Thursday, November 15, 2018

THE EFFECTS OF INDUCED ABORTION ON THE PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND RELATIONAL HEALTH OF WOMEN (AND MEN?)

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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In each case, please go to the link for the complete article.

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In considering abortion as an option, it is good to remember that LOVE UNLEASHES LIFE.

 THE EFFECTS OF INDUCED ABORTION

PHYSICAL HEALTH

Induced abortion, whether chemical or surgical, is a trauma for the hormonal system, which is all geared for pregnancy, this when hormonal balance is an important basis of global health. The violence required to tear out and dismember the child in no way compares to spontaneous abortion, where the child dies of natural causes, and the link that unites the baby’s body to its mother’s is much weaker, not to say non-existent. The violence of induced abortion can easily cause lesions, scarring, perforations and hemorrhaging, all the way to generalized poisoning. All of the preceding can cause fertility problems, amongst other consequences. 

If full-term pregnancy represents too much of a threat to a woman’s life or health, then there will need to be recourse to Cesarean delivery. No need to take the child’s life.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND RELATIONAL HEALTH

However, even if there are no negative impacts from the abortion on a woman's physical health or fertility and ability to conceive again; the sheer violence of the induced abortion cannot do otherwise than at the very least give a woman pause to reconsider and experience regrets. 

One can expect normal feelings of loss and grief over a miscarried or stillborn child; however there would generally be little if any cause to feel guilty or responsible.

We cannot say the same for an induced abortion, which is a deliberate choice, decision, and act on the part of a woman and of the man, whether or not he supports her in the decision or abandons her to her own resources to make a decision about her pregnancy all on her own. 

The thousands of women registered in post-abortion healing programs throughout the world often report that induced abortion has left them frigid, cold, distant and aggressive, as well as depressed and even suicidal, many attempting in vain to drown their pain through substance abuse. Their couple was not able to resist this post-abortion syndrome. Many had recourse to induced abortion to try to save their relationship, but induced abortion ended up destroying it, as well as their capacity to start a new one.

Some have recourse to induced abortion in an attempt to dissimulate an affair. But women attest that keeping secrets, i.e. the affair and the abortion, are a heavy load to bear. They realize that the golden rule for family relations is indeed true: “The more secrets there are in a family, the more dysfunctional it becomes”. A secret is a weed that grows and spreads over time and that always ends up suffocating both the one keeping the secrets and the one secrets are kept from. Whether we like it or not, honesty will always be the best policy. But without secrets, soap operas could not last very long, could they?!

Revealing an affair is difficult, but hiding it, is even more difficult. If we do not feel ready to welcome this child as our own, then there will always be open, semi-open or closed adoption. Bringing a pregnancy to term is difficult, but bearing the physical and psychological consequences of induced abortion, is even more difficult. It is an illusion to think that seeking to divest oneself of the consequences of one’s actions can lead to happiness… It is also an illusion to think that going against nature and life is a good strategy for happiness and well-being.

An equally debilitating consequence of abortion is likely experienced by the men who were glad to be there for the fertilization - whether intended or not - but who at the first sign of "trouble" upon hearing the news that she is pregnant, "run for the hills" and abandon the woman, leaving her high and dry to face the consequences of her pregnancy alone, on her own, without his support or sympathy. The Creator designed woman, in her natural capacity to give life and nurture it, to be cherished and cared for, accompanied and supported by man. Whenever a man fails to rise to the occasion to "be there" for woman, he is profoundly diminished in his identity and self-worth. We can undoubtedly observe the negative consequences of "denatured men" in relation to many of our society's social ills and troubles. 

There do not appear to be many studies, if any, of the consequences experienced or suffered by men who participate actively or passively, by abandoning the woman, in procuring an induced abortion. 

Here follow a few glimpses of the kinds of research that has been done and continues to be done on these issues, which are of such importance and consequence for women, men, and society. 

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Please follow the links to go to the original sources of these published studies. 

Abortions happen in the lives of real people... apparently one in three women in the U.S.A. have had at least one abortion by age 45. Here are a few of the stories these women wanted to publish on the Internet.... https://nymag.com/news/features/abortion-stories-2013-11/

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NCBI Resources PMC US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

 2018; 6: 2050312118807624.
Published online 2018 Oct 29. doi: 10.1177/2050312118807624



Conclusion 

While there will continue to be differences of opinion between AMH minimalists and AMH proponents, there is sufficient common ground upon which to build future efforts to improve research and meaningful re-analyses. Common ground exists regarding the very basic fact that at least some women do have significant mental health issues that are caused, triggered, aggravated, or complicated by their abortion experience. In many cases, this may be due to feeling pressured into an abortion or choosing an abortion without sufficient attention to maternal desires or moral beliefs that may make it difficult to reconcile one’s choice with one’s self-identity.

