Fair Process for Adult Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse
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This is an article written by Debbie
Baier for
the Edmonton
Journal. Copyright © 1997,
Debbie Baier. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted
without permission of the author.
There has been and still is a tradition of silence within the
traditional church structures. The secular media and civil
litigation of the 1990's forced child abuse by the clergy to our
attention.
The extensive media attention paid to the issue of child sexual
abuse mandated a new public conscience about abuse aspects within
our church heritage. Religious Institutions were forced to deal with
sexual abuse of children by clergy and church personnel.
This new awareness moved us forward and we realized that sexual
abuse by the clergy -men in power- extends beyond children. There
are adult victims of sexual misconduct by clergy.
Professionals in positions of trust and power are given power
through their education, their expertise, and their status. The
clergy, as a professional group, has a responsibility to ensure that
their power and trust is not abused. Until very recently it never
occurred to anyone that priests would need a professional code of
ethics.
As professionals, it was thought to be clear, that sexual contact
was never appropriate as part of any pastoral care or ministry
situation. Sexual contact is defined as not only sexual intercourse
but includes fondling or any sexual touching, erotic talk, kissing,
passionate embracing and any form of nudity. Acts involving the
sexual contact described would be a sexual-boundary violation.
When a religious institution remains silent about the sexual
abuse of its members by its clergy, it perpetuates the secret system
in which abuse can continue and flourish. Structured Religion, has
accepted with a naive faith, the idea that sexual boundaries are
always maintained within a priest-parishioner relationship. Every
day parishioners sit in inviolable, sacred privacy with their
clergyman whom they trust, admire and rely upon for spiritual
guidance. There is a lack of understanding, by members of the
congregation and the general public at large, of the extreme power
imbalance that can exist in a pastoral relationship. A victim is
most vulnerable when they are seeking compassion from their
minister. To be vulnerable to another person is the result of having
less power than that person. A minister is in a position to use this
imbalance of power to his advantage and use the pastoral situation
as a sexual opportunity.
When a minister takes advantage of this vulnerability by gaining
sexual access to the parishioner, the minister violates the mandate
to protect the vulnerable from harm. When offenders are tacitly
protected by silence after complaints by victims emerge, the
offender can continue to have sexual relationships with additional
parishioners and in future pastoral care settings.
An open and forthright approach must be taken in the
investigation of all complaints by victims of clergy abuse. Since a
minister is a public figure, who has been given a sacred trust, it
is reasonable that his parish community has a right to know about
violations of the trust they have put in him. The parish and larger
church community need information other than rumors that start to
circulate. They need an authoritative presence to give them
assistance in handling the situation with truth and integrity. There
needs to be healing for the parish congregation whose trust has been
breached.
The individual victims need to have a complaint process in place
that is both fair and supportive. They need to know that their
complaints will not be met with inaction and an aura of perpetual
silence. A respectful process, with a victim's advocate, could help
the healing process for a victim. A victim needs to know that the
truth is being sought. Elie Wiesel said that, "What hurts the
victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of
the bystander".
A long-term process of examination and education into clergy
abuse is needed in today's society. We are no longer a silent
society. Every diocese needs a written statement reflecting its
guidelines for sexual abuse by clergy within its jurisdiction.
These guidelines must give clear direction and these guidelines
must be enforced.
Although we cannot undo past injustices to victims of clergy
abuse, we can bring a new awareness, consciousness, and sense of
responsibility in society at large to prevent the problem from
continuing.
Debbie Baier January 1997
NOT TO BE COPIED WITHOUT PERMISSION
OF THE AUTHOR
Debbie Baier is publisher of the "STOP CLERGY SEXUAL
ABUSE - An e-mail Newsletter for the Edmonton Archdiocese" available through stopclergysexual@netscape.net
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