Aristotle taught us that “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil”. So why do I bring up fear? Because it’s a universal human emotion. And it’s one that survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) either still experience, or did at the time when we were being abused. I remember the pain of my […]

I confess that I really don’t want to talk about sex abuse in the Church again. But Pope Francis does, so perhaps we might help him and his newly appointed commission by taking a trip through some unexpected and ancient terrain. I was at work on an article several summers ago about the vexed question […]

Marginalize (verb) To treat a person as insignificant.  (Oxford Dictionary) “He has worked hard to convince everyone that I am crazy.”  These were the words of a woman who was speaking about a relative who had sexually abused her as a child for years.   This well-known and “respected” relative has been successful in keeping her abuse […]

Maltreatment during childhood can lead to long-term changes in brain circuits that process fear, researchers say. This could help explain why children who suffer abuse are much more likely than others to develop problems like anxiety and depression later on. Brain scans of teenagers revealed weaker connections between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus in […]

Over the weekend, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Senate Bill 131. The veto comes as a disappointment to many who, despite the fact that Gov. Brown is a former Jesuit seminarian, felt that he would let the bill, also known as the Child Victims Act, pass into law. It would have extended the statute of limitations […]

Cross-posted from UN Women “As a priest, people listen to me and that gives me a position to speak out against gender-based violence,” says Melakesina, priest and head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kobo district in northern Ethiopia. He is one of 100 religious leaders who participated in trainings on gender-based violence and are […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Saturday that would have allowed some sex abuse victims who are now barred by the statute of limitations to file lawsuits against private institutions that employed their abusers. Brown said he vetoed Senate Bill 131 because it unfairly expanded on a similar measure passed in 2002 […]

As of this writing, there is no new new news on SB 131. California Governor Jerry Brown has until Sunday to sign the bill, veto it, or do nothing. If he signs the bill or does nothing, SB 131 will become law on January 1, 2014 Let’s keep our fingers crossed for victims—all victims. Why? Because […]

California Governor Jerry Brown has until Sunday, October 13 to sign or veto SB 131, The California Child Victims’ Act. If he does nothing, the bill will be enacted as written. In the meantime, victims wait. Here is why the bill’s opponents are scared: Minnesota enacted a THREE-YEAR civil window earlier this year and the revelations […]

Here is the latest on SB 131: Governor Brown has until October 13 (a previous blog post said October 10) to sign the bill, veto the bill, or do nothing. If he signs the bill or does nothing, SB 131 becomes law. As written, the law would go into effect on January 1, 2014. If […]