This panel centers questions of theory and historicity, two vital but often underexamined areas in scholarship on clergy sexual abuse. The first paper, “’You Better Tell The Truth,’" examines the intersections of racial and sexual violence through a (re)reading of archival materials from Black Catholic Chicago, raising critical questions about the tension between the ethical imperatives of anti-racism, truth-telling, and historical accountability. The second paper, “Shedding Light On Silence and (in)Action,” brings oral histories of contemporary Belgian survivors into conversation with centuries-deep cultural concepts of ‘bystandership,’ thus working towards a theory that can explain why historical research on clergy abuses in Belgium remains severely limited. The third paper, “Breaking the Silence,” explores a critical lack of language around childhood sexuality, as evidenced by the narratives of 15 Catholic survivors interviewed through Fordham University’s recent Taking Responsibility grant, then suggests a more robust and inclusive vocabulary informed by trauma studies.
Scholars and journalists have deepened our sense of the Catholic clerical sexual abuse crisis in recent years by illuminating how Native and Black communities have been particularly vulnerable to abuse. This paper builds on this emergent scholarship by examining “problem priests” and sexual abuse in Black Catholic parishes in Chicago in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Furthermore, it asks scholars to consider the politics of archival access, the relationships between scholars and their communities of accountability, and the art of crafting historical narrative, and how all of these factors can conspire to prevent us from telling the truth regarding the ways anti-Black racism and clerical abuse have been constitutive of twentieth-century U.S. Catholicism. In this, the paper is an act of critical self-reflection, wherein the author considers how choices early in their career governed the narratives they constructed of Black Catholic history.
Despite the global and local increased awareness of (sexual) transgressive behavior in Catholic contexts over the past few decades, historical research on this issue in Belgium remains limited. Moving away from a binary survivor-perpetrator approach, this paper addresses the (national and international) understudied role of historical bystanders in cases of (sexual) transgressive behavior of adults towards minors within Belgian (Flemish) Catholic contexts (1950-1989). The concept of 'bystandership' is used to encompass individuals (with various responsibilities and potential courses of action) who were part of and affected by the Catholic environments in which historical (sexual) transgressive behavior could take place. Through a literature review and the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with both survivors and bystanders, this paper, drawing upon the method of oral history, aims to comprehend how prevailing historical Catholic institutional and socio-cultural perspectives on sexuality and child-adult sexual interactions may have influenced bystander attitudes in the outlined context.
This paper explores the profound silence surrounding childhood sexuality within the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis, revealed through narratives from 15 survivors interviewed under the Fordham University's Taking Responsibility grant. These narratives expose a critical lack of language and understanding around sexuality, significantly contributing to the survivors' vulnerability and trauma. This study challenges the church's reliance on restrictive theological frameworks and the societal taboo around childhood sexuality, advocating for a trauma-informed, survivor-centered theology that respects children's sexual autonomy and dignity. It proposes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating theological analysis, trauma theory, and survivor narratives to explore the intricate web of sexuality, violence, and marginality. By addressing the underexplored area of childhood sexuality and the silence surrounding it, this paper aims to foster a more inclusive, just Church and illuminate pathways toward healing and transformation, advocating for a future where children are seen, heard, and empowered.
| Kathleen Holscher | kholscher@unm.edu | View |