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The below statement was given by Richard Hayes Phillips during the Survivor Speak Out sponsored by SNAP, The Army of Survivors, and Together 4 Girls on April 8 World Day for Prevention. We are grateful to Richard for sharing his story with us and hope it inspires other survivors to come forward and find their own path towards healing, prevention, and justice.

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

This past week, I stumbled across a movie called “Compliance”. It is a deeply disturbing film about how far someone will go to obey an authority figure. What makes it even more disturbing is that it is based on fact. You don’t know this until the end, however, when you find out that what happens in the movie has taken place over 70 times in 30 different states. For real.

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

Well, last week we found out that most people are somewhat happy. That’s good. This week we are polling people about their sense of paranoia.

We discussed this a bit in our weekly meeting and one person suggested using a site called “Delete Me” which is supposed to track and delete your information that is collected on-line. He said there is a fee of $129.00 a year for this service. I’m not recommending this site. As with any site, use caution. I just wanted to pass that information along to anyone who may be uncomfortable with the stuff that people can find on them.

Along the way, I have heard from people who have had to pull up roots because of their abuse by the church. And they don’t just fear the clergy. Some people have been harassed by fine church-going people in their neighborhood.

At their annual meeting held in Lourdes, French bishops have expressed their shame and accepted responsibility for the decades of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests.  However they offer only "financial compensation" to victims while rejecting the legally fraught notions of compensation or reparation.

The French support group  "Stop aux Violences Sexuelles" has since 2013 put in place fencing workshops for survivors of sexual abuse based on the principle of "therapeutic transference".   This document describes the program with a view to its adoption/adaptation in other countries. 

The New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-Based Institutions is conducting its Faith-Based Redress Hearing - Phase Two, from March 15 to 29, 2021. Witnesses for Faith-based institutions will give evidence before the Commission on their processes for resolving historic and current abuse claims.

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.