Is Anybody Listening? Trauma, Abuse, and Healing in the Roman Catholic Community

Abstract

ABSTRACT This inquiry undertakes a semiotic analysis combined with traumatic studies, and brings it to bear on communication between survivors of abuse and the Roman Catholic community and hierarchy. Incorporating new information from traumatic studies, it applies semiotic analysis to ecclesiology, noting how different models of church impact communications between survivors and the Church. Subsequently, the inquiry explores the ethical imperative behind the need for communication as found in Josiah Royce's Will to Interpret. It suggests both Church and survivors might create new avenues of communication and sustain healing through use of support groups and the Pauline promise of the Resurrection.