—Marie Collins, a 64-year-old Dubliner who was abused by a hospital chaplain, Rev. Paul McGennis, when she was 13, as quoted in The New York Times Magazine article “The Irish Affliction.”

Two decades later, she confided in another parish priest about what happened. He suggested it was her fault because she may have tempted McGennis, but that he would forgive her. And then ten years later, she wrote to the archbishop of Dublin, now a cardinal in the Vatican, who told her McGennis was a good priest and she should not “ruin his life.”

by Nancy Rosenbaum, producer

(via beingblog)

Has the Catholic church become irreparably harmed by the concentration of power at the top of its organizational structure? When redress of grievances is precluded by said structure, it would appear so. More importantly, this inability to redress grievances is a further victimization of those who have suffered childhood sexual abuse. The organization compounds the suffering and complicates the healing.