Sexual misconduct by clergy is a devastating issue that reaches across all denominations, damaging the credibility of the church in its wake. The media regularly reports on the moral failure of leaders and abuse at the hands of those who are supposed to be trustworthy.
Betrayal of Trust focuses on a common scenario of abuse--sexual involvement between a male pastor and a female congregant--and offers practical solutions on how to respond to and prevent this betrayal of trust.
This book presents methods that will help churches respond sensitively to victims and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse from taking place. For clergy who may be at risk for this behavior, it offers help in establishing appropriate boundaries.
This second edition includes a new chapter that offers help for the wandering pastor and a risk-determination questionnaire for pastors who may become abusers.
Betrayal of Trust focuses on a common scenario of abuse--sexual involvement between a male pastor and a female congregant--and offers practical solutions on how to respond to and prevent this betrayal of trust.
This book presents methods that will help churches respond sensitively to victims and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse from taking place. For clergy who may be at risk for this behavior, it offers help in establishing appropriate boundaries.
This second edition includes a new chapter that offers help for the wandering pastor and a risk-determination questionnaire for pastors who may become abusers.
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Victim to Survivor
Clergy sexual abuse is a horrible reality. These essays reveal that between ten and twenty percent of clergy offend against the integrity of the pastoral relationship and the vulnerability of those entrusted to their care by crossing the boundary from religious service to sexual activity. The survivors of such abuse face terrible consequences of personal and relational brokenness and the loss of God and the church. The church and pastoral care and counseling agencies become conflicted by competing claims about responsibility and paralyzed by the threat of costly lawsuits from all involved parties. And the ongoing failure to bring perpetrators to account and to bring about vindication for the survivors undermines the vitality of our religious communities and the credibility of our message. . . . The core theme of these essays is the need to rethink and reconstitute power, including our view of God's power, into genuinely mutual and accountable arrangements. Healing, intimacy, reconciliation, and forgiveness derive from justice and vindication, rather than vice versa. The healing and restoration of persons, and a genuine social advance, will come only when we are able to reconceive power and order our practice of ministry, care, and counseling in non-coercive and non-patriarchal terms. The challenge is a cultural challenge, with serious consequences for elevating those of low degree and bringing the mighty down to the possibility of genuine redemption."—from the Introduction
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Nancy Poling presents the harrowing stories of six women who were sexually abused by their pastors. In their healing process, these women demonstrate a tenacious, truth-based faith that will compel church leaders to advocate for healthy pastoral relationships and call perpetrators to accountability.
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In her characteristic direct and forthright style, Marie Fortune tells the shocking true story of a scandal that took place in a typical church in an average city. It should never have occurred, but its telling helped to focus the national spotlight on a serious problem that is more pervasive than any of us would like to believe. The author founded and directs the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, Seattle, Washington.
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Clergy sexual abuse is a horrible reality. These essays reveal that between ten and twenty percent of clergy offend against the integrity of the pastoral relationship and the vulnerability of those entrusted to their care by crossing the boundary from religious service to sexual activity. The survivors of such abuse face terrible consequences of personal and relational brokenness and the loss of God and the church. The church and pastoral care and counseling agencies become conflicted by competing claims about responsibility and paralyzed by the threat of costly lawsuits from all involved parties. And the ongoing failure to bring perpetrators to account and to bring about vindication for the survivors undermines the vitality of our religious communities and the credibility of our message. . . . The core theme of these essays is the need to rethink and reconstitute power, including our view of God's power, into genuinely mutual and accountable arrangements. Healing, intimacy, reconciliation, and forgiveness derive from justice and vindication, rather than vice versa. The healing and restoration of persons, and a genuine social advance, will come only when we are able to reconceive power and order our practice of ministry, care, and counseling in non-coercive and non-patriarchal terms. The challenge is a cultural challenge, with serious consequences for elevating those of low degree and bringing the mighty down to the possibility of genuine redemption."—from the Introduction
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Boundary Violations in
Professional-Client Relationships
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Understanding Sexual Misconduct
Among Spiritual Leaders
"Courageous, compassionate and insightful. While focusing on the pain and disillusionment of the victims, he examines the complex dynamics of betrayer and betrayed with understanding and humility."LOS ANGELES TIMES
This provocative, insightful book, based on the authors' years of experience and over 1,000 in-depth interviews helps victims of professor, physician or psychiatrist seduction, understand: the private fantasy worlds of powerful men ; the unspoken emotional needs of women; effective strategies for women to help them reinforce the bounadaries against invasion, and much more.
