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Thursday, February 21, 2019

Catholic Abuse

NY Times: To Save the Catholic Church, Listen to Priests’ Victims - The pope should always offer forgiveness. But he must drive abusers and their enablers from the ministry. By Mark Joseph Williams - Mr. Williams is a survivor of child sexual abuse.
When I was a child, I was sexually abused by a Catholic priest. Trauma is the devil. It stays in the core of your being. My tears waited nearly a half-century to stream from my eyes. Many victims go to their graves never revealing what they endured. Some take their own life, like one friend of mine. I suffered the pangs of addiction, the subsequent lies, and depression and suicidal ideation, along with bankruptcy and the loss of my job and home.

A childhood lost. The isolation was real. My father had died at only 40. My mother, lonely, drank, fell into rage, and was largely absent. I was prey, vulnerable to being groomed by the priest. The line was crossed.

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