A List of Resources Available on the Internet

A Listening Session for Teens on Sexual Abuse by Priests
by Maureen P. Provencher
This session allows young people in a school or parish to gather in a safe and trusting place to voice their feelings, thoughts, and concerns, regarding the recent publicity of sexual abuse by priests.

The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry
(NFCYM)
Resources specifically geared for teenagers regarding Sexual Abuse by Clergy

Speaking with Parish/School Young People about Sexual Abuse by Clergy 

Supporting our Clergy: Supporting the Priests Who Serve us Well

Supporting our Coordinators of Youth Ministry: Helping Youth Ministers to Move Beyond Embarrassment

Identifying Boundary Guidelines: Helping Youth Ministers be Relational and Appropriate

Advocating for Young People: Being a Voice for the Voiceless

Educating Young People: Determining ‘Right Relationships’ and Signs of Abuse

Youth Sessions

Resources/Articles

Organizations

National Council of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference
The site of the National Council of Catholic Bishops and the United States Catholic Conference. This site includes statements of the Catholic Bishops regarding clerical abuse of children, interviews, and models of prevention programs.

Catholic Church not only religion facing abuse problems, expert says
By Michelle Laque Johnson
Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- Although Catholic priests may be getting the most publicity about allegations of sexual abuse of minors, they are far from the only clergy guilty of such misconduct, according to a professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University....
Writing in the March 3 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jenkins cited an unnamed Anglican diocese in Canada that "is currently on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of massive lawsuits caused by decades of systematic abuse."
That case refutes the argument that the sex abuse problem stems from the practice of celibacy, he said, since "the Anglican Church does not demand celibacy of its clergy."....

Homilies that address the situation of abuse of minors by priests:

Woman at the well—St. Ignatius, Chestnut Hill

The man born blind— St. Ignatius, Chestnut Hill
Crisis in the priesthood?—Diocese of Savannah

A Crisis of Trust
by Tom Sheridan

When Priests and Bishops Sin
by Francis Cardinal George

LUKENOTES from Saint Luke Institute. SAINT LUKE INSTITUTE is a licensed, private Catholic psychiatric hospital and an institute for research and education. We specialize in serving clergy, men and women religious, and others involved in church ministry.

VIRTUS®

Sexual abuse and other forms of wrongdoing present challenges and dangers—and the Catholic Church will continue to strive for solutions and healing. The National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc. (National Catholic), has decided to invest its capital resources to help meet this moral and ethical challenge of protecting its community of faith and the greater community as a whole.

VIRTUS® is being developed by National Catholic with the goal to help prevent, address, and mitigate wrongdoing in the community of faith. VIRTUS® will marshal expert resources to develop, implement, maintain, and evaluate solutions that embody and incorporate the Catholic Church’s moral leadership and responsibility for service, while emphasizing the overall well being of the community.

Workplace-Related Articles

• Personnel Files—Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy, Part I
  (posted March 19, 2002)
  

• Background Checks—A Necessity for a Safe Workplace, Part II
  (posted March 12, 2002)
  

• Background Checks—A Necessity for a Safe Workplace, Part I
  (posted March 4, 2002)
  

• Minimize Workplace Risk With Your Job Application Forms—Part II
  (posted February 26, 2002)
  

• Minimize Workplace Risk With Your Job Application Forms—Part I
  (posted February 19, 2002)
  

• A Closer Look at Interviewing Strategies—Part II
  (posted February 12, 2002)
  

• A Closer Look at Interviewing Strategies—Part I
  (posted February 5, 2002)
  

• The Key to Managing E-Liability Risks  
  (posted January 22, 2002)
  

• When Trouble Walks Through Your Church Door:
  What Would You Do?  (posted January 2, 2002)
  

• When You Want to Hire a Catholic for a Particular Job:
  Myth Versus Fact  (posted December 18, 2001)
  

• Screening of Employees and Volunteers is Critical
  (posted December 10, 2001)
  

• Employee Military Service: What You Should Know
  (posted December 3, 2001)
  

• When the Unthinkable Happens: Your Employees and Military Leave (posted October 22, 2001)
  

• When the Unthinkable Happens: What Can You Do?  
  (posted October 16, 2001)

School-Related Articles

• Shining the Spotlight on Child Sexual Abuse: It's Everyone's Responsibility (posted January 30, 2002)
  

• Characteristics of Safe and Responsive Schools  
  (posted January 14, 2002)
  

