Belgium's story tells us something about our own lives?

I am grossly disappointed with the Science of Psychology because of its past sins in believable bishops and cardinals that Pedophile Priests can be rehabilitated and brought back into society, with "Unsupervised Access to Children!" Yes, every science evolves, and little doubt Psychology has developed since I took university lessons in the late 70's and early 80's. It's unlucky that blatant conceitedness, in refusing to confess they were incorrect, on behalf of specialized psychologists, who enabled Priest Pedophiles to carry on their rape and sodomy of kids, was the reason for added hurt to Survivors and their people, Due to wrong protocols in dealing with Pedophile people of the Clergy and their bishops, those responsible ought to be brought up for Mal-Practice!

I've always thinking Belgian waffles were sickening, too much sweet fluff, but this one takes the cake. Steven Erlanger's article in the news on Tuesday was yet another riveting report on Catholic clergy who've sexually abused children: 476 victims, 18 of whom have tried suicide, and 14 "successfully" ended their lives. Were they living in psychological torture chambers, plagued with worry, guilt, flashbacks, bewilderment, anger, despair, nervousness, disgrace, financial hardship from days of therapy bills? Were they trying to escape the hell of alienation from any sense of wish, of the sacred, of peace and safety, of pleasure?

I read the article right before bed Monday night (not a wise choice) and awakened at five Tuesday morning after a fitful sleep. Horrifying images of traumatized children had floated through my mind as I tossed and turned during the night, and once I got up all I could think about was the fact that  Belgium's longest-serving bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, abused his own nephew for 13 years. Sin. And more sin.

Archbishop Leonard intervened on behalf of the survivors, by releasing a graphic, 200-page report prepared by child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens, who worked with hundreds of abuse survivors who came forward after Cardinal God fried Danneels resigned. Bravo! A church leader finally facing the past squarely, without nostalgia, without denial, without numbness, I thought. Furthermore, last week, the new archbishop promised to open a center for victims and vowed that new cases will go to secular law enforcement authorities.

Today it's a solemn reminder that the pope is just a guy, just a human being, and so are the bishops and archbishops and cardinals. Like all of us, their sins are signs of their brokenness. In Journeys by Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power by Rita Nakashima Brock, she writes that "we are broken by the world of our relationships before we are able to defend ourselves. It is not a damage we willfully choose.  Those who damage us do not have the power to heal us, for they themselves are not healed." She goes on to explain that "to be healed, we must take the responsibility for recognizing our own damage by following our hearts to the relationships that will empower our self-healing."

Among the relationships that have penetrated my heart with healing energy has been my relationship with words, the Word of God in Scripture; lyrics in songs; hymns; the kind words of friends; the wise words of  therapists; the honest words of my loving husband; the stimulating words of colleagues, the giggling words of my grandchildren.  These words have helped me to integrate my own history of repeated sexual abuse by my father, as have the words in the book that I wrote.

Matthew Fox is one in a community of authors whose books have been particularly nourishing to me along my healing journey. Once a Catholic priest and now an Episcopalian one, in his previously mentioned book he explains that "the priest is meant to preach and teach as an inspirer, a prophet who interferes with whatever is blocking compassion from happening in the community.  The priest is the one who knows something from experience (not just from academic texts) about the word of God in the context of the daily flesh of people's lives The priest is meant to be prophetic to speak out in the name of justice and healing to tell the creation story that gives a context to our lives and a reverence and joy at living helps us to reconcile and forgive and start anew."

And that is the first class I take from news of continuous anguish for all involved in the sexual abuse scandals of the Catholic Church: that I have to be about my priestly business daily, and that I need a group of people of companions, and that the healthier my companions are - the more open and involved in their own healing procedures- the brighter our lights will shine. The truth that the Catholic Church is failing all who have endured clergy abuse and all who love them, need not be a attacker either to those of us who are healing or to healers. We could work it instead, to be an individual reminder of our call to bring the sacred alive in this world. What lessons do you take?

Being a victim, I think when someone's life is missing and when you wake from the trauma much later in life, a new trauma exists; the realization of a life never lived. And what does the minster do to you then? They blame everybody else but themselves, and they lobby to stop regulations that might expose the facts as a victim we are denied for a second time.

Copyright by Lucy, a beautiful girl who likes writing, singing and shopping, article submission is her favorite thing.