Archbishop Michael Sheehan has announced that he will meet one-on-one with all the victims of abuse in the Diocese of Phoenix: “They were abused one-to-one and they should receive an apology one-to-one.” I think that’s a good thing. A representative of a victims’ group was also pleased:
“Wow. That’s great,” he said, adding that many abuse victims have never heard a positive word from the church regarding their cases. “They need to have their pain acknowledged and to be told the abuse was not their fault,” Pfaffengerger said.
Maybe I’m different but I thought that sounded odd. Is that part of the new victim culture? My pain is my pain, what does someone acknowledging do to make it go away? Why should someone need a bishop to tell them that the abuse wasn’t their fault? It seems kind of obvious, and if you really need someone to tell you that maybe it should be a therapist.
I’m not being critical, I just don’t understand the point.