• Promoting Tolerance and Peace in Children
  (posted November 26, 2001)
  

• Trauma and Children: A Parent Handout for Helping Children Heal
  (posted November 12, 2001)
  

• Memorials, Activities and Rituals Following a Traumatic Event:
  Suggestions for Schools
  (posted November 5, 2001)
  

• Identifying Seriously Traumatized Children
  (posted October 29, 2001)
  

• A National Tragedy: Helping Children Manage Strong Emotional Reactions  
  (posted October 8, 2000)
  

• Helping Children Cope with Loss, Death and Grief: Response to a National Tragedy  
  (posted October 1, 2001)
  

• Helping Children Cope with Acts of Terrorism
  (posted September 17, 2001)

Future of the Catholic Church – Audio from NPR News

Guests:
Tom Groome
*Professor of Theology and Religious Education, Boston College
*Author, What Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life (Harper Collins, 2002)
*Former priest

George Weigel
*Catholic Theologian and Senior Fellow, The Ethics and Public Policy Center
* Author, TheTruth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored (Harper Collins, 2001) and Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul the 2nd (Cliff Street Books, 1999)

Ender: (4:45)

Letters Segment

Catholics across the country are struggling to comprehend the scandal of abusive priests. Is American Catholicism headed for a period of review and reform? Priesthood after the scandals and the future of the Catholic Church in America. Join Neal Conan on Talk of the Nation from NPR News.

"The Myth of the Pedophile Priest"
By Philip Jenkins

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette March 3, 2002

Online at http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/comm/20020303edjenk03p6.asp

The Roman Catholic Church in the United States is going through one of the most traumatic periods in its long history.

Every day, the news media have a new horror story to report. Though the sex abuse cases have deep roots, the most recent scandals were detonated by the affair of Boston priest John J. Geoghan. Though his superiors had known for years of Geoghan's pedophile activities, he kept being transferred from parish to parish, regardless of the safety of the children in his care. The stigma of the Geoghan affair could last for decades, and some Catholics are declaring in their outrage that they can never trust their church again.

No one can deny that Boston church authorities committed dreadful errors, but at the same time, the story is not quite the simple tale of good and evil that it sometime appears. Hard though it may be to believe right now, the "pedophile priest" scandal is nothing like as sinister as it has been painted -- or at least, it should not be used to launch blanket accusations against the Catholic Church as a whole….

CHILD ABUSE:
STATISTICS, RESEARCH, AND RESOURCES
By Jim Hopper, Ph.D.

I am a researcher and therapist with a doctorate (Ph.D.) in clinical psychology. I have conducted survey research on rates of child abuse. I have also studied the lasting effects of child abuse - initially the psychological and behavioral effects in men, more recently the effects on memory and biology. I am a licensed clinical psychologist, and for thirteen years I have been a therapist to men and women abused in childhood, providing individual and group treatment.

Common Myths about Sexual Abuse of Children

Child Sexual Abuse—A resource for parents
My name is Kimberly and I am an adult survivor of child sexual abuse, I am also the parent of a beautiful four year old little girl. One of my biggest fears as a parent is that my daughter will someday be exposed to the kind of pain I have endured. I ask myself many times, "How can I protect her?".

Developing a Parish Prevention Program
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Every day, children are physically abused, neglected, sexually molested, and emotionally damaged. Child abuse occurs in every segment of society and at every economic level. Abuse occurs within families and at the hands of strangers. No ethnic group, gender, age level, or geographic location is immune to child abuse; it can and does happen anywhere.

Anger: Don’t Let It Defeat You!
How to Manage This Emotion Effectively
By Mary Ann Russo

Coping with Anger
This feature is part of an ongoing series on coping with the common problems faced by survivors of child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence that includes Coping with Strong Emotions by Breathing, Coping with Sleeplessness, Coping with Anger, Coping with Medical Procedures, Coping with Grief and Survivor Sexuality.

Righteous Anger and the Joy of Forgiveness
Jesus Is Our Model
By Judith MacNutt

From Victim to Survivor and Beyond
By Mariah Burton Nelson

When I was a young teen, I was molested by a man in his mid-twenties. He was my coach. He said it was "okay to love more than one person at the same time." He said we were having "an affair." It lasted three years. In fact it was statutory rape, and it wounded me in many ways….

Thoughts on: Forgiveness/Depression
By Brenda Morgan

I am not a therapist..so I am only speaking from my own experience and my own opinion...as a Survivor.