Real words opposed to obfuscation and dodge

Below is a quote from a comment a woman has made on child sex abuse. It is an excellent expression. No bishop or religious superior has ever written in those terms. Another pointer to the reality that church authority is at sea.

Last weekend on Irish television we saw a woman reading a bishop's statement at Mass. It really was one of the greatest acts of tokenism ever perpetrated. It was unfortunate that the woman allowed herself to be put in such a position.

I think, in the end, what angers people who have been abused is that the damage done is permanent and devastating and so often underestimated for what it does to the victims. Sexual abuse is about the victim. The abuser has no excuse - be he/she a religious, who is denied the human right of sexuality by virtue of vows or a person, who is denied sexual relations within the confines of a marriage or a committed relationship. Or a person who has a deranged desire for children because of their deeply ingrained sense of inadequacy etc. It doesn't matter what drives the abuser. What matters is the fall-out on the abused and in the end, that's where I feel the church specifically and society in general has failed. To be quite honest, the fall-out from abuse is very similar to any traumatic stress injury of the soul and self. Children who were sexually abused need to be validated....loved, forgiven, and embraced. It was not their fault and they need to be told that.