There is also common ground regarding the fact that risk factors identifying women who are at greater risk, including a history of prior mental illness, can be used to identify women who may benefit from more pre-abortion and post-abortion counseling. Additional research regarding risk factors, and indicators identifying when abortion may be most likely to produce the benefits sought by women without negative consequences, can and should be conducted through major longitudinal prospective studies.

Finally, there is common ground on the need for better research. That fact alone is a strong argument for mixed research teams, collaboration in the design of longitudinal studies available for analysis by any researcher (without ideological screenings), data sharing and more responsive cooperation in responding to requests for reanalysis. All of these steps will help to provide healthcare workers with more accurate information for screening, risk–benefits assessments, and for offering better care and information to women both before and after abortion and other reproductive events.

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Abortion and mental health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David M. Fergusson

Summary

A recent Royal College of Psychiatrists' statement concluded that current evidence on abortion and mental health is inconclusive. This contribution examines the background to the Royal College of Psychiatrists' statement and the issues it raises. It is concluded that the best route to resolving such issues is through further and better research.

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NCBI Resources PMC US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

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GUTTMACHER  INSTITUTE
Abortion and Mental Health: Myths and Realities
Susan A. Cohen

First published online: August 1, 2006

HELPING WOMEN COPE AFTER HAVING AN ABORTION

To be sure, it is not unusual for a woman to experience a range of often contradictory emotions after having an abortion, just as it would not be unusual for a woman who carried her unintended pregnancy to term. It was not until recently, however, that a specialized organization was formed with the purpose to provide postabortion counseling in a nonjudgmental context. Founded in 2000 in Oakland, California, Exhale operates a national telephone hotline by which trained, volunteer peer counselors help women who have had abortions, as well as their partners and families, talk through their feelings, immediately after an abortion or even years later.

Exhale “believe[s] there is no ‘right’ way to feel after an abortion. We also know that feelings of happiness, sadness, empowerment, anxiety, grief, relief or guilt are common.” Executive Director Aspen Baker suggests that giving women an outlet for discussing their feelings—whatever they may be—is a healthy part of the process toward emotional well-being. Baker has observed that a woman’s negative emotions after an abortion may be due, at least in part, to the reaction of her partner or to those of family members, who might condemn or exclude her for having an abortion or for becoming pregnant to begin with. Exhale is helping to remove the stigma surrounding having an abortion, so that women and their support networks are better equipped to cope with their feelings—an essential part of the process that until recently may not have received as much attention as it deserves.

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The course of mental health after miscarriage and induced abortion: a longitudinal, five-year follow-up study

Abstract

Background

Miscarriage and induced abortion are life events that can potentially cause mental distress. The objective of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the patterns of normalization of mental health scores after these two pregnancy termination events.

Methods

Forty women who experienced miscarriages and 80 women who underwent abortions at the main hospital of Buskerud County in Norway were interviewed. All subjects completed the following questionnaires 10 days (T1), six months (T2), two years (T3) and five years (T4) after the pregnancy termination: Impact of Event Scale (IES), Quality of Life, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and another addressing their feelings about the pregnancy termination. Differential changes in mean scores were determined by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and inter-group differences were assessed by ordinary least squares methods.

Results

Women who had experienced a miscarriage had more mental distress at 10 days and six months after the pregnancy termination than women who had undergone an abortion. However, women who had had a miscarriage exhibited significantly quicker improvement on IES scores for avoidance, grief, loss, guilt and anger throughout the observation period. Women who experienced induced abortion had significantly greater IES scores for avoidance and for the feelings of guilt, shame and relief than the miscarriage group at two and five years after the pregnancy termination (IES avoidance means: 3.2 vs 9.3 at T3, respectively, p < 0.001; 1.5 vs 8.3 at T4, respectively, p < 0.001). Compared with the general population, women who had undergone induced abortion had significantly higher HADS anxiety scores at all four interviews (p < 0.01 to p < 0.001), while women who had had a miscarriage had significantly higher anxiety scores only at T1 (p < 0.01).

