Sex-abuse victims
need more help
Our View: More needs to be done,
to help the victims of molestation by priests.
Related stories
Michae'l Alegria The Spokesman_Review
For the editorial board
On June 14, Catholic bishops from around the United States, including Bishop William Skylstad of the Spokane Diocese, met in Dallas to address sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church and to form a new policy regarding the issue. But even as victims addressed the bishops and recounted for them in horrifying detail their stories of sexual abuse by priests, a plan for helping the victims in their own path to healing was not made as public as was the punishment of the perpetrator.
Has enough been done to help victims of the church?
Father Steve Dublinski, vicar general and spokesman for the Diocese of Spokane, states that not enough has been done. There are no easy answers. The Catholic Church, he says, is wrestling with that and continuing to work towards solutions.
Accusations, lawsuits and prison terms may serve to resolve the issue in some regard but victims of sexual abuse often suffer in silence. Men who were victimized as young boys often question their sexuality, wondering if being sexually abused somehow makes them gay now. Shame, guilt and self-blame may manifest themselves in depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicide. According to the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization (www.nomsv.org), men may be more damaged by our society's refusal or inability to accept their victimization. This may result in a feeling of having to "tough it out" on their own. Many cannot.
These issues cannot be fixed in a conference room or by a lawyer.
Father Dublinski reports that the Diocese of Spokane offers counseling to victims and has since the scandal broke. Some victims, he says, just want to come in and talk to be heard and to have their story on record. Sometimes, this is enough.
"Victims can help us to help them," Dublinski says.
Other times, understandably, a victim does not feel comfortable going to a priest. In this case, Catholic Family Services can help with counseling.
Dublinski says that while details are still being solidified, avenues involving other social service providers are in the works to meet the needs of each and every victim.
At the Bishops meeting in Dallas, sexual abuse experts reported that the appropriate response to damage from sexual abuse is not a short-term fix. This is something we all, as a community, can help with. It may indeed take a village to heal the hurting.
Efforts to promote the healing process and deal directly with the victim must be carried out in a way that does not make the process more traumatic. Recently, Bishop Skylstad met with parishioners in Walla Walla where reports of abuse had been made. In his Aug. 1 letter to the diocese, he openly apologized for what the victims and families have been going through.
Skylstad's honesty has opened doors to the path of healing. We should join him in an effort to reach out and assist those who have lost their way along that path.
To read the bishop's letter to the diocese regarding the sexual abuse issue in the Catholic Church, go to www.dioceseofspokane.org, click on "Bishop William Skylstad," and then on his letter of Aug. 1, 2002.
Michae'l Alegria/For the editorial board
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests