Restoring the Soul of a Church

by Friberg, Nils; Haskin, Darlene K.; Hopkins, Harold; Hopkins, Nancy Myer; Irons, Richard; Knudsen, Chilton

• ISBN13: 9780814623336
• ISBN10: 0814623336
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-11-01
• Publisher: Liturgical Pr

Summary

What happens to the sense of community and faith of a church that finds itself wounded by pastoral sexual abuse? Counseling and other resources are available to victims and abusers, but what about the congregations, which are also left with feelings of disbelief, disillusionment, and anger? To fill this void, the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute commissioned this pastoral work. While the focus of this book is the healing of congregations, it first discusses the original problem of sexual misconduct and exploitation, as an understanding of this dynamic is essential to understanding its effect on the congregation. Once this understanding is established, the majority of the text focuses on those neglected "secondary" victims of abuse: the congregation, the wider community, other clergy, the wider Church, the offender's family, and the pastor who must take over for an offending pastor. An "intervention model" provides each of these six victim groups sound principles and suggestions that can be applied to most situations. Case studies and first-person testimonies appear throughout the work and serve to demonstrate the very sensitive nature of the problems faced and the practicality of the solutions offered.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Introduction	vii
Acknowledgments	xv
Part One: Primary Victim-Survivors and Offenders
``. . . that which is hidden will be revealed'' (Luke 12:2)	3	(20)
Margo Maris
Healing for Victims	23	(10)
Phyllis A. Willerscheidt
The Unhealed Wounders	33	(22)
Richard Irons
Katherine Roberts
Part Two: Secondary Victims
Wounded Congregations	55	(20)
Nils Friberg
Understanding Congregational Dynamics	75	(27)
Chilton Knudsen
The Effects of the Misconduct Crisis on Non-offending Clergy	102	(14)
Kevin McDonough
The Effects of Clergy Sexual Misconduct on the Wider Church	116	(24)
Harold Hopkins
The Offender's Family	140	(15)
Ann Legg
Derek Legg
Afterpastors in Troubled Congregations	155	(10)
Darlene K. Haskin
Further Issues for Afterpastors	165	(8)
Nancy Myer Hopkins
Communicating with the Wider Community	173	(11)
Mary Lou Lavallee
One Reporter's Story	184	(17)
Roxanne Moore Saucier
Part Three: Intervention and Long-Term Healing
Living Through the Crisis	201	(31)
Nancy Myer Hopkins
Long-Term Healing	232	(19)
Mark Laaser
Conclusion	251	(3)
Contributors	254