The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Below is a quote from an article, The Roots of Pastoral Response by Paul Fericano, published in the Santa Barbara Independent from February 5, 2014.  This quote tells about one of the important things we accomplished at Ascension Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon -- for seven years we  have published in the parish weekly bulletin sources of support for survivors that included the names and contact information for two independent organizations with clergy abuse survivors as founders -- SafeNet and Compassionate Gathering.  (Please note that the co-founder of Compassionate Gathering is Elizabeth Goeke, who is a clinical counselor and former nun.  She left her order after being assaulted by a priest.  Elizabeth suffered a detached retina and had some grandchildren who needed full time care so she is now retired.)  Only one (Ascension Parish in Portland) has printed a weekly notice continuously (for both the  OPO  and SafeNet) since ...

I was in Eastern and Southern Oregon walking through small, rural towns and on scenic trails to raise awareness about abuse when the news came about an abusive priest, Fr. Angel Armando Perez,  in Woodburn, Oregon.  The abuse was very recent and the child reported it, and his family supported him, and the police supported him, and the priest was arrested. The family support and the arrest frequently did not happen in the past. We’ve made progress, real progress.  The abuse happened, but at least most of the response to the abuse was appropriate.   I could not comment on what had happened when I was walking through towns and on trails in the distant parts of Oregon.  My internet access was intermittent, and I had my two teenagers to care for and a schedule to keep, and the two teenagers didn’t want to share the computer with me. When I returned home to Portland, I read Abuse Tracker and saw Randy Ellison's blog on the case.  Randy...