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Holiday How-To: 10 Tips for Talking with Your Family About Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church
It’s the holiday season, a common time for family gatherings—and a chance to engage loved ones in important conversations.
Awake’s Advent Prayer Service Reflects on the Holy Darkness of the Season
Last week, Awake offered a short, moving Advent prayer service titled “Holy Darkness.” It featured four parts based on the four weeks of Advent, including music, readings, questions for reflection, and silent time for prayer and contemplation.
Awake Reflects on Darkness, Light, and Hope in Advent Prayer Service
Last Friday evening the Awake community gathered for an Advent prayer service exploring both darkness and the gift of light.
Interview with Fr. Tom Berg: 3 Ways the Abuse Crisis has Changed Seminary Formation
Fr. Tom Berg has particular insight into the crisis of sexual abuse and cover-up in the Catholic Church. He spent 23 years of religious life, including nine years as an ordained priest, as a member of the Legionaries of Christ. The legion’s founder and director general Marcial Maciel Degollado was forced to step down in 2005, eight years after public allegations by nine former Legionaries that Maciel had sexually abused them as children and young adults.
Awake Announces Newly Expanded Survivor Advisory Panel
Listening to survivors has always been a priority for Awake Milwaukee.
In our earliest days, before we had even chosen the name “Awake,” we gathered in Sara and Mike Larson’s living room in Milwaukee to listen to a woman who was abused by a priest in grade school. This survivor described her hard work to heal and the pain she experienced as an adult, when she faced legalistic Church leaders in her efforts to report her abuser, who remained in ministry. Listening to her was a powerful experience, reinforcing our drive to learn more about the problems of abuse and cover-up in the Church, to work for transformation and healing, and to understand how we might walk with abuse survivors.
5 Things Every Priest Should Know About Sexual Abuse
Below I’ve compiled five things that I have learned since my wife and I began this journey several years ago, five things I wish every priest, seminarian, and tradition-loving Catholic like myself knew as well.
What Is Racism’s Role in the Abuse Crisis?
Last week Awake hosted a thought-provoking Courageous Conversation about the ways racism impacts the problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
The panel discussion, “Erased from the Narrative: The Role of Racism in the Abuse Crisis,” featured Fr. Bryan Massingale, a professor of ethics at Fordham University in New York and a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; Maka Black Elk, executive director for Truth and Healing at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota; and Jeremy Cruz, a professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University in New York. The recording of the conversation is available here.
Zac Zepeda
“Years of therapy and support groups have shown me that to heal I must talk about the abuse.”
Hopeful News about the Synod Process — and Awake’s Synod Report
After Awake Milwaukee hosted two synod sessions in June to ensure that abuse survivors, their loved ones, and concerned Catholics had a voice in the global listening initiative of the Catholic Church, we submitted our report to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s synod team. Awake’s complete synod report is available on our website.
Praying the Rosary with and for Abuse Survivors
On Tuesday, October 18, the Feast of St. Luke, a group of 30 lay people and clergy members from across the United States gathered on Zoom to pray a rosary with and for survivors of sexual abuse.
This prayer service used the Glorious Mysteries, inviting participants to reflect on the reality of abuse in light of God’s promise of resurrection and new life. Each decade of the rosary was led by a different survivor of abuse in the Catholic Church, who offered an intention based on their own experience.
Catholics Have Questions About Awake’s Next Step Recommendations. We Offer Answers.
We call the recommendations “Next Steps” because we see them as building on the progress the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has already made to assist survivors and address abuse by church leaders. But we believe more can and should be done. We developed these recommendations carefully over the course of two years by listening deeply to survivors and researching widely accepted best practices already implemented in other dioceses.
Explainer: What Is Restorative Justice, And How Can It Help Heal the Catholic Church?
Restorative justice is often discussed as one of many tools to address the twin crises of sexual abuse and leadership failures in the Catholic Church.
Deborah Rodriguez
“The greatest challenge I have had to endure as a survivor is shame. Because others forced me to keep silent about the abuse, I thought I was the one at fault, that I had done something wrong.”
Courageous Conversation: Abuse Survivors Share What They Want Catholics to Understand
Last week, Awake Milwaukee launched the third season of its popular Courageous Conversations series with “What I Want Catholics to Understand,” a panel discussion that featured five victim-survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church. A recording of the conversation is now available on Awake’s YouTube channel. Here we offer a summary of the main insights shared during the conversation, which was moderated by Sara Larson, executive director of Awake Milwaukee.
Part 4: Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Transparency and Accountability of Lay-Led Advisory Boards
This week we continue to explore Awake’s recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, developed to help our local church take next steps to address the evil of sexual abuse. Today we consider the third set of recommendations, which focus on unacceptable boundary violations that may set the stage for abuse. The complete set of recommendations for our archdiocese is available here.
Last week we shared part 1 and part 2 of the recommendations and explored why Awake is advocating for these changes. The recommendations come out of our efforts to learn from abuse survivors across the country and our careful research of best practices implemented in other U.S. dioceses.
Part 3: Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Proactive Steps to Prevent Abuse
This week we continue to explore Awake’s recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, developed to help our local church take next steps to address the evil of sexual abuse. Today we consider the third set of recommendations, which focus on unacceptable boundary violations that may set the stage for abuse. The complete set of recommendations for our archdiocese is available here.
Last week we shared part 1 and part 2 of the recommendations and explored why Awake is advocating for these changes. The recommendations come out of our efforts to learn from abuse survivors across the country and our careful research of best practices implemented in other U.S. dioceses.
Part 2: Awake’s Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Keeping Adults Safe from Abuse
Today we take a closer look at Awake’s second set of recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, related to the sexual abuse of adults. The complete set of recommendations for our archdiocese are available here. As we shared in a blog post earlier this week, these recommendations come out of efforts to walk with and listen to abuse survivors from across the country, as well as careful research of best practices implemented in other dioceses.
Awake Unveils Next-Step Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Today we at Awake Milwaukee begin sharing a series of recommendations that we developed to help our local Church take further steps to address the evil of sexual abuse.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has already taken important steps to ensure a safer Church, but more action is needed. We believe the best response to sexual abuse in the Church has two parts: first, accompanying and supporting victim-survivors in their pursuit of truth, accountability, and healing, and second, working proactively to prevent future abuse.
Carol Longsdorf
“One of the most helpful things is working with a trauma therapist who has helped me understand why childhood trauma is so very difficult to uncover.”
Survivors Respond as Rembert Weakland is Honored with Archdiocesan Funeral
Today the Archdiocese of Milwaukee holds a funeral Mass for former archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland, who died on August 22 at age 95.
We at Awake know this may be a difficult day for many sexual abuse survivors and their loved ones, and the celebration of Weakland’s life may bring up strong, painful feelings. In a press release Awake issued today, we explained, “Sexual abuse, especially abuse by a religious leader, is a deep and long-lasting trauma, and we urge all people to be mindful of this reality when they speak about Weakland’s legacy.”