The 10 Blog Posts You Read Most in 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, we share the 10 most-read stories on the Awake blog this year. Several of our most popular stories involved events in Rome, including Executive Director Sara Larson’s keynote address at the International Safeguarding Conference, her delivery of a set of deeply honest letters from abuse survivors to newly elected Pope Leo XIV, and the pope’s response to those letters.
We thank each of you for reading along on the blog this year and for sharing your insights in the comment section. We invite you to stay tuned for more stories to come in 2026. But first, here are the most popular posts of the past year.
10. “I Was Surrounded by Beauty and Glimmers of Hope and Goodness”: Reflections from Awake’s Third Annual Survivor Retreat
The July retreat took place in West Bend, Wisconsin.
In July, Awake held its third annual retreat for survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Paul Fahey, a volunteer member of the retreat team, offered his reflections on this powerful gathering, as well as insights from a number of retreatants, shared with their permission.
9. Survivors Share Their Hopes for the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV
The election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8 sparked an array of thoughts and feelings for people who have experienced harm in the Catholic Church. We spoke with seven survivor-leaders in the Awake community about their hopes for Leo’s papacy.
8. Abuse Researcher David Pooler Under Investigation for Alleged Misconduct
Awake learned that David Pooler, Ph.D., a researcher we have occasionally interviewed about adult sexual abuse by faith leaders, has stated that he is under investigation for alleged misconduct and abuse of adults.
7. 5 Things for Survivors to Consider When Sharing Their Stories
Theologian Rebecca Pawloski
People who have experienced church abuse often say that sharing their story has helped them heal. Rebecca Pawloski, a theologian who teaches at Loyola University Chicago’s Rome Center, speaks with Awake about the importance of sharing these sacred stories well, to ensure that the telling is helpful and not a source of unintended harm.
6. New Podcast Explores Spiritual Abuse of Adults
This fall we interviewed Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble and Sr. Danielle Victoria Lussier, the Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth and Goodness about their eight-part podcast, in which they explore their own experience of spiritual harm as adults and interview a host of experts in theology, philosophy, psychology, and safeguarding. Many of these experts are familiar to people in the Awake community.
5. Bearing Witness in Rome: Reflections from the International Safeguarding Conference
In June, Awake Executive Director Sara Larson traveled to Italy to speak at the International Safeguarding Conference held at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where she shared Awake’s model of accompanying survivors and its efforts to create spaces of belonging, empowerment, and healing. Larson also detailed her experience of praying in Siena at the church where Saint Catherine, one of Awake’s patrons, attended daily Mass.
4. 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? A group of 37 survivors from the Awake community described the myths that they hear most.
3. Pope Leo Responds to Letters from Survivors
In August, Awake received a letter from Pope Leo XIV, written in response to the moving messages from survivors that Executive Director Sara Larson carried to the Vatican in June. Our post includes a photo of the pope’s letter as well as several responses to Leo’s words from survivors in the Awake community.
2. Awake Delivers Heartfelt Survivor Letters to the Vatican This Week
Sara Larson in Rome with survivors’ letters
In a high point of the year, Executive Director Sara Larson carried to Rome a set of 37 letters written by abuse survivors in the Awake community, with the hope that the messages would be hand-delivered to Pope Leo. We received permission from survivors to share excerpts from these deeply personal letters.
1. Survivor Stories
Again this year, our top blog posts are our Survivor Stories. These monthly posts give people in the Awake community who have experienced sexual abuse in the Church an opportunity to describe their journey and their hard-won wisdom.
Alexandra Buchlmayer shared her story in June.
We are truly honored that they trust us with these sacred stories. And we’re also grateful for the hundreds of community members who read survivors’ stories and take the time to respond with words of encouragement and support. All of the Survivor Stories that have appeared on the blog are currently available on this page of the Awake website.
As we begin the new year, we encourage you to keep reading. We’re working on more great content to share with you in 2026. Please sign up here and click the final checkbox to receive all forthcoming blog posts in your inbox.
—Erin O’Donnell
Awake is a community that strives to be compassionate, survivor-centered, faithful, welcoming, humble, courageous, and hopeful. We thank you for choosing your words with care when commenting, and we reserve the right to remove comments that are inappropriate or hurtful.
