Can Christians safely counsel and advise Survivors of Clerical Abuse?

This is a crucially important question.

All over the world Christians, both clerical and lay, have been put in place by ill advised State Authorities and by the Church itself,  ostensibly to 'protect' children, to 'advise' and 'counsel' Survivors, in spite of their inherent conflict of interest. 

And in some cases these people have turned out to be abusers themselves. There are many such cases.

There are also a lot of documented cases of Survivors being further traumatised by calls to 'come closer to God', by Christianised advice and counselling that seeks to 'reconcile' the Survivor with the Church, where Survivors who are believers have gone in good faith, and finding no genuine honesty, have in desperation, taken their own lives or descended into long term depression and illness.

Not to mention outright adversarial approaches taken towards those who come forwards with allegations and or proof of abuse.

The Cloyne Report from Ireland exposes this in some detail.

Thus solving the 'problem' the Church has - a dead or 'reconciled' Survivor will not speak out against the Church. And a re-traumatised Survivor is less likely to mount a concerted campaign to expose what is happening, and may well give up, and may submit, under undue pressure, to 'confidentiality arrangements' linked to cash settlements.

This pattern is being observed and recorded in America, Canada, Australia, Ireland, across Europe, Asia and Africa.

It has to be exposed in full, for it constitutes yet another level of abuse, of trauma, of politicing with the lives of Survivors.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe