Abuse by DSP Spiritual Director

[katherineH]

A long, but worthwhile read. A good reminder of how dangerous it is for communities to elevate priests and grant them unlimited/unsupervised access to their sisters. https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/an-offense-against-god-sisters-say 

[Hna.Caridad]

That is a nauseating and infuriating story, and unfortunately...not surprising.  While I've not seen any studies on it, anecdotally, it seems that not only does the clergy sexual abuse crisis continue in full-force, it is also disproportionately affecting young women--particularly young women who have conservative tendencies.

My heart breaks for these young women and I continue to be concerned for them and for the legitimacy of their association's charism.  It's beyond me as to why Archbishop Sample thinks that it's a good idea for victims of abuse (in this case, at least two of the founding members) to be making reparations for the abuse that was perpetrated against them.  (I'm referring to this sentence in the above article:  "Sister Theresa Aletheia and Sister Danielle Victoria are now founding members of the Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness, a small, Oregon-based ecclesial “private association,” aiming to be established as a religious institute, which has as part of its charism a “mission of reparation for the sins of the Church’s members.” )

God bless them.  They certainly carry the charism of the Daughters of St. Paul and are living that charism in an extraordinarily prophetic way.  They are placing themselves in the hands of the "world of communication".  By sharing their stories, they are legitimizing the experiences and stories of countless others--that alone will bring healing to some who have suffered abuse at the hands of the Church's leaders and its members.  It's unfortunate that they didn't feel that they were able to do this work (or that they may have been prohibited from doing this work) within the context of their former congregation.