ABSTRACT
The controversy surrounding the scandalous abuse of children by priests has churned throughout our culture and boiled over into bitterness and vindictiveness. This chapter discusses two men who were sexually abused as boys by priests. The circumstances of their abuse were different: Julian was abused by a priest/mentor from age 12 to 15. Lorenzo was abused by multiple men before a sexual encounter with a priest at age 15. If a parent betrays a child in a fundamental way, the child's resulting wounds are profound. Therefore, if a priest is a child's Father, his betrayal affects the child to his core. Overlaying their betrayal was the specific effect on the child's spiritual life following abuse by a trusted "representative of God". Each man had a terrible crisis of faith. When that faith was destroyed they were thereby further alienated from their religiously observant families.
