Topic: Power
Janet Clark, author of Blind Faith, a novel about a young man who is dealing with sexual abuse by a priest and his family who is unusually supportive. A lot of the story models that support for others and shows the value of having it.
For me, the very best line in the book is near the end, when a therapist asks a question that probably goes by most readers. Other than the two who have accompanied the intimidated young Jack into the office, she wants to know who else in the family knows of the abuse.
Fortunately for Jack, the family did not collude. This is a huge strength and not nearly as common as most people would believe. The true story of "Claudia" written into the much larger story in How Little We Knew demonstrates this.
Long ago, I concluded that this may be the best starting place for unravelling a story. I say this because the collusion is what most immobilizes so many. It's what almost immobilized me, for sure! There is so much out there about sexual assault and abuse by clergy now, but so little about collusion.
If one of Jack's close friends or family members had been a strong colluder, this issue would have needed attention before he could even start down the road of discovering and grieving his losses so that he could do the equally important step of rebounding and discovering his enormous strengths.
Otherwise, there would have been a ghost in the therapy room, undermining everything the therapist was trying to do. Disempowering the colluders often takes time, but it cuts to the chase. Disempowering colluders, ideally, should be the job of all clergy who hear of a violation for the very first time. Problem is colluders can't disempower one another.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CDT
