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Group Support meets 4 to 6 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Marquette on Ridge Street THIS Friday. Two road trips, a visting speaker and the update on Marquette General Hospital's assistance towards a facilitator for the group will be discussed. This is a PUBLIC meeting open to any and all. Closed dates are planned during these meetings.

All are welcome. Reach out, stay safe.

Liberty, not all recordings are junk or inadmissable in a court of law. That is incorrect. It is still an obvious good choice of self-protection to have any and all meetings recorded, period. Most of the time, victims/survivors are triggering so badly that recording the meetings will help to recall what was and was not said.

Most of the time, they tell you to bring an advocate and then turn around and tell you to just have your lawyer call theirs. My husband called the office fr the bishop. The secretray called my husband back saying that theyy were trying to get him scheduled in and they would call back soon. The next call was the secretary relaying the bishop's own message. He wanted my husband to proceed in calling the diocesan lawyer.

Does anyone wonder whay my husband just deosn't have the heart to go to Mass?

Cerucheruppil

Not all dioceses are open for allowing victims to meet with their bishop with their therapists present. They do not recognize that it is normal for a victim to choose a person that would be supportive of the victim? When I say supportive, I mean supportive of the trauma and reactions that a victim would have to a bishop (priest) and why a victim would have such intense emotional and physical reactions in being in the same room with a priest. Like in this diocese, the reaction to to protect the bishop rather than protecting the sanctity and spiritual openess for a victim to want to, to need to, or to even try to, meet with their bishop for healing, is treated as a favor. I guess some dioceses are staffed with mature and responsible professionals and others are staffed with fear based under-educated social workers and diocesan lawyers who get paid while creating a more fearfull outreach environment. When the circle that you rely on stays small, so does the thinking.

Only imcompetant staff would inform a pastoral leader that by the dissallowment of a victim's advocate of their own choosing from entering a room with the bishop (priest), that it is somehow good decision making. The victim instead is AGAIN re-victimized and excluded, and is denied the much needed "safety"zone of support. What kind of a pastor denies a victim the chance at health and recovery through self-empowerment? How can this diocese, for example, state in their own writing that they wan't to make the process as safe as possible, when they have no sense of safety and professonal experience in this matter.

Once again, ignorance runs rampant. I mean a really inexcusable and pitiful amount of denial has to be going on at all levels to even reject a victim from such a simple act of self preservation and safety. I would think that a bishop would welcome the victim's support person as a part of the pastoral arm and care; that of Christ.

Pastoral care...
Professional response and educated advice...
Pastoral centered outreach...
Fear based responses...

BOUNTY. You tell me where my perp is and prove it, and I will pay you $5,000.00. To the priests in his order from India, think about it. All this money is like a bazzilion dollars to you. It can buy you a new bell for the parish church. It can feed people. It can build a school.

Remember, "It's just business." 906-362-2602

A Mighty Force
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Finding Strength United as God's Children


By Paul J. Ashton, Psy.D., D. Min.

Consultant to the VIRTUS® Programs


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-2 Thessalonians 3:5

The grooming process that perpetrators use to get close to victims and then eventually to molest them is confusing. It is supposed to be. In that way, a perpetrator can get close to possible victims without them knowing the true motivations behind the actions. Molesters use power over victims to draw them into a world of deception and lies. It is a world filled with doubt, fear, and anguish, and a place where victims often feel trapped, dirty, ashamed, and alone.

Since the Protecting God's Children® program became available, we have spent much time educating people about how to prevent child sexual abuse. Simultaneously, we tried to educate people that God's children refers to everyone. Everyone means children and adults and all those in between. The program is intended to protect children from sexual abuse by educating adults to know how perpetrators insinuate themselves into the lives of children to molest them. The program also educates caring adults about the appropriate ways in which to conduct themselves around children to gain protection from false allegations.

Many approach the program and ask about adults who are also "vulnerable." Our research has found that several states, as well as countries, have vulnerable adults legislation that often provide specific definitions about individuals who are considered to be vulnerable adults.

As much as the Protecting God's Children program emphasizes that we are all God's children, we had to face the various nuances that arise in our society which place some adults in the necessary category of warranted protection. Many adults living in group homes, nursing homes, etc., fall into this category.

Labels, definitions, and words sometimes inadvertently lead us into exclusion, however. While the articles written about vulnerable adults were clear in their description and approach, it must never be misunderstood that anyone would be excluded from the possibility of being victimized by a perpetrator and falling prey to their keen and cunning grooming skills.

All persons are susceptible to abuse, to predation, and manipulation through the grooming process-and all must be aware that no matter who the perpetrator is, what they say, or what they do, the victim is never responsible for the abuse that happens to them. All too often, we learn of adults being abused by those who are in a role of ministerial authority over them. They misuse their power and authority to abuse adults and children in their care and under their counsel. Victims are victims, no matter the age.

The entire topic of child sexual abuse is distasteful and has been avoided for so long that approaching it even now is problematic for many people. This is what perpetrators rely upon-avoidance and ignorance. The Protecting God's Children program was developed to protect children from being sexually abused. It has also grown and become the catalyst to make sure other abuses are brought to light. Most especially, it has caused us to take pause and educate ourselves about the dangers that we all face as possible victims to anyone who might desire to harm us. Our gained knowledge truly is power and we must continue to unite in protecting all individuals from possible harm in our churches and communities.

United in this approach, we can face our communities without fear and watch lovingly, care appropriately, and act justly in all situations where we meet our brothers and sisters. We should never use language to separate us. Rather, in times of crisis, we must unite, bond, and derive strength from our connection as the Body of Christ. When one member hurts, we all hurt. When one is healed, we all heal. We draw upon each other's strengths and vulnerabilities, and we present ourselves as a united and mighty force to all who might wish to see otherwise.

Maybe we all wanted to be blind to what we needed to believe.