Conclusion

The course of psychological responses to miscarriage and abortion differed during the five-year period after the event. Women who had undergone an abortion exhibited higher scores during the follow-up period for some outcomes. The difference in the courses of responses may partly result from the different characteristics of the two pregnancy termination events.

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The Linacre Quarterly Volume 72 | Number 1 Article 9 February 2005 Long-Term Physical and Psychological Health Consequences of Induced Abortion: A Review of the Evidence John M. Thorp Katherine E. Hartmann Elizabeth Shadigan

Given the central role that abortion has played in the lives of women over the past thirty years, we are distressed by the lack of term-term, welldone research designed to understand the sequelae. A clear and overwhelming need exists for a large epidemiologic, cohort study of women with an unintended or crisis pregnancy. Follow-up across participants' lifetimes with careful measurement of other pertinent exposures would dramatically advance knowledge. Until such an investigation is invested in, women are making important health decisions with incomplete information. A commitment to such research would seem to us to be morally neutral common ground upon which both sides of the abortion/choice debate would agree is critical.  

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THE IMPACT OF ABORTION ON WOMEN
HEARING before the SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SPACE
of the COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED
STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION
MARCH 3, 2004
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 21-303 PDF WASHINGTON : 2016

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Pope Francis: Abortion is like hiring a hitman

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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Pope Francis: Abortion is like hiring a hitman By Courtney Grogan Vatican City, Oct 10, 2018


Pope Francis kisses a child at the general audience on Oct. 10. Credit: Daniel Ibanez.

In his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis said that abortion “suppresses innocent and helpless life in its blossoming.”

“Is it right to take a human life to solve a problem? It's like hiring a hitman,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 10, in a departure from his prepared remarks.

“Violence and the rejection of life are born from fear,” the pope added.

For this reason, parents who learn that their unborn child will have a disability need “real closeness, true solidarity to face reality; overcoming understandable fears,” he explained.

Pope Francis lamented that parents receiving a difficult prenatal diagnosis often “receive hasty advice to stop the pregnancy.”

It is contradictory to suppress “human life in the womb in the name of safeguarding other rights,” the pope insisted.

“How can an act that suppresses innocent and helpless life in its blossoming be therapeutic, civil, or simply human?”

The pope’s remarks on abortion came during a reflection on the fifth commandment, “Thou shall not kill.” In recent weeks, the pope has dedicated his weekly general audiences to a series of lesson and reflections on the Ten Commandments recorded in the scriptural books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.

“One could say that all the evil done in the world is summarized in this: contempt for life,” Pope Francis told the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“What leads man to reject life? They are the idols of this world: money, power, success. These are incorrect parameters to evaluate life. The only authentic measure of life is love, the love with which God loves it!”

The positive meaning of the fifth commandment is that “God is a lover of life,” he continued.

“In every sick child, in every weak old man, in every desperate migrant, in every fragile and threatened life, Christ is looking for us, he is looking for our heart, to disclose the joy of love. It is worthwhile to accept every life because every man is worth the blood of Christ. We can not despise what God so loved!” Pope Francis said.

While a sick child or an elderly person who needs assistance can be viewed as a burden, this can actually be “a gift from God,” explained the pope. This vulnerable life can “pull me out of self-centeredness and make me grow in love.”

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Sunday, September 30, 2018

L'AVORTEMENT PROVOQUÉ ET LA CONTRACEPTION - LES EFFETS / THE EFFECTS OF ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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Droit de savoir - Avortement et contraception / Abortion and contraception - Right to Know

LES EFFETS DE L’AVORTEMENT PROVOQUÉ

SANTÉ PHYSIQUE

L’avortement provoqué, par voie chimique ou chirurgicale, est un traumatisme pour le système hormonal, qui lui, est tout orienté vers la grossesse. Or, l’équilibre hormonal est un fondement important de la santé globale. La violence requise pour arracher et démembrer le bébé ne se compare aucunement à un avortement spontané, dans lequel cas le bébé meurt de causes naturelles, et le lien qui unit le bébé au corps de sa mère est alors beaucoup plus faible, pour ne pas dire inexistant. La violence de l’avortement provoqué peut facilement causer lésions, cicatrices, perforations, hémorragies et infections, lesquelles peuvent aller jusqu’ à l’empoisonnement généralisé. Voilà qui peut poser problème pour la fécondité ultérieure, entre autres. Si le fait de mener une grossesse à terme pose problème pour la santé d’une femme, il y aura toujours la possibilité de césarienne. Nul besoin d’enlever la vie à l’enfant pour autant.

