ISBN:9781626985209
Pages: 248
Binding: Softcover
Theology In a Post-Traumatic Church
By: John N. Sheveland
Overview
Catholic Media Association Award Winner
Second Place - Life and Dignity of Human Person
“As a survivor myself, I view this work as a call to move the church from apathy to compassion. The stories of victims must be heard because in the telling and listening to those stories comes the call to conversion and the desire to alleviate their suffering and that of the Church. Hopefully, within these pages one will begin that journey to heal and become whole again as we come to understand the truths within.”- Paula Kaempffer, Outreach Coordinator of Restorative Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis
"In Theology in a Post-Traumatic Church, John N. Sheveland has brought together a variety of scholars to look at the sexual abuse crisis from the perspective of the victim. This victim-centered approach allows us to not only address the causes but also the need for healing in the church and for creating a context to provide the social trust that was so widely compromised by the crisis. Here Sheveland and his colleagues begin with the voices of the victims, but mindful of the emergence of synodality, they remind the synods to attend to clericalism and hierarchicalism, pernicious cultures that compromise the voices and lives that we so desperately need to hear and heed. A welcome, integrative, theological contribution." - James F. Keenan, S.J., Canisus Professor, Boston College
Foreword by Hans Zollner, SJ
Offers constructive theological reflection in support of a victims-first approach to the clergy sex abuse crisis. The authors of this volume, both theologians and clinicians, articulate theological resources and communal behaviors and practices which empower all in the church to accompany victim-survivors and work toward healing.
John N. Sheveland is professor of religious studies and the Flannery Chair in Catholic theology at Gonzaga University. In 2019 he joined the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He holds a PhD in systematic and comparative theology from Boston College
