ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Empty classrooms, the sacristy, the small school chapel, the nurse's office, and the rectory all become sexualized spaces. The sexual predator is exquisitely attuned to the emotional and relational needs of potential victims. In addition, many abused minors maintain silence because they accurately perceive that there is no one in their environment who will help them if they disclose. When a young person is being abused, the psychological shock is so great that the normal self cannot absorb or make sense of what is happening to it. Coexisting with the violated, terrorized, grief-stricken victim self, the adult survivor of sexual abuse has a state of being within that is identified with the perpetrator. Many sexual abuse survivors assume a characteristic relational stance that is particularly germane to the Church. Like the recovering victim of sexual abuse, Catholic Church in authority can choose to defend, deny, retrench, and rigidify.