SANTÉ PSYCHOLOGIQUE ET RELATIONNELLE

Les milliers de femmes qui ont subi l’avortement provoqué et qui sont inscrites dans les programmes de guérison post-avortement témoignent souvent que l’avortement les a laissées frigides, froides, distantes et agressives, en plus d’être déprimées et même suicidaires, plusieurs tentant en vain de noyer le mal par l’abus de substances de toutes sortes. Leur relation amoureuse n’a pas pu résister à ce syndrome post-traumatique. Elles avaient, pour plusieurs, recouru à l’avortement pour sauver leur relation, mais l’avortement a fini par la détruire, ainsi que leur capacité d’en nouer une nouvelle.

Il peut arriver qu’on ait recours à l’avortement pour tenter de dissimuler une liaison extra-conjugale. Mais les femmes témoignent que le secret, tant de la liaison que de l’avortement, est lourd à porter. Elles se rendent compte que la règle d’or en matière de relations familiales est bel et bien exacte : « Plus il y a de secrets dans une famille, plus celle-ci est dysfonctionnelle. » Un secret, c’est une mauvaise herbe qui ne fait que grandir avec le temps et qui finit toujours par étouffer tant ceux qui le cachent que ceux de qui il est caché. Qu’on le veuille ou non, l’honnêteté sera toujours la meilleure option (« Honesty is the best policy »). Mais sans les secrets, les romans savons ne pourraient pas perdurer, n’est-ce pas ?!

Révéler une aventure, c’est difficile, mais la cacher, ça l’est encore plus. Si on ne se sent pas prêt à accueillir cet enfant comme le sien, alors il y aura toujours l’adoption, ouverte, semi-ouverte ou fermée. Mener une grossesse à terme, c’est difficile, mais porter les séquelles physiques et psychologiques de l’avortement provoqué, ça l’est encore plus. Il est illusoire de penser que de chercher à se déresponsabiliser des conséquences de ses actes puisse mener au bonheur… Il est aussi illusoire de penser que le fait d’aller contre la vie et la nature soit une bonne stratégie de bonheur et de bien-être.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Saturday, September 8, 2018

Archbishop Lépine: No refuge in the Church for sex assault perpetrators & "BREAKING THE SILENCE" - Claude Ryan Lecture, Newman Centre, McGill University

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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BREAKING THE SILENCE ABOUT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: PROMOTING SAFER PLACES FOR OUR CHILDREN TO GROW - Claude Ryan Lecture at Newman Centre, McGill University, February 12th, 2015 by Dr. Delphine Collin-Vezina, Director, Centre for Research on Children and Families, Tier II Canada Reserach Chair in Child Welfare, Associate Professor, McGill University

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Archbishop Lépine: No refuge in the Church for sex assault perpetrators – "Under my leadership, the Archdiocese of Montreal  ... wish to contribute humbly to the process of justice and healing."


CHRISTIAN LÉPINE, SPECIAL TO MONTREAL GAZETTE        Updated: September 8, 2018

No one can remain indifferent to the turmoil experienced by the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of some members of the Catholic clergy during past decades. On this continent and elsewhere, reports related to abuse and cover-ups have multiplied, hurting us all, irrespective of our faith or our belief.

As archbishop, the impact of these scandals weighs heavily upon me, all the more because this abuse was committed mainly by men in positions of moral authority who pledged to live according to the high standards set out in the Gospel. Such a situation arising within the Church understandably undermines the faith of sincere believers and erodes public trust in this institution.

In expressing his shame and pain recently, Pope Francis is showing us the way forward. The Holy Father states that “looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient.” He, therefore, is calling upon the bishops, the priests and all Catholics to make every effort to ensure not only that such incidents never happen again, but also that they are never concealed, by anyone.

Acknowledging that sexual assault is both a grave moral aberration and a crime, we must take decisive action to ensure that sexual aggressors do not use the Church as a refuge where they can operate secretly, thinking they are sheltered from both civil and Church justice.

We must, therefore, put words into action, beginning by accompanying victims, with the utmost care, assisting them both in their personal journey and in approaching law enforcement authorities. But in addition to the pursuit of justice, we must unequivocally send out a clear message that we will never accept that such crimes could be committed and remain concealed.

