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This blog was written by Adults Sexually Abused by Priests (ASAP)

Last year, I summoned up the strength to set up an appointment with the Victim’s Advocate at the Diocese. It was my first time back in the building since I had been fired three plus years before. I still carried memories of being escorted out of the building inside the pit of my stomach. I was afraid of running into someone I knew while walking into the main entrance (which is now securely locked with an inside glass door that requires admission from the front desk before being granted access). I was afraid that I might see someone in the elevator. I was afraid of the judgmental glares I might receive or of someone spotting me and calling the police. I was afraid of what the people I used to know who used to love me might have been told about me.

The independent commission on sexual abuse set up by the French Catholic Church estimates that at least  3,000 people have  been victimized by abusive priests since the 1950s.   The real number could be closer to 10,000 according to other sources.

Rete l'Abuso ("Abuse Network"), the Italian equivalent of SNAP, together with Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) organized a Webinar on Feb 20  to report on the struggle to bring the Catholic Church to account in Italy. 

This blog was written by Adults Sexually Abused by Priests (ASAP)

I am going to start off this week with an email that I sent to follow up with the Diocese. I had a face-to-face meeting with Mr. J., who is the go-between/screener for the bishop, and later on had a Zoom meeting with Mr. J., the bishop, and another SNAP member. Having had six months pass since that meeting, and having not heard a word about anything at all, I decided to follow up. Here is the email:

This blog was written by Adults Sexually Abused by Priests (ASAP)

The following was sent to me by a survivor who wanted to tell their story. I must warn you that it is upsetting and may trigger some unpleasant emotions.

We are delighted to announce that Ribera Law Firm of San Francisco, California, has become a Gold Level Sponsor for each of SNAP’s 2021 virtual mini-conferences. Each one of these four one-day conferences is free to attendees and will provide new resources for support of and education to our audience of advocates, sexual abuse survivors, and their families.

This blog was written by Adults Sexually Abused by Priests (ASAP)

Have you ever had someone betray you? Of course, you have, or you most likely would not be reading this. But there are certain relationships that we go back to, even when we have been hurt or betrayed. People who we have bonded with and who we love. That would be family.

France is sometimes called the "Church's eldest daughter," a reference to its close association with Catholicism that goes back 1,500 years.   Nevertheless, the Church's power and influence dropped after the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, a time that ushered in an era of strict separation between the Church and State.  

This blog was written by Adults Sexually Abused by Priests (ASAP)

Lent will be upon us soon. Holy days bring with them many memories and feelings. I was abused as an adult as many of us were, so I was able to keep the fairy tale of a holy institution of a church and infallible people living in human form until I was much older.