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Professional-Client Relationships
This book addresses boundary violations through the lens of the professional-client relationship, drawing examples of misconduct from law, medicine, religion, education and psychotherapy.The first three chapters cover the social context of the relationship, the inherent power differential that delineates the relational boundaries, and professionals’ difficulty with managing that power appropriately. Also discussed are the four characteristics of a boundary violation—a reversal of roles, a secret, a double bind, and an indulgence of professional privilege—and the damage to the client. Throughout the book, clients share their stories of violations—sometimes blatant, often subtle—in relationships. These vignettes, along with Peterson’s engaging style, transform ethics from dry, abstract, and theoretical principles to vital struggles to understand and appropriately manage power with clients.
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Among Spiritual Leaders
Ever wonder what is really happening to you or someone you know? Are you trying to decide how to help someone who has been abused by a pastor? Or wanting to know how the church should address the issue? This booklet provides information for victims, spouses, youth, pastors and wives, church leaders and congregants, and an overview of the issue of pastoral sexual misconduct. It is a must for those who need answers and help!
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"Courageous, compassionate and insightful. While focusing on the pain and disillusionment of the victims, he examines the complex dynamics of betrayer and betrayed with understanding and humility."LOS ANGELES TIMES
This provocative, insightful book, based on the authors' years of experience and over 1,000 in-depth interviews helps victims of professor, physician or psychiatrist seduction, understand: the private fantasy worlds of powerful men ; the unspoken emotional needs of women; effective strategies for women to help them reinforce the bounadaries against invasion, and much more.
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Fish in a Barrel is the compelling, true account of author Grace Tower. In this gripping, vivid, and informative book, Grace falls prey to a twisted, predatory therapist. She is left devastated and confused, with her family struggling desperately. The conclusion to this haunting and remarkable tale will astonish you as much as the Tower family’s experiences will shock you. Fish in a Barrel will take you on a horrifying—but ultimately uplifting—journey.
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Recovering the Lost Self
Shame Healing for Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse
Sex in the Parish
Karen Lebacqz and Ronald Barton examine the gift of sexuality in relation to the parish and the dynamics of sexual desire and temptation. Included in this book are the experiences of a pastor who did not set appropriate limits; explanations of how the pastoral role affects sexual contact between pastor and parishioner; suggestions for a framework of ethical analysis; an examination of questions for women in ministry, single pastors, and pastors who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual; and a review of ethical issues related to persons who carry responsibilities for the structures of ministerial practice.
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Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems
In Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems, you’ll take an incisive look at why sexual misconduct occurs in religious systems and how to implement proactive strategies for holistic change. Applicable to both Jewish and Christian communities, this illuminating exploration takes a look at the psychology behind scapegoating, why it is perpetuated, and how you can quell the damaging tradition of silence.
Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems helps you see leaders of religious institutions in a way that the world has been afraid to see them--in a glass clearly. Enriched with metaphoric myths and fairy tales instead of technical jargon, its unique systemic perspective reveals the psychodynamics behind the obsession with family secrets and lets you understand this dysfunction from the perspectives of victim, abuser, and counselor. These specific areas will both inform and aid you in dealing with this difficult subject:
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We Were the Least of These
Much of what is written about abuse and the Bible focuses on the ways Scripture is used to hurt rather than heal. This accessibly written book provides a much-needed perspective, illuminating the good news of healing and liberation that the Bible offers survivors of sexual abuse. As a theologian and survivor of abuse herself, Elaine Heath handles this sensitive topic with compassion and grace. She offers a close reading of several biblical passages that have proven to be profoundly healing for her and for other survivors. The book is illustrated with stories and insights from sexual abuse survivors who have experienced healing through the Bible in order to bring hope and encouragement to victims. It will be welcome reading for those who have suffered from abuse as well as for pastors, counselors, therapists, and others who minister to them. Each chapter ends with two sets of reflection questions and recommended activities--one set for survivors and another for those who journey with them.
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Sex and the Spiritual Teacher
Sex and the Spiritual Teacher looks at the complex of forces that tempt otherwise insightful, compassionate, and well-intentioned teachers to lose their way—and that tempt some of their students to lose their way as well. It analyzes why most of our current efforts to keep spiritual teachers from transgressing usually don’t (and in fact can’t) work—and, perhaps most importantly, it suggests a set of practices and structures that can build community, encourage healthy student-teacher relationships, increase trust and spiritual intimacy between teachers and their students, and help authentic spiritual teachers stay happily monogamous or celibate. Sex and the Spiritual Teacher is for anyone who is or might become part of a spiritual community: students, teachers, clergy, lay leaders, and even casual visitors. It’s a reader-friendly, no-nonsense guide to making spiritual life safer and fuller for all of us—one person, relationship, and community at a time.