It is deeply sad to note that, for far too long, the Church hierarchy had failed to prevent sexual abuse and to address and rectify the known abuses quickly and effectively. That is why, more than two decades ago, the Catholic Church of Canada voted to condemn such reprehensible acts and take concrete action. National guidelines for the protection of minors were put in place across the country. And as was announced in a statement Aug. 20 by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, “This fall, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops will launch updated and expanded guidelines promoting the safeguarding of minors and increasing accountability and transparency within Church leadership.”

Throughout Canada, bishops are earnestly dealing with the issue. In Montreal, we had already established a Department for Responsible Pastoral Ministry to ensure a safe, responsible and healthy environment within the archdiocese. This has led us to adopt a strict policy regarding abusive behaviour, whether physical, psychological or sexual.

Under my leadership, the Archdiocese of Montreal is determined to get to the bottom of things in the search for truth, and we renew our commitment to ensure that each and every person who calls upon us is received with compassion and respect, and guided, accordingly, to the appropriate authorities. We wish to contribute humbly to the process of justice and healing.

In this respect, we will abide by the words of Jesus: “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8)

Christian Lépine is Roman Catholic archbishop of Montreal.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/archbishop-lepine-no-refuge-in-the-church-for-sex-assault-perpetrators

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Abus sexuels dans l'Église catholique – Lettre ouverte de l'archevêque de Montréal: Une douleur entendue             Présence information religieuse    2018-09-10 Québec

L'archevêque de Montréal, Christian Lépine, se prononce sur l'actuelle crise entourant les abus sexuels dans l'Église.   (Archives Présence/François Gloutnay)

*Présence publie des documents et des lettres ouvertes en lien avec l'actualité. Voici une lettre que l'archevêque de Montréal, Mgr Christian Lépine, a acheminée au quotidien The Gazette et à lapresse.ca.

Une douleur entendue

Nul ne peut être indifférent à l’épreuve qu’ont traversée les victimes de certains membres du clergé catholique ces dernières décennies. Ici comme ailleurs, des témoignages d’abus se sont multipliés et nous affligent tous, quelle que soit notre foi.

Comme archevêque, j’y vois un scandale d’autant plus grand que les agressions commises l’ont été principalement par des hommes en position d’autorité morale qui se devaient de vivre selon les plus hautes vertus évangéliques. On comprend qu’une telle situation dans l’Église ébranle la foi des croyants sincères et entache la confiance des citoyens envers notre institution.

En exprimant récemment sa honte et sa douleur, le pape François nous trace le chemin à suivre. Le Saint-Père affirme que «considérant le passé, ce que l’on peut faire pour demander pardon et réparation du dommage causé ne sera jamais suffisant». Il invite donc les évêques, les prêtres et l’ensemble des fidèles à tout mettre en œuvre pour que non seulement de telles situations ne se reproduisent plus jamais, mais aussi pour qu’elles ne puissent être dissimulées par qui que ce soit.

Faire la vérité

Partant du fait que les agressions sexuelles sont des fautes morales très graves et des crimes, nous devons jouer un rôle actif pour que les agresseurs ne trouvent pas refuge dans notre Église pour opérer dans le secret et penser s’y mettre à l’abri de la justice ecclésiale et civile.

Il faut donc passer de la parole au geste, en commençant par accompagner avec le plus grand soin une victime, dans son cheminement et ses démarches auprès des autorités policières. Mais au-delà de cette quête de justice, nous soutenons le message clair que nous n’accepterons jamais que de tels crimes soient commis et restent dans l’ombre.

Il est navrant de constater que, trop souvent, la hiérarchie ecclésiale n’a pas su prévenir les agressions et en rectifier rapidement et efficacement les dérives. C’est pourquoi, il y a plus de deux décennies, l’Église canadienne s’est prononcée pour condamner les actes répréhensibles et prendre des mesures concrètes. Des lignes directrices nationales pour la protection des personnes mineures avaient alors été mises en place. «Cet automne, la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada lancera une édition mise à jour et enrichie de ces lignes directrices afin de promouvoir la protection des personnes mineures et d’accroître la responsabilisation et la transparence chez les responsables de l’Église.»

Prévenir

Partout au pays, les évêques prennent la question très au sérieux. Ainsi, à Montréal,, nous avons mis sur pied un service diocésain de pastorale responsable visant à assurer un environnement sain et sécuritaire au sein de l’archidiocèse. Cela nous a amenés à nous doter d’une politique stricte en matière de comportements abusifs de nature physique, psychologique ou sexuelle.

