telling, those that languish alone in their shame, confusion and pain learn they are not alone. As with cults, which is a form of grooming, perpetrators first establishes that their target can't trust her own mind. Thus the foundation of knowing and the ability to react strongly to the danger is systematically eroded in a victim to make her more pliable. It is easy to use dogma and religious terms to prove to the victims their mind is not trustworthy and they misunderstand the situation.
My hope that the church is not deaf to the devastation and that it doesn't go away without active restorative justice which begins with truth telling. The Sisters of the Little Way are doing something the church weeps for, has longed for, and is ready for, the restorative justice of speaking about the rot out loud, calling it out and healing the wounds through beauty
SO much resonates here. Holy cow.
The sexually charged language your abuser used...I've heard a lot of language similar to that, not just in abusive situations, but in certain conversations about human sexuality and how it intersects with faith in Catholic pop theology circles.
That makes me pretty nervous. I'm not saying all those who use it are abusive, but I think an awful lot of abusive people can, and do, use it for cover because it's so popular.
I was 47 when it happened to me. He was our pastor and groomed our family for about a year before the improprieties and boundary violations started. Reporting him was a sham. The whole experience changed me forever. I’m still Catholic, but I don’t trust or esteem the Church any longer. I don’t think I ever will again.
Great podcast. Whoever hears you will hear me too.
We are *so* sorry for what you experienced.
"Whoever hears you will hear me too." -- This is what we hoped for. It is an honor to give voice to your experience.
As a survivor of clergy abuse who met my abuser in the convent, I can relate to this a million percent. Well done. I hope this podcast spreads far and wide.
Thank you Gina. You are always in our prayers.
Thank you so much, Gina. We appreciate you so much.