"What Could Happen to the Catholic Church if abuse came from the Priest"

Religion has always played a strong role, in connection with the entire world. Religion is ancient and goes back all the way to the beginning of time. The word church is often related to religion. There are a number of religions, which are studied throughout the world. Many people have been known, to have a positive, loving, faithful, trustworthy, and respectful attitude towards the denomination in the church. Priests, Pastors, Deacons, Reverends, and the First Lady are highly trusted and respected from community within the church, as well as the community outside the church. Abuse within a religion, has a major effect, in the church, and on survivors of abuse.
In the 1980s, there was a large number of misconduct cases involving clergy. The media decided that clergy abuse was a catholic problem and focused on catholic priests. Many attacks have been made on the Catholic Church, regarding child sexual abuse. In 2002, the media made the assumption ”Most catholic clergy were by definition child molesters, who should be viewed as guilty until proven innocent.”
Many people may wonder why a priest could engage in a damaging act. The priest is the soul of the church and constantly trusted throughout the church. Stories have been told by other priest, suggesting the underline for abuse is ”Prior experience of being molested as a child.”
Fixing the church can be a very complicated task. The SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest) organization has been created for survivors and institutions that hurt them. SNAP focuses on healing individuals, and changing the church that allowed the abuse. SNAP also educates the community about the effects of abuse, and gives tips on preventing what has happened.
SOAR (Survivors of Abuse in Religion) has also been created. The SOAR program is an Internet Support Group. SOAR functions through mailing lists, and discussing the sexual abuse received by religious leaders. SOAR is open to survivors, and supports those who have been abused. SOAR doesn’t accept abusers into the support groups, and the main goal is to prevent future abuse from happening to children or young adults.
There are many effects the church can suffer from, when abuse occurs in the church. The people within the church can lose faith in the church (by not attending church services) and in God (by wondering how could God let such a terrible tragedy happen.) Memberships may decrease in the church. The church may also stop receiving donations from outside agencies.
The survivors of abuse felt, as if they were the only victims of abuse, but studies from the University of Chicago show that there are about 100,000 survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic Priests within the United States. Survivors of abuse say, “While we were being abused we were isolated and felt extremely alone.” Many survivors also have developed health problems, due to the feeling of being betrayed. Some Health problems survivors may develop are alcoholism, drug addiction, over-eating, and under-eating.
Overall, there are many direct and indirect effects, when discussing sexual abuse in the church, none really being positive. If a survivor of abuse were to ask my advice, I would advise them of Survivors’ Wisdom. Survivors’ Wisdom includes steps to take in fighting and overcoming the results of abuse. After everything is said and done, religion will still play a strong role in a religious person’s life.

Kateema Shaheer-Miller
Houston,TX