Sous ma direction, l’archidiocèse de Montréal veut aller au fond des choses dans la recherche de la vérité et renouvèle son engagement à ce que toute personne qui fait appel à nous soit accueillie avec compassion et respect puis guidée vers les autorités compétentes. Nous souhaitons ainsi contribuer humblement au processus de justice et de guérison.

En cela, nous nous conformerons aux paroles de Jésus : «Car quiconque demande reçoit, celui qui cherche trouve, et l'on ouvre à celui qui frappe» (Matthieu 7, 8).

Mgr Christian Lépine
Archevêque de Montréal

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Thursday, August 16, 2018

Where is Jesus in the midst of the Church's sex abuse crisis?

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There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7 
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik

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Where is Jesus in the midst of the Church's sex abuse crisis? By Courtney Grogan  Washington D.C., Aug 16, 2018 


Crucifix. Credit: Lucia Ballester/CNA.

Fr. Thomas Berg is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, a former Legionary of Christ, and professor of moral theology, vice rector, and director of admissions at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, NY.  He is author of Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics. He spoke recently with CNA’s Courtney Grogan about the challenges Catholics face amid the Church’s sexual abuse and misconduct scandals. The interview is below, edited for clarity and length.

With everything that has been coming out in the news recently about sexual abuse in the Church, how do you think that your book, “Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics,” could be helpful?

In the wake of the McCarrick scandal and ongoing revelations of priest sexual abuse, a very common reaction is one of betrayal. That's what I have heard a lot of from persons who have reached out to me, especially persons who for years have collaborated with bishops, worked in chanceries, worked for bishops, collaborated in apostolates, have headed-up bishop’s capital campaigns, have been donors and so on. Part of the very common experience is this raw emotional wound of betrayal.

Much of my book speaks directly to that experience. That's where I really hope that persons who are going through that betrayal, profound discouragement, disappointment, the bewilderment of the moral failures of bishops, who either failed to report what they should have reported or did not act on what was reported to them. That is scandalous and that opens up a wound of betrayal really in the whole mystical body. I very much believe that the book can, hopefully, point to where is the good news in this -- Where is the hope in this? Where is Jesus in the midst of this crisis?

Where is Jesus in the midst of this crisis?

Jesus is the healer of wounds, and Jesus does not leave the members of his mystical body without healing when we seek it. We are in the midst of a massive crisis, notwithstanding some resistance to that idea by some of our prelates. And those wounds are opened up. This is where not only can Jesus bring healing, but he can also use that experience of woundedness, whether that is personally or institutionally or spiritually as the body of Christ. He uses those wounds to bring greater good, to bring grace and healing to His Church.

Part of what I do in the book is just to reflect, often with these individuals [victims of abuse] and sometimes in their own words, on this mystery that the Jesus who comes into this experience is Jesus who appeared with his glorious wounds. The wounds were still there. The wounds are mystically important and we can unite our wounds to Jesus and allow him to unite those in a mystical way, in a redemptive way to His redemptive work.

So, where is Jesus in all of this? Jesus is continuing in the midst of our brokenness, in the midst of the utter moral failures of our pastors, in the midst of our own sinfulness and brokenness. The risen Good Shepherd comes with his glorious wounds by which he intends to bring about healing in his Church and to bring about a much greater good and a much more glorious future precisely in and through the tragedies that we are experiencing.

We will also experience this in a much more glorious and beautiful day for the Church in the future, and certainly for the Church when all time has been consummated and we are all, by God's grace, caught up in the glory of the heavenly kingdom.

You discuss in the book how uprooting a betrayal of trust can be and how we really need to be grounded in Christ's love. What are some concrete ways that Catholics can really root themselves in Christ's love and find that grounding in a time when they might feel destabilized in the Church?

First, very practical immediate answer: Eucharistic adoration. No doubt about it. That was essentially my homily when we were talking two weeks ago about the McCarrick thing from the pulpit. It means, as always in crisis, we need to be earnestly and deeply seeking the Lord by frequenting Eucharistic adoration and intensifying one's life of prayer. In my own story, I had to go on retreat. I had to just go take some time to just be by myself to get that down to the solid foundation of what did I stand on. What was the foundation that everything that I believed stood on?

