MY PEACE I GIVE YOU
Healing Sexual Wounds With the Help of the Saints
By Dawn Eden
Ave Maria Press, 2012
256 pages, $16.95
To order: avemariapress.com
(800) 282-1865, ext. 1
How do you describe Dawn Eden? Former rock-music writer, chastity expert, theologian, blogger? Or simply a great Jewish-Catholic convert woman writer? Well, I will focus on the last.
Readers are aware of the painful cases of sexual abuse of children and adolescents by homosexual and pedophile priests and religious in the United States and in many countries in Europe as well. It appears that at last the worst is behind us, and the Church is taking proper measures to assure that candidates for the priesthood and religious life are carefully selected for their capacity to live the virtue of chastity. This is not simply a Catholic problem, but a societal one, since ours is a sex-soaked society. In fact, the incidence of child sex abuse is higher proportionally for public-school teachers and Protestant ministers than it is for Catholic priests.
All this makes the need for Eden’s new book, My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds With the Help of the Saints, urgent because, as its subtitle suggests, it is about healing sexual wounds.
Eden herself is a victim of sexual abuse and suffers Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“I am taking a more general perspective, based on my own personal experience as a part of a large population whose needs are not currently being met,” Eden writes. “By far, the largest category of childhood sex-abuse perpetrators are family members, who are responsible for about one-third to one-half of cases. After that (in descending order) come family friends, neighbors, acquaintances and strangers. Given how many American adults report having been sexually abused as children — about one in four in women and one in six in men — such painful memories afflict at least one person in every pew in every parish.”
Eden’s book has an introduction by Mother Mary Agnes Donovan, superior general of the Sisters of Life in New York, an order founded by the great pro-life bishop Cardinal John O’Connor. Much of the book is autobiographical, as she intersperses anecdotes about her own experience of abuse in both childhood and adulthood and her later struggles, which have continued even after her conversion to Catholicism and her largely successful treatment for PTSD.
Much of the rest of the book relates short biographies of well-known Catholics, including saints, who in one way or another suffered sexual abuse or attempts at abuse. Among saints examined are St. Bernard, St. Thomas Aquinas, Blessed Margaret of Castello and St. Maria Goretti (the martyr of holy purity). Eden also includes the story of the great Catholic social worker and activist Dorothy Day, who had an abortion before her conversion.
At the end of the book, Eden provides a useful “Reader’s Guide” for group discussion on the topic, plus bibliography and resources for further reading and investigation.
Given this fine work, the Catholic world expects much more from Eden than what this book only hints at.
Father C.J. McCloskey III is a research fellow
at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington.
Comments
Post a Comment
I have read over half of this book and think it is a wonderful piece of work. Having been abused by a priest and a cradle Catholic continuing to practice, I am being ministered to in a profound way. In particular, I appreciate the author’s educating readers about saints who have suffered abuse of some kind. A challenge in life for me is how to go on, how to fight the depression that medication cannot, and not be angry with God for allowing the abuse that lasted many, many years. Dawn’s book is helping heal my heart as she has introduced me to new friends in heaven.
great. another priest saying the worst is over…and this is not a catholic problem. give me a break.it won’t be over till all priets bishops cardinal and popes are held responsible for either abusing us or covering our abuse. there are about 287 or288 cardinals. how many of them have spoken up about the abuse. none. there are about 40 thousand bishops in the world. how many have spoken out. 3 or 4. there are about 300 thousand priets in the world. how many of them have spoken out against the abuse.5 at the most. no its not over so don’t write an article that it is. more pr from another who is afraid to speak out because he may loose his pension or the adulation from those in the pews who don’t say much either. ‘’ not my priest.’’ no its not over yet
Fr. McCloskey, thank you for your article. The crisis that was exposed in 2002 HOPEFULLY was the worst. We all know this will never be over, that there will always be abusers, and hopefully that number will continue to be much more limited than in the past. Those of us active in the Church are aware of the programs in place that have helped curtail this tremendously. That said, we know that man is sinful and flawed and nothing will stop abuse totally. The same goes for decisions in the heirarchy. They have learned a lot about why it is important to report priests to law inforcement immediately, but they, too, are just men who are sinful and flawed. Nothing is foolproof, and no group can be condemned, but individuals in that group can. Abuse is a Catholic problem, a Protestant problem, a school problem, a sports organizational problem, a societal problem. Children need our protection. Perpetrators and anyone who protects them need to be held accountable. Most importantly, victims whose lives have been forever changed need our prayers. The book you shared helps in that healing process. I recommend it heartily.
To: stanley jezior on Sunday, Nov 4, 2012 1:50 PM
I am sorry if you were abused. However, that does not give you permission to lie about such things.
There is 1 Pope, he has spoken out.
There is only 108 voting Cardinals (not 287 or 288), many have spoken out.
There is only 5,100 Bishops (not 40,000), many have spoken out and almost all have implemented safety programs over the past two decades to protect possible victims and help victims.
There is 410,000 priests, and I know more than five priests personally and all of them have spoken out about the abuses. This is a frequent subject in homilies. To the point of being ad nauseam. This is said from the eyes of a person who has dealt with sexual abuse from an early age.
Teresa, I am sorry to hear that you were abused by a priest. Sorry because of the spiritual havoc this creates in addition to the mental and emotional scars. I have found Dawn’s book to be a source of hope. Although the abuse I’ve suffered was not from a priest, it was from people who I trusted with direct spiritual care. Taking this to a priest has been terrifying, yet because the abuse didn’t take place within the Church, I believe I have just
enough distance to assist with some of the healing. I cannot imagine what abuse by a priest does to one’s ability to trust again as a practicing Catholic. It grieves me greatly.
There really are no words. Nor are their words for the healing He brings, the closeness to which He draws one in the process and the compassion of other priests who aid in the hearing journey. Time is my friend.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
The time period for commenting on this article has expired.