In the story of the Exodus, when God appeared in the burning bush, God commanded Moses: “Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Ex 3:5).
This piece of Scripture comes to mind when I think about the Church’s understanding of the dignity and sanctity of the individual’s conscience. There’s a beautiful passage in Una Caro that highlights this:
“There is a dimension of the person that, being the deepest, transcends all others—including the bodily dimension—and where only God can enter without violating it. There is a core of the human being in which only the infinite love of God can reign.
Only he has that all-powerful and creative love that makes the very existence of freedom possible. Therefore, when he touches a person’s core, he can only strengthen, increase, and elevate it in its very nature, with no possibility of mutilating, dominating, weakening, or overriding it. Indeed, ‘God alone enters into (illabitur) the soul.’ Only God can enter into the depths of the human heart, for only he can do so without disturbing the person’s freedom and identity.
Through grace, God becomes fully close, entering into the innermost depths of the human being that he alone can reach. Thus, ‘no one but God can presume to take over the deepest and most personal core of the loved one”” (Una Caro 127).
Now, Una Caro is the 2025 document from Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith about the unitive aspect of marriage. And that context is important. What the Church is teaching here is that even in the profound personal and sacramental unity of marriage, there always remains a secret sanctuary within a person where they are alone with God. And if my spouse has no right to enter this sanctuary, then clearly nobody else can claim that right.
This most holy place is a person’s conscience. “Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths” (Gaudium et Spes 16).
But what happens when someone who I trust as a spiritual authority—a priest, parent, spiritual director, therapist, minister, or spouse—invades that sanctuary by speaking on behalf of God into my life? What happens when this trusted authority speaks so definitively about God’s will for my life that I can’t discern their voice from the voice of God in my conscience?
This is the experience of abuse of conscience. Fr. Samuel Fernández, writes:
“The victims [of abuse of conscience] then struggle between what their own conscience dictates and what is dictated by the representative of the Church who has invaded their conscience and supplanted God. This situation creates a severe personal dissociation. …On the one hand, it provokes distrust in oneself and, therefore, insecurity in one’s own judgments. On the other hand, it incites a deformation of the face of God, which is confused with the abuse and with the abuser.”
This kind of spiritual abuse can be so common within the Church that at times it’s believed to be the orthodox way of practicing the faith.
If you would like to learn more about spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience, I’d like to invite you to my online workshop focused on recognizing, preventing, and responding to spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Through the Scriptures, Tradition, liturgies, and devotions, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and freedom.
But what happens when the women and men in the Church who are tasked with teaching doctrine, preaching God’s word, or presiding over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm is done when the place of healing becomes a source of harm?
I’m a professional counselor who previously worked for eight years as the Director of Religious Education at a Catholic parish. I accompany those who have been spiritually abused and create resources for Church leaders to better safeguard their communities against abuse.
Join me for an online workshop focused on recognizing, preventing, and responding to spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church.
This workshop is for:
Individuals trying to better understand their experiences of spiritual abuse in the Church
Clergy and lay leaders interested in safeguarding their communities from spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience
Therapists or spiritual directors working with clients who have been spiritually abused
This workshop will help you:
Recognize and prevent spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience in the Church
Know the symptoms of spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and moral injury
Better understand and respond to abusive systems in the Church
Details:
This is five-part live workshop that will be held virtually. I’m running two workshops with day or evening sessions to accommodate different time zones and work schedules.
Groups will have between 5 and 12 participants and space will be filled on a first come, first serve basis. Your space in the workshop will not be held until payment is received
Group 1 - Wednesdays, 8:00-10:00am (EST) | 9/2, 9/9, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7
Group 2 - Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00pm (EST) | 9/2, 9/9, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7
Price:
This five-week workshop is $400.
Making this workshop available to anyone who can benefit from it is important to me, but it’s also an essential part of my family’s income. I don’t want inability to pay to be obstacle for you to participate. So if you can’t pay the full $400, please pay what you can (even if it’s only $10). And if you can pay more than $400, please consider giving more to offset the cost.
And if you can’t attend this workshop, but you are grateful that resources like this exist, please consider financially supporting it.
How to Pay:
1. Pay $400 with a credit card here: https://buy.stripe.com/fZu8wOaEy48ogpU8XZdIA01
2. Send a custom amount via PayPal (paul@faheycounseling.com) or Venmo (@catholicthirdspace)
I’m looking forward to having you in the workshop!