Abuse by clergy must stop
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Molly Harding
Special to The
Spokesman-Review
After living with decades of betrayal, hurt, isolation and shame, I am breaking my silence in a committed mission to help others. I am a survivor of clergy sexual abuse by a priest in a diocese in Southern California. The abuse has affected my whole life. It has taken courage, strength and many years of healing to overcome the pain and shame to reach the point where I can actually talk about it.
I can't change what happened to me or my history. I can't rewrite my history or forget it. But I can change the way I deal with it and I can help others. After many dedicated years of healing, I am now a survivor. As with all things in life, there are those of us who learn from example and there are those of us who have to be the example others learn from. Victims/survivors fall into both categories.
I am on a mission to show the world that clergy abuse is abhorrent. I stand before society as proof of what happens when men of God do heinous things to people. I am a casualty of this war, and I must make sure people see me, hear me, understand me and learn from me. That's why, during the most recent priest scandals, I have had my name in the newspaper and appeared on television and radio talk shows. I tell people that a priest did unspeakable things to my body. I no longer hide my scars or give my pain to someone else to carry.
To reach out to others so that they can heal, I have formed a Spokane chapter of SNAP -- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The group provides help and support to victims/survivors, their families and supporters. By sharing our stories, we recognize we are not alone, we can stop the secrecy and we are not guilty. Blame must be placed on the priests who sexually abuse and the church that hides and supports them. The group also shares resources and information and we learn together what it means to become healthy psychologically, socially, sexually and spiritually. We also organize for political action to challenge the institutional church to better deal with priests' sexual misconduct.
If you are a victim/survivor of sexual abuse by priests, brothers, nuns or teachers in the Roman Catholic Church, please contact our support network at (509) 991-8834. Meetings are held Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at 1522 N. Washington. All responses are confidential.
We are putting our voices together so that, finally, we can be heard.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests