A presentation...

... of the retreats run by Grief to Grace, a new and neccessary psychological and spiritual programme for victims of sexual abuse.  This is very important. Pope Benedict has said that in tackling the whole question of sexual abuse, the Church's first concern must be for the victims. But we have ignored that: the first concern has been to apportion blame, or to debate how it could all have happened, or to talk about the implications for the Church, or....or...

Grief to Grace offers a real and practical response. I was impressed by Dr Theresa Burke, who gave a full presentation of the whole programme at the invitation of Fr Dominic Allain, who is organising the project in Britain.

There has  often been a somewhat panicky approach on the part of officials in the Church towards victims, with a rush to use expensive therapists who shun anything spiritual and whose approach is strongly verbal and emphasises a sense of continuation year on year.  There is a real need to look at the huge developments in psychology of recent decades...we should not remain in the 1950s/60s. Grief to Grace marks a turning-point in psychological approaches and is based on methods which have emerged over the past half-century.

We have great responsibilities here. Any reader who is aware of some one who needs help: go to the link given.