-----------------------------
Stolen Innocence - Triumphing Over a Childhood Broken by Abuse -
A Memoir, by Erin Merryn
Eleven-year-old Erin Merryn's life was transformed on the night she was sexually abused by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted. As the abuse continued, and as she was forced to see her abuser over and over again in social situations, she struggled with self-doubt, panic attacks, nightmares and the weight of whether or not to tell her terrible secret. It wasn't until a traumatic series of events showed her the cost of silence that she chose to speak out-in the process destroying both her family and the last of her innocence.
Shame Healing for Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse
This booklet, written by Elisabeth A. Horst of the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute, is about how victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by the clergy can heal from the shame that goes with the abuse.
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Sex in the Parish
Karen Lebacqz and Ronald Barton examine the gift of sexuality in relation to the parish and the dynamics of sexual desire and temptation. Included in this book are the experiences of a pastor who did not set appropriate limits; explanations of how the pastoral role affects sexual contact between pastor and parishioner; suggestions for a framework of ethical analysis; an examination of questions for women in ministry, single pastors, and pastors who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual; and a review of ethical issues related to persons who carry responsibilities for the structures of ministerial practice.
--------------------
Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems
In Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems, you’ll take an incisive look at why sexual misconduct occurs in religious systems and how to implement proactive strategies for holistic change. Applicable to both Jewish and Christian communities, this illuminating exploration takes a look at the psychology behind scapegoating, why it is perpetuated, and how you can quell the damaging tradition of silence.
Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems helps you see leaders of religious institutions in a way that the world has been afraid to see them--in a glass clearly. Enriched with metaphoric myths and fairy tales instead of technical jargon, its unique systemic perspective reveals the psychodynamics behind the obsession with family secrets and lets you understand this dysfunction from the perspectives of victim, abuser, and counselor. These specific areas will both inform and aid you in dealing with this difficult subject:
------------------------------
We Were the Least of These
Much of what is written about abuse and the Bible focuses on the ways Scripture is used to hurt rather than heal. This accessibly written book provides a much-needed perspective, illuminating the good news of healing and liberation that the Bible offers survivors of sexual abuse. As a theologian and survivor of abuse herself, Elaine Heath handles this sensitive topic with compassion and grace. She offers a close reading of several biblical passages that have proven to be profoundly healing for her and for other survivors. The book is illustrated with stories and insights from sexual abuse survivors who have experienced healing through the Bible in order to bring hope and encouragement to victims. It will be welcome reading for those who have suffered from abuse as well as for pastors, counselors, therapists, and others who minister to them. Each chapter ends with two sets of reflection questions and recommended activities--one set for survivors and another for those who journey with them.
------------------
Sex and the Spiritual Teacher
Sex and the Spiritual Teacher looks at the complex of forces that tempt otherwise insightful, compassionate, and well-intentioned teachers to lose their way—and that tempt some of their students to lose their way as well. It analyzes why most of our current efforts to keep spiritual teachers from transgressing usually don’t (and in fact can’t) work—and, perhaps most importantly, it suggests a set of practices and structures that can build community, encourage healthy student-teacher relationships, increase trust and spiritual intimacy between teachers and their students, and help authentic spiritual teachers stay happily monogamous or celibate. Sex and the Spiritual Teacher is for anyone who is or might become part of a spiritual community: students, teachers, clergy, lay leaders, and even casual visitors. It’s a reader-friendly, no-nonsense guide to making spiritual life safer and fuller for all of us—one person, relationship, and community at a time.
-----------------------------
Stolen Innocence - Triumphing Over a Childhood Broken by Abuse -
A Memoir, by Erin Merryn
Eleven-year-old Erin Merryn's life was transformed on the night she was sexually abused by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted. As the abuse continued, and as she was forced to see her abuser over and over again in social situations, she struggled with self-doubt, panic attacks, nightmares and the weight of whether or not to tell her terrible secret. It wasn't until a traumatic series of events showed her the cost of silence that she chose to speak out-in the process destroying both her family and the last of her innocence.
Through her personal diary, written during the years of her abuse, Erin Merryn shares her journey through pain and confusion to inner strength and, ultimately, forgiveness. Raw, powerful and unflinchingly honest, Stolen Innocence is the inspiring story of one girl's struggle to become a woman, and a bright light on the pain and devastation of abuse.
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