Counselor has unique perspective

Dr. Michael Bland speaks about clergy abuse of minors from a unique perspective: He is a survivor of child abuse by a priest. A former priest, he is now a psychologist who directs the Archdiocese of Chicago's efforts to help victims and a member of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board, which oversees how the bishops are resolving the crisis.

"The Bishops have been very cooperative," Dr. Bland told The Evangelist, adding that the Church is moving in the right direction as it addresses the problem of sexual abuse.

"The Church hierarchy has been very forthcoming," he said. "My personal experience with the Church was that it was always very sensitive to the relationship between the bishop and the priest, but the Church has begun to realize the pain of the victims. The bishops have become much more sensitive and a lot less protective."

Own experience

Dr. Bland knows the pain of being a victim of sexual abuse: At 15, he was molested by a priest.

"I was abused by an individual, not the Church," he said, "and I am a staunch supporter of zero tolerance when dealing with abusers, past and present."

As a result of lawsuits by victims, Dr. Bland said that many bishops have been put into an adversarial role that makes it almost impossible to work cooperatively with victims' support groups.

"But the National Review Board has had many positive meetings with advocacy groups," he noted. "It will take time to regain the trust, and some victims may never feel safe again with the Church. Each case is unique, and it depends upon where you are in your healing."

Recovery

In his own situation, Dr. Bland now realizes his abuse has become part of his life experience.

"I will take it to my grave," he said. "But I also decided years ago that for me to become a thriving survivor of the abuse, I needed to speak out about it. That was how I began to regain my power. As a clinician, I now work with many abuse victims about ways they can regain their power. I help them set goals for achieving this."

He said it's important for abuse victims to move from being just a survivor to being a thriving survivor.

"It's a bit like the stages of grief," he explained. "Many survivors feel the pain, do something about it and move on; and many continue to just feel that pain in the same way that many people spend the rest of their lives grieving. Giving victims monetary rewards will not always cure the pain and help them regain their power."

Moving forward

Dr. Bland feels the Church has come a long way in the past year and looks forward to publication of a statistical study past abuse now being conducted in American dioceses.

"We need to see the findings and discover the true extent of the problem in the Church," he said. "We also need to see what the dioceses around the country are doing. In this next year, I look forward to working with individual dioceses to make sure they are in full compliance with the Charter. We also need to strategize and put into action ways the Church can protect victims and help them heal.

"One in every four people in this country call themselves Catholics, and they want their Church to do what is right. At the National Review Board, we're all working very hard to bring about positive reforms within the Church."

(6/19/03) [[In-content Ad]]