Over the weekend, I came across an excellent note on Substack from Marco commenting on a recent podcast with Gregory Pine, OP and Bonaventure Chapman, OP.
I was spiritually and psychologically abused both IN and BY the Church. Not by everyone in the Church, but certainly by both the specific congregation to which I belonged, and by the upper hierarchy that knew what was going on—not just in the congregation to which I belonged, but in so many other groups—and let it continue for decades. There still have been few or no repercussions for most of those responsible. My wounds are still open. Therapy has helped, but not enough. At least we're seeing something of an institutional change in this regard, but it's too little and too late for many victims. And I know that many have suffered far more than I have due to even worse abuse.
Thank you for showing me your growth. I think it’s hard to see when you’re in the middle of it that there is other ideas opportunities and changes. It is a huge challenge, but also St. Vincent does make everything better.😝
yes to all of this Paul, we finally moved parishes and are little bit more at peace - we all have to find our way through the weeds as best we can, although there might be several thickets still around - there seems to be an opening where we can breathe and is a little more tolerable. Just for today, one day at a time - our families never doubted God or the Lord, just the people part, and what we do with all of this… God bless you for your work.
Paul, this makes me think of #41 in Mystici Corporis Christi (Pope Pius XII, 1943) -
“they, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error, who believed that they can accept Christ as the head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to his Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it”
Basically it says you CAN’T separate the man from the office, and it’s a great mystery.
And I want to make sure you know this quote from #61:
“in every physical, living body, all the different members are ultimately destined to the good of the whole alone; while if we look to its ultimate usefulness, every moral association of men is in the end directed to the advancement of all in general and of each single member in particular; for they are persons.”
The abuse will continue always, because we are human. At the same time, we can choose to work out who Jesus is, who we are in Christ, and therefore what we mean when we say "Church," and analyze the structural features which we can reform. For me Girard through Anthony Bartlett are essential starting points, along with Ivan Illich's analysis in The Rivers North of the Future of the corruption of Christianity, and of course Dorothy Day; all of whom reveal the violence at the heart of institutions and ourselves which Jesus reveals and heals. The way forward requires radical change especially as laity in the way we enact Church together.
You put words to so much of how I feel, Paul. Thank you.
Thank you for this piece, Paul.
I was spiritually and psychologically abused both IN and BY the Church. Not by everyone in the Church, but certainly by both the specific congregation to which I belonged, and by the upper hierarchy that knew what was going on—not just in the congregation to which I belonged, but in so many other groups—and let it continue for decades. There still have been few or no repercussions for most of those responsible. My wounds are still open. Therapy has helped, but not enough. At least we're seeing something of an institutional change in this regard, but it's too little and too late for many victims. And I know that many have suffered far more than I have due to even worse abuse.
I'm so sorry, Matthew
Thank you for showing me your growth. I think it’s hard to see when you’re in the middle of it that there is other ideas opportunities and changes. It is a huge challenge, but also St. Vincent does make everything better.😝
yes to all of this Paul, we finally moved parishes and are little bit more at peace - we all have to find our way through the weeds as best we can, although there might be several thickets still around - there seems to be an opening where we can breathe and is a little more tolerable. Just for today, one day at a time - our families never doubted God or the Lord, just the people part, and what we do with all of this… God bless you for your work.
Paul, this makes me think of #41 in Mystici Corporis Christi (Pope Pius XII, 1943) -
“they, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error, who believed that they can accept Christ as the head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to his Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it”
Basically it says you CAN’T separate the man from the office, and it’s a great mystery.
And I want to make sure you know this quote from #61:
“in every physical, living body, all the different members are ultimately destined to the good of the whole alone; while if we look to its ultimate usefulness, every moral association of men is in the end directed to the advancement of all in general and of each single member in particular; for they are persons.”
The abuse will continue always, because we are human. At the same time, we can choose to work out who Jesus is, who we are in Christ, and therefore what we mean when we say "Church," and analyze the structural features which we can reform. For me Girard through Anthony Bartlett are essential starting points, along with Ivan Illich's analysis in The Rivers North of the Future of the corruption of Christianity, and of course Dorothy Day; all of whom reveal the violence at the heart of institutions and ourselves which Jesus reveals and heals. The way forward requires radical change especially as laity in the way we enact Church together.