Clergy Abuse retreat

Clergy Abuse retreat
M

Mark Crawford

Registrant
Just want to remind all that MaleSurvivor is conducting a Level 1 retreat for Male Survivors of clergy abuse. The retreat is open to all men of any denomination. The retreat will be held in Western Massachusettes at Angel's Rest retreat center..a non denominational retreat house not affiliated with any church. The weekend is October 10, 11 and 12, 2003.

MaleSurvivor still has a limited number of partial scholarships which can be offered to attendees if you feel you cannot afford the cost. To find out more about applying for a confidential scholarship, to register for the retreat or to just get more information please visit our website at:

www.malesurvivor.org/Retreats/2003/clergyabuse.htm


We hope you will consider joining us for this healing weekend retreat.

P.S. we will also be increasing the discount for MaleSurvivor members so consider joining if you are not a member already. I look forward to seeing you there!


Mark Crawford
Survivor of Clergy Abuse &
Director of Member Services, MaleSurvivor
 
Hi Mark,

I would like someday to attend a retreat for Male survivors. The one in October interests me because the sexual abuse that I suffered was in the context of my faith community and was by a man who was a leader in that faith.

However, in my religion, there is no clergy. So I'm not sure if I'm qualified to attend this retreat on clery abuse. I do feel like much of my injury was caused by the mixing of my faith and the sexual exploitation that happened when I was a teenager and so would like to have a chance to explore this with others in a retreat situation.

The other thing is that I suspect that most of this retreat will be geared towards Roman Catholics since they seem to be predominant among the male survivors here. This is just my impression, and my feeling on the subject and could be entirely wrong.

I guess I'm afraid that it will all be about priests and masses and things like that with which I have no identification.

I am a member of the Baha'i Faith and have been since I was 15 years old. So the ideas of Christian dogma hold little real interest for me and the structures and institutions of modern Christian theocracy do not form a basis for any of my beliefs.

What do you think? Can someone like me, non-Christian, non-clergied religiously affiliated hope to have a meaningful experience at the retreat in October?

I am currently in the middle of moving to a higher level of disclosure within my Faith regarding the sexual abuse and with the help of my therapist, attempting to achieve some sort of confrontation with the institutional forces of my religion.

So, I feel that the more support I could have the better it would be. And it seems like a retreat would be a big booster shot of support that I could really use.

The other thing is that I am gay and am currently in a monogamous relationship with another man. Homosexuality is strictly prohibited in the Baha'i religion, and I'm afraid that I will not fit in with heterosexual males who were sexually abused by their priests or preachers.

Now that I write all of this down, I can see that I am concentrating on all the ways that I imagine myself to be different from other survivors and recognize that as a way of maintaining isoloation and denial. I would like to break through that isolation and find common ground for my recovery with other men like me.

It's just that my religion is so different, and there are so few of us, and being gay is such a taboo in the Baha'i religion that I'm afraid that I really am too different this time.

My financial resources are way too limited right now, so I need to choose which resources will do the most for me.

I don't even know if any of the therapists will know anything about my religion and that I will feel obligated to 'teach' them about my faith, which always makes me feel very uncomfortable about then adding anything 'negative' about it.

Maybe you don't have any answers for me, but I do appreciate your posting this so I could write some of fears and doubts out and see them with some perspective.

I hope the retreat is a big success for all who attend, whatever their faith may be.

Thanks, Mark,

Your brother,
 
Danny

I don't see any reason why you couldn't/shouldn't come. Based on what you have said I think you could benefit from this type of retreat. I know that the retreat is NOT geared specifically for victims/survivors of Catholic clergy abuse. I am willing to guess that many of the attendees may have a history of abuse by a Catholic/Christian clergy member, that said, I don't see how that may be much different than your own history of abuse...wether you refer to your abuser as a clergy member or not...you were still abused by an individual who took advantage of your current faith/beliefs. I must admit that I know little about the baha'i faith, but again the effects of abuse are the same.

So of course it is up to you...I do hope you will consider attending. Based on what you have written here I see no reason why you would be excluded.

Mark
 
If you are interested in attending please visit our website MORE (CONFIDENTIAL) SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE for those who cannot afford the entire cost. Please visit our wep page on the upcoming clergy abuse retreat. Also the discount for MaleSurvivor members has been raised to $50. So it absolutely makes sense to become a member.

This is a great opportunity to "do something for yourself" you deserve it! This is an excellent retreat house in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of western Mass...The fall foilage change should be about peak at this time of year. MAKE THE TRIP....I AM SURE YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID.

Remember there is limited space at this retreat and we expect to fill this up so please contact us soon if you are interested in attending.

Thanks, Mark
 
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