Trauma Recovery Training Workshop

For Victims Of Clergy Sex Abuse

Louisiana Dept. Of Justice Representative Ursula Anderson
Attorney General Jeff Landry Louisiana Department of Justice Representative, Ursula Anderson

The Trauma Recovery Associates‘ Introduction To The Trauma Model Workshop was the first step in our goal to bring healing to victims of clergy sex abuse by offering trauma training to social workers and counselors. With the proper help, those who have suffered clergy sex abuse trauma can move from victim to survivor.

While our primary focus was to provide training for social workers and counselors, a diverse group of attendees was present, which led to a second goal of The TentMakers; bringing awareness to families and communities. In attendance, we had an attorney, a maternity mentor from a local crisis pregnancy center, several priests, a member of the Survivor Informed Task Force / criminal justice advocate, and a representative from the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office, in addition to social workers and counselors. When people understand the effects and behaviors of those who have suffered trauma, they are in a far better position to intercede and lead victims of clergy sex abuse to a path of healing and hopefully obtain the justice they deserve.

WHAT’S TO COME IN 2022

We are excited about moving into the coming new year with some new ideas in the works for spiritual healing and possibly adding some excellent merchandise to help with funding and recovery. We are also working to bring more community awareness to trauma and its long-term effects on local communities and the criminal justice system.

Victory over the trauma of clergy sex abuse
Moving Mountains with Trauma Training and Awareness

Lastly, we are very excited at the response to our mission. We were able to launch a website in late August/early September, aligning with the timing of Louisiana’s new law for victims of sexual abuse. In addition, we have had some very outstanding and knowledgeable individuals who have offered to collaborate with us to further our mission to help those who have suffered trauma from clergy sex abuse. We hope you will continue to support our mission to heal victims of clergy sex abuse who have not previously had a chance for healing and justice.

Your support is vital to our mission. As trauma affects so many in our families and communities, we believe this trauma recovery training workshop for victims of clergy sex abuse is a step in the right direction for healing and recovery. Your continued support will help us help them. Together we will be victorious and move big mountains!

What Did Pope Benedict Really Know?

Objectively False or Lie

St. Peter’s Square

What did Pope Benedict know about the priest before him? There is nothing more heartbreaking to a victim or the family of a victim of clergy sex abuse than to sit down and read a new daily headline on who knew what about clergy sex abuse. We are tired of it, and those in the hierarchy have done nothing to eradicate clergy sex abuse. Nothing! Today is a new day and a new headline involving Pope Benedict.

The article is about whether or not Pope Benedict was in a meeting about a transfer of a so-called “gifted” priest accused of sex abuse. It almost seems as if the hierarchy looks at these priests as if the sex abuse was just a lapse in judgment, but their “giftedness” excuses them from any form of punishment. This excuse then allows the Bishops to send them to another place where they can freely use their ” gifts.” I am also bothered by calling his “previous assertion about the meeting objectively false.” Is there a problem with saying it was an objective lie?

Archbishop Gänswein said Benedict had called his previous assertion about the meeting “objectively false,

The article states that “On Monday, Benedict’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, issued a statement saying that, upon reading the findings of the report, the retired pope had been present at the meeting in question “contrary to what was stated.” Archbishop Gänswein said Benedict had called his previous assertion about the meeting “objectively false,” and that it was not made in “bad faith” but was the result of a mistake in the editing process of an 82-page statement provided to the lawyers.”

Healing will happen for victims when the headlines are similar to Justice For Victims Of Clergy Sex Abuse, or The Catholic Church Takes Action. As victims and their families, we need to see and hear that the Catholic Church is taking genuine steps toward justice and accountability. We are tired of the excuses, and the time has come to expel the pedophiles and make the Catholic Church safe again.

ELIMINATING THE ENEMY WITHIN

The Proverbial Question

Why haven’t Catholics fully acknowledged the evil of clergy sexual abuse in the church or demanded its elimination? That’s the proverbial question we have been asked many times and have yet to find the proverbial answer. For decades the presence of this evil has been allowed to fester while victims are left wounded and scattered. Does it have to do with fear, pride, complacency, or plain ignorance?

A Dark Evil Exists

Unfortunately, I have had to stare this evil in the eye literally, so unlike the average Catholic, I know a lot about it. Clergy sexual abuse has indeed been so well covered up within the ranks of the Catholic Church that most of the laity are ignorant of the evil and its victims. The cover-up and fear of scandal have cast a thick protective shield around the corruption, making it difficult for the average catholic to accept. It is a systemic evil that has corrupted the church from within for decades. We are now faced with the reality that this dark evil exists, and many souls have been completely devastated, broken, and shunned by the very church that is supposed to be where God dwells.  The enemy wants your children and your faith and will continue to decimate the body of Christ until Catholics take a stand.

The armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18
http://www.ruthinstitute.org/clergy-abuse-statistics

Accepting The Reality

To accept this reality means that your faith in God will have to be strong enough to endure the truth. For decades the enemy has devoured the body of Christ through clergy sexual abuse. The church’s shepherds have left behind broken and battered souls scattered throughout the world, left behind to die on the spiritual battlefield. We can change this reality by putting on the whole armor of God to stand against the wiles of the devil. It’s time to suit up and show up! 12 For we are not contending against flesh and blood. Still, against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13

Our Identity Is In Christ

It begs the question, who will be left to stand? What if it is your beloved priest who is involved in sexual abuse of a minor, raping a woman, child pornography, or even satanic worship on the altar at your church? What does that mean for you as a Catholic? Can your faith withstand it? Our faith must be rooted in our relationship with Our Lord, not with our identity as Catholics. God has made us in His image, not in the image of Catholicism. For those who acknowledge the truth of the corruption plaguing our church, it means you must do something. It requires an immense amount of faith, courage, and perseverance to join in a spiritual war against the darkness and wickedness of our present time.

We are suffering from the effects of decades of clergy sex abuse because those before us, did minimal if not nothing, to stop it.

Letitia M Peyton

Taking A Stand

Our families are never safe from the desires of evil and its destructive behaviors.  We are suffering from the effects of decades of clergy sex abuse because those before us, for whatever reason, did minimal if not nothing to stop it. I take a stand now! The thought of my grandchildren having to take this stand is unconscionable. I will not pass this fight down to the next generations.  It is time to take a stand and rebuild the dwelling place of the Lord.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-20

Victims need justice and healing
https://tentmakers.la/what-is-trauma/

A Place Where The Spirit Dwells

It is now up to those of us in this present time to help heal victims who are still suffering from the trauma of the effects of clergy sex abuse. We must carry our wounded, neglected, suffering brothers and sisters in Christ to him so they can receive his healing love and mercy. Catholic churches need to be made safe for our children and vulnerable adults. We must make a holy place for His Spirit to dwell or continue to suffer the effects of allowing evil to dwell and decimate God’s own house.

Crushing Evil and Claiming Victory Over Clergy Sex Abuse

Death To The Soul

What is it like for a victim or a family to fight clergy sex abuse? It’s like fighting for the life of your soul. Clergy sexual abuse is death to the soul if there is no healing and justice. The victims and their families are devastated by it. I realized on that dreadful night as I listened to my husband tell me that our priest abused our son, that our lives would never be the same. The one thing I knew I could not do was allow this evil to destroy my family. We needed to be victorious. Our faith was going to be tested.

Broken And Devastated By Clergy Sex Abuse

As parts of me were dying with every word that was coming out of my husband’s quivering lips that night, spilling out an unimaginable horror that would forever change our lives:  Father Mike had abused one of our sons. I couldn’t speak. I was completely numb.  All I could do was start crying alongside my husband. We became wholly broken that night along with our son.

How could Father Mike have betrayed our son this way? This was the ultimate betrayal. Thoughts and questions started running through my mind as my husband spoke to me. What were we going to say to our other younger children? Questions that I  could not answer. Without any warning, the nightmare of clergy sex had impacted our family.

There was no warning that could have helped us understand the impact this would have on our family. Never could we have predicted the lost friends. We were completely naïve about the clergy sex abuse that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church for decades. One of the questions we continue to ask ourselves is, “What if this had not been our son? How would we have reacted?”

Making A Promise To God

The Truth needed to be revealed by our priest. On the day Father Mike was going to the police station for questioning, I asked God to send down the Holy Spirit and plead with Father Mike to confess the truth to the police. My promise to God was to help heal his Church of the evil of clergy sex abuse. Wrongly, I thought his confession would make everything easier. I believed that if people learned the truth, they would be horrified and demand change. Unfortunately, that did not happen in the church or with the laity. God, being faithful to my cries, did keep his promise. The Tent Makers is my way of keeping my promise.

God provided us with a way to crush evil and claim victory for our son. In keeping my promise to Him to help heal his church, we now have the Tent Makers Of Louisiana. Through The Tent Makers Of Louisiana, we hope to provide needed resources for victims, their families, and communities who have not yet received the healing and justice they deserve.

Being The Instrument Of Good

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things they do in secret. Ephesians 5:11-12

The dark reality is that victims and our Church need healing from clergy sex abuse. The Tent Makers will educate the public and bring healing to families, churches, and communities. The unfruitful works of darkness require a courageous and unwavering faith in the laity. The laity is the instrument of good in the hand of God to crush evil and claim victory over clergy sex abuse.