What Can You Do To Help?
Sexual assault prevention advocates and experts on sexual misconduct can help create public awareness of the extent of adult victimization by priests, pastors, ministers, rabbis and other clergy.
Speak out!
Silence is complicity. If sexual violation by a beloved minister occurs in your community or your congregation, speak out: It's A Crime, Not An Affair.
Contact the sexual violence prevention alliance or coalition in your state
- For contact information for all state coalitions, see the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's online listing. (pdf file)
- These coalitions can be supportive allies in education and awareness about this hidden form of sexual violence.
- Ask your state coalition to sponsor a media campaign similar to the ‘domestic violence awareness month’ and ‘sexual assault awareness month’ campaigns which run annually in October and April.
Contact the National Organization for Women
- Contact the NOW chapters in your state and in your town. Ask them to bring in speakers who can provide information on this hidden form of sexual violence. Many potential speakers are listed in the Books and Websites and On-line Articles sections below.
- See the NOW 2009 Resolution Call to Criminalize Sexual Exploitation of Adult Women by Clergy on the NOW website.
Contact Dean Diana Garland, Baylor University School of Social Work
- The largest national study of clergy sexual misconduct with adults will be published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion in late 2009. The Baylor University School of Social Work research was funded by the Ford Foundation. Click here for further information on this study.
Contact "Men Against Violence" organizations such as One in Four or Men Stopping Violence
- Such men's groups challenge men to break their "complicity of silence" regarding sexual violence.
- Psychiatrist Peter Rutter suggests in his book Sex in the Forbidden Zone that men, particularly those in the helping professions, experience a vicarious shame when a fellow therapist, doctor, or clergy member sexually violates someone in their care. This reaction contributes to men's silence on this form of sexual abuse.
Contact your local sexual assault crisis center
- Ask the professional staff at the local crisis center to provide information and outreach to faith communities regarding this hidden form of sexual abuse.
Contact the Department of Health in your state
- Most state departments of health have a division devoted to sexual violence prevention.
- Speak with the sexual violence prevention staff and ask them to begin more outreach programs for congregations, especially those in which one or more members of the congregation have experienced this form of sexual violation by their minister.
Recommended Books and Websites on Sexual Misconduct by Priests, Pastors, Ministers, Rabbis and Other Clergy
- Advocateweb.org. Read about Advocateweb's multi-disciplinary Advisory Council.
- Candace Benyei. (1998) Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems: Scapegoating, Family Secrets, and the Abuse of Power.
- Educating To End Abuse. See especially the article: Dispelling the Myths.
- Faith Trust Institute. Executive Director: Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune. See especially Fortune's blog entry of February 2, 2008: No Harm, No Foul? Part 2 .
- Beth Ann Gaede and Candace Benyei, eds. (2006) When a Congregation is Betrayed: Responding to Clergy Sexual Misconduct.
- Nancy Myer Hopkins and Mark Laaser, eds. (1995) Restoring the Soul of a Church: Healing Congregations Wounded by Clergy Sexual Misconduct.
- Peter Rutter. (1989) Sex in the Forbidden Zone: When Men in Power -- Therapists, Doctors, Clergy, Teachers, and Others -- Betray Women's Trust.
- Seventh Day Adventists. The Hope of Survivors. Brochures for victims and congregations. Workshops, training videos available. Scripture-based resource.
- Take Courage. See especially the article: All About Collusion.
On-line Articles on Sexual Misconduct by Priests, Pastors, Ministers and Rabbis
- Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. "The Forbidden Zone: The Nature and Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Abuse." Christian Ethics Today. Issue 030. Vol 6, No. 5 (Oct 2000). (Note: you will need to search "how to use Christian Ethics Today" for Issue 30)
- "Defeating the Demons: The Prevention of Clergy Sexual Abuse." Christian Ethics Today. Vol 6, No. 5, Issue 030 (October 2000).
- Professor Diana Garland, Dean of the School of Social Work, Baylor University. "When Wolves Wear Shepherd's Clothing: Helping Women Survive Clergy Sexual Abuse." Social Work and Christianity Vol. 33, No. 1 (2006), 1-35.
- Rabbi Arthur Gross Schaefer, Professor of Law and Ethics, Loyola Marymount University. "Rabbi Sexual Misconduct: Crying Out for a Communal Response." The Reconstructionist. Spring 1999 issue (Vol. 63, No. 2). (Note: If the link does not work, search The Reconstructionist website and download the entire Spring 1999 issue as a pdf file.)
- Jane Lampman. "A Wider Circle of Clergy Abuse: As US Bishops Meet, Attention is Drawn to Female Victims of Priests." Christian Science Monitor (June 14, 2002).
- Marian V. Liautaud. "Sexual Misconduct at Church." Christianity Today (July/August 2008).
- Rev. Patricia Liberty. Why It's Not an Affair. Rev. Liberty is Executive Director of Associates in Education and Prevention in Pastoral Practice.
- Professor Ann-Janine Morey, Vice Provost for Cross Disciplinary Studies, James Madison University. "Blaming Women for the Sexually Abusive Male Pastor." The Christian Century. (Oct 5, 1988).
- Rev. Dr. James Poling, Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. "When Trust is Betrayed: Understanding Sexual Abuse by Clergy." The United Methodist Interpreter. (Jan 1997).
- Cheryl Reed. "The Gay Purge: By Scapegoating Homosexual Priests, The Catholic Church Seeks to Avoid a Tougher Look at Its Secret History of Abuse." Salon.com. (March 27, 2002).
- Mark Scheffers. "Why Adult Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse Are Not To Blame." Tamar's Voice. Scheffers is an Association of Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisory Candidate and Pastoral Educator at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, MI.
- Beth Van Dyke. "What About Her? A True Story of Clergy, Abuse, Survival." Book excerpt.
- Lynn Vincent. "Breaking Faith: . . . Protestants Face a Lurking Sex Scandal As Well." World Magazine. (March 30, 2002).
- IT'S NEVER OK: A Handbook for Victims and Victim Advocates on Sexual Exploitation by Counselors and Therapists. (2001 ed) Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Minnesota Department of Health.
Sexual exploitation is not as rare as you might think. In one self-report study, as many as seventeen percent of responding counselors admitted to sexual contact with clients. Eighty percent of those counselors were sexual with several clients . . . The most important thing for you to remember is no matter how troubled a counselor's life may be, it is the counselor's responsibility to keep sexual exploitation from happening. No matter what was said or done during the counseling relationship, sexual exploitation is never the client's fault. (p 11)