Clergy seminar: child sexual abuse

Three days this past week in a seminar for Anglican clergy. They requested this topic after last year's workshop on Domestic Violence and we were able to receive with gratitude funding from the Anglican Church Women on Vancouver Island and from supporters at Christ Church Cathedral.

As usual, trying to organise something here is like herding cats, but once I had the huge pile of construction timber moved from the meeting room, and the generator set up for the power outages, I was good to go. There were still a few glitches around notification and attendance, but I feel we reached an important core group.

I adapted materials from the Faith Institute (Dr Marie Fortune), made a power point & some interesting videos from E African sources. Most of the clergy  cope well with English and those who have a little more difficulty get help from their colleagues. The Bishop attended most sessions and we were glad to have him with us.

 

The stronger laws on child abuse have only just got some teeth in the new Constitution; there has been a big conspiracy of silence for a number of reasons. One of the E African video clips that  really stirred them was the report on 11 little girls harassed by their teacher. The clergy all seemed to be shocked at the traps the teacher set for the girls. After this, they began telling tragic stories of what is happening in their own communities, where they estimate incestuous abuse at over 25 %.

I was sent an article on Vicarious Trauma and used it in the final day. Everyone nodded seriously when I talked about looking after themselves, but they did not include it in their goal setting. The Bishop was in the session & I did indicate to him that there should be some thought to support for the clergy for when the disclosures start to come, as come they will if they follow through on passing on the information, preaching and educating.

Their big concern was largely informing their people and educating the girls on their rights and on protecting themselves. One urban church has asked me to follow up with their Parish Council, where I can use the English materials I have. I think my assistance in the coming months will be to individual churches and priests.

A greater concern for the rural churches is funding. I am hoping that they can use current meetings of youth groups and Mothers Union, at least to start things going.

 

I also passed around the Anglican Communion Safe Church charter. The information had not yet come to the Bishop, but I felt it politic to leave it with him to follow up either in the Diocese or the Province.

 

I have now looked through the evaluations and am deeply touched by the comments. (A couple expressed concern for me leading the whole 3 days and wished I had had some help . So do I !)

I tried to emphasise taking ‘baby steps’ and feeding their communities first with milk before the meat. We did quite a lot of Bible study, especially looking at the promises for abundant life and considering scripture as a roadblock or a resource. I was constantly amazed and humbled by the insightful comments from the group work.

Some of the most telling comments expressed how they now looked at the issue with new eyes. From an acceptance of the situation as ‘normal’ and part of the culture, they now feel God’s call to protect the vulnerable and innocent.