Know that I believe what you are doing with Behind the Pine Curtain is both courageous and absolutely imperative to help victims of this form of insidious abuse to realize a semblance of justice. I’d like to say health, but that assumes health may be restored.
And, Justice is also a difficult word to use given that the Constitution Law Professor [Fr. Dan Ward, from whom] I took [a class] at SJU stated during a lecture that “Justice is the advantage of the stronger.” Given that definition, the word justice seems to be all the more difficult to use. That particular definition has always troubled me. But, given the source’s arrogance, it makes sense.
As a SJU Alumni, and non-offending sibling from an incestuous family-of-origin, I unfortunately have had to come to an understanding about this unforgivable mortal sin. The depraved depths of dysfunctional multi-problem families/systems are no less explanatory of the evil than the character disorders exhibited by the perpetrators, themselves. These “perps” are irredeemably narcissists of the most severe degree. Upon disclosure from my siblings, I began my work by asking ‘what kind of person does a thing like that?’ A person with a character disorder, a person with a spiritual defect? Perhaps, but chiefly, it is a criminal act, and for this reason, and for the survivors, your work on Behind the Pine Curtain is important. Regardless of the ‘damage’ to the perceived image of the community, it is the right thing to do!
These works, among many others, have been instrumental in my synthesizing my family-of-origin and the impact of child sexual abuse within it.
Maddock., J. W., & Larson, N. R. (1995), Incestuous families: An ecological approach to understanding and treatment; New York: Norton
Sperry, Len (2003), Sex, Priestly Ministry, and the Church: Collegeville: Liturgical Press
St. John’s University Almuni
Name Provided by Withheld
Via eMail, March 31, 2011