What one can come to in those experiences is that experience of Jesus -- the experience that our risen and glorious Lord still stands present in the midst of our lives. He is there. When we are hurting, we need to do whatever it takes: adoration, retreat, increased prayer, asceticism, solid spiritual reading, all of the things that we can avail ourselves of God's grace to re-experience ourselves as rooted and grounded in His love. God has a very big safety net for us and it is that reality of being truly rooted and grounded in Him and in His love that encompasses us.

It is just that when we are hurting, when we are scandalized, when we are angry, when we are experiencing all of this emotional turbulence, it is just -- it takes time and prayer and I think a lot of coming to silence and coming to quiet to get through that and to realize that our Lord is still there. Our Lord is still holding his hands out to us. Our Lord is still there to embrace us and pick us up and guide us and help us to move forward.

What would you say to the priest who just doesn't know how to address this from the pulpit, who is dealing with his own feelings of hurt and confusion, and maybe is on the fence about whether he should address it in a homily?

I think that the best thing that priest can do is to talk about that in his homily. It is emotionally exhausting for most of us. It is heartbreaking. When I preached a couple of weekends ago, I got emotional. I think it is very healing and good if priests allow themselves to feel and show that emotion. Feel and show how personally upsetting it is. If a priest is angry, tell your people, 'Yeah, I'm angry too, and you should be angry.' It should start there.

It is absolutely essential that this is addressed. No priest should be waiting for some directive from his bishop. I would hope that across the country most priests have already addressed this from the pulpit. If not, it absolutely has to happen.

People are very angry right now, and I do not think that they are identifying that anger as a hurt. Many people are channeling their anger into what needs to change in the Church. Some channel it at specific people in the Church.

You address healthy anger in the book, and I want to hear your thoughts on it in this context. What would you say to people who are very angry?

There is certainly such a thing as just anger. I would hope that most of the anger that what most committed Catholics are experiencing right now is precisely that -- “just anger.” I have experienced a good deal of bit of it in the past few weeks. Hopefully that anger does get channelled into good positive, action steps that I think Catholics are taking. But people should also be very honest with themselves: This hurts. I think that our brothers and sisters who are going through this right now, and they are many, need to own up to that.

That is a very healthy starting point to getting to a better place. In this context, it is an important part of rightly channeling our energies and our reactions prayerfully and in docility to the Holy Spirit. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to come fully into that experience of hurt in this ecclesial context.

The immediate victims of McCarrick, those who have suffered sexual exploitation, they are hurt in a very unique way, but in some sense this has inflicted a hurt on all of us. And those who failed, those who enabled him, those who pulled him up the ecclesiastical ladder, if they did so with knowledge of his sexual predation, that inflicts a real emotional hurt on all of us, and we should just admit that.

Many Catholics first faced these initial feelings of betrayal, shock, bewilderment in 2002. After positive steps forward like the Dallas Charter, these Catholics found some consolation in the fact that the Church had made positive changes. Now there are layers of hurt there, particularly the hurt of thinking that things were better and then discovering that they are not.

The Church might not change in our lifetimes. Reform in the Church takes so long. The Church is very good at reforming herself, but it can take centuries sometimes. I'm worried for people who are looking for a quick fix.

I think that you are hitting at the heart of the problem. One thing that we are being faced with in this crisis is the reality that effective change within the Church takes a very, very long time. Even within organizations, people talk about changing the internal culture of a business, even that in itself can take a long time.

First of all, there is no reason why we cannot continue to take genuine pride in the programs that have been set in place with the sacrifice and dedication by the way of hundreds of lay Catholic men and women who have jumped into this breach and who have instituted requirements for background checks, safe environment training, safe environment programs, who serve the Church as sexual abuse assistance coordinators in dioceses (these are people who deal one on one especially with victims of clergy sexual abuse.) So we have every reason frankly to be confident that we are in a much better place then we were 15 years ago to protect our children. There is no reason to doubt that.

What people are still reeling from, and this has been the real revelation, is that there has been, especially within the episcopacy, there has been an internal culture which allowed -- and I am not faulting all bishops here, but McCarrick is the child of an old boys school mentality, a culture where bishops too often understood themselves as members of this kind of privileged caste who used power and authority to manipulate and frankly to bring about all kind of harms and hurts in people's lives. Bishops have sadly often been the perpetrators of much of the hurt that has been experienced on many levels and in many forms in the Church. And that is a sickly culture and it has to change.

