Awake Blog
Welcome to the Awake Blog! If you’re new to Awake, we recommend you check out these top blog posts from our archive.
Sign up here to receive an email notification when a new blog post is published!
What is Institutional Betrayal? And How Does It Relate to Church Abuse?
Institutional betrayal occurs when leaders of an institution fail to protect members from harm or do not respond with support if someone reveals that they’ve been hurt.
Denise Buchanan
“Silence destroys the body of Christ. Protecting survivors and demanding accountability does not attack faith; it is an act of fidelity to it.”
Awake Welcomes Four New Members to Our Survivor Advisory Panel
This week on the blog we welcome four new members to the Awake Survivor Advisory Panel, who introduce themselves to the Awake community.
Nancy Pieffer
“I am so grateful to say that my life is more than my trauma, and in many ways I triumphed in spite of my pain.”
Tim Lennon
“When I first stepped forward, I did so alone, as an individual. Now I step forward as part of a worldwide movement of survivors.”
Awake Delivers Heartfelt Survivor Letters to the Vatican This Week
This week, Awake Executive Director Sara Larson delivered a set of 37 letters—written by abuse survivors to Pope Leo—to the Vatican in Rome.
Alexandra Buchlmayer
“Owning my story, despite the lack of legal action, was a huge part of my healing journey. It broke the bonds of secrecy and shame.”
Survivors Share Their Hopes for the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV
“I hope Pope Leo will truly listen to survivors, not through carefully managed encounters, but by sitting with them in their raw pain without any defensiveness, aides, or lawyers present.”
Mary O’Day
“Healing my image of God has been incredibly impactful in both healing my trauma and helping me learn to accept love.”
Responding to the Death of Pope Francis—While Remaining Focused on Survivors
Because Awake is a survivor-centered organization, we’re focusing first on how this development impacts the survivors in our community.
Awake’s Way of the Cross with Survivors Offers Meaningful Holy Week Prayer
Awake’s annual Way of the Cross with Survivors invites us to see the traditional Stations of the Cross from the perspective of people who have experienced harm in the Catholic Church.
Survivors Share 6 Myths About Abuse in the Church
What do people in the Catholic Church and the broader public typically get wrong about sexual abuse by Church leaders? Earlier this year, we posed this question to people in the Awake community who have experienced sexual abuse in the Church, asking them which myths they hear most.
Frank Meuers
“The most difficult part of my journey was not the abuse itself but the lack of response from the church to that abuse.”
What Stops Adult Survivors Who Are from Minority Groups from Disclosing Abuse?
New work by Lucy Huh, a researcher and member of the Awake community, describes the barriers that stop people harmed as adults from disclosing abuse, particularly if they come from minority cultures or are immigrants to the United States.
Vince Pérez
“I aim to promote understanding by educating church leaders and congregations about the compounded effects of racism, sexism, and clergy abuse on BIPOC survivors.”
How to Grow in the Aftermath of Trauma
When someone has suffered deep wounds from a traumatic event such as sexual abuse, how can they move beyond the pain to achieve healing and growth? We posed this question to Mitch Mueller, LPC, a Catholic psychotherapist from West Bend, Wisconsin.
Amy Pearce
“I want other survivors to be reassured that what happened was not their fault, that they are not alone, and that they are both lovable and loved.”
Fr. Frank Reitter
“God, through prayer, helped me understand I can never be the person I could have been had I not been abused, but I can be the person I can be.”
Awake Introduces Four New Members of the Survivor Advisory Panel
This week on the blog we honor four new members of the Awake Survivor Advisory Panel, who introduce themselves to the Awake community.