The Church desperately needs a healing in its episcopacy. This is very much a crisis of the episcopacy. The current ethos is in so many ways it is failing us. It is failing the Church. What we have is, in far too many cases, a kind of managerial approach. Bishops simply seek to manage, to contain, to bureaucratize our apostolates, and that is not a culture where the Church is going to thrive.

Is that going to change anytime soon? No, but I think that we have an opportunity. This crisis is putting a spotlight on that problematic culture within the episcopate. I think that we can be hopeful for some kind of change, maybe even sea change. There are good and holy bishops out there who are as incensed about this as you or I or any of us are. It is my prayer and hope that they will begin to exercise some very kind of unprecedented leadership within the body of bishops and certainly within their own dioceses.

So what do Catholics do meanwhile? Well, we are challenged to exercise the supernatural virtue of hope. We are challenged to believe that that kind of change, if it is meant to be, will take time, but we have to support every bishop who shows signs that they are getting it. We have to support every bishop who shows signs that they understand and that they are taking unprecedented steps towards transparency, toward addressing even the faults of their own brother bishops.

We need to be supportive and helpful, and I guess that is a long way of saying that we need to hang in there and trust in the Holy Spirit. Change does take a long time in the Church. We are called to continue to exercise hope and it is by sustaining hope and sustaining a healthy pressure on the bishops that can bring about some really positive change here, maybe faster than we think.

As outrageous as it is, I can imagine the temptation a leader might feel to keep something so scandalous secret, to think that they were protecting Catholics from scandal by a sort of false charity, if you will. How does a leader find the courage or strength to come forward with the truth after they have covered up?

In the context of the Church, bishops who get it have come to understand that the scandal has been the supposed effort to “avoid scandal.” The scandal has been covering this stuff up. The scandal has been keeping this stuff quiet.

This is what I always tell our seminarians. Transparency is your friend. Light and truth are our friends. Institutionally, I think that we are understanding that. In the context of seminary formation, I really believe earnestly that the vast majority of our men understand that. And I think understanding that also makes it easier to come clean when there has been a failure of any sort. In a sense, it all boils down to the old adage, 'Honesty is the best policy.'

Obviously, when you are talking about something as complex as sexual abuse and exploitation, that is obviously much more complex because sometimes you are dealing with victims who desire to remain anonymous.

It takes an enormous amount of courage for victims of abuse to come forward and go public. That's been 1 sad part of this whole tragedy. It is so difficult. The courage there is just amazing sometimes. I think the message of what we are learning in the sexual abuse crisis is that transparency is the only way to go. Honestly trying to protect the requirements of justice and people's reputations is a difficult balance and it definitely requires that transparency.

What do you recommend for those who are specifically dealing with disillusionment? How do Catholics keep their eyes open to the truth without totally succumbing to cynicism?

I think that the level of cynicism and disillusionment right now is off the charts. You know people often use that image of having a bandage ripped off a wound. I don't think that we have yet healed from -- I know we haven't healed from 2002. This isn't having a bandage ripped off. This is having that wound ripped open and stamped on.

I'm fully expecting that the level of disillusionment and just shear kind of numb confusion is going to be a very common experience. I think that there will be different outcomes. I hope that Catholics can believe that there is a way forward here, especially committed Catholics. It leads you to question your faith. I have been there. I have had that experience. The more you expose yourself to this, the more faith is going to be severely challenged.

I would just hope though that Catholics can understand that Jesus can lead them through that fire. He can lead us through this fire and make it a purifying fire, so that we can emerge from this really sad and really critical chapter of crisis in the Church, that we can emerge from this as stronger disciples and more committed Catholic Christians.

What transformation the Holy Spirit brings about, I hope we could no matter how hard this is, I hope we could kind of look forward to that with a sense of hope and expectation and maybe even the sense that as bad as it is, I want to be a part of what happens now. I want to be a part of the renewal that the Holy Spirit is going to necessarily going to bring about. I want to be a part of the action here. I want to be a part of what the Holy Spirit is going to do now in the Church. I am absolutely convinced that the Holy Spirit is working in and through this crisis in a very real way. I have experienced it myself. I have seen it and I have heard it from others.

We have to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us beyond this very profound disillusionment.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best efforts as human beings to make sense of our lives in general - and of our human sexuality in particular - and to also include the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium; given that the Church has been accumulating the wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7     G.S.

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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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"I worry that my husband may leave me." OR "I am troubled that my wife no longer loves me." What light is there to dispell our darkness from the Wisdom of God revealed in his Eternal Word?

  ---------------------------------------------------------------- There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't...