Religious Faith in the Unjust Meantime: The Spiritual Violence of Clergy Sexual Abuse

Theresa W Tobin

doi:10.5206/fpq/2019.2.7290

Abstract

Clergy sexual abuse is both sexual and psychological violence, but it is also a paradigmatic case of spiritual violence that rises to the level of religious trauma. In this paper I argue that the spiritual violence of clergy sexual abuse diminishes, and in some cases may even destroy, a survivor’s capacities for religious faith or other forms of spiritual engagement. I use and illustrate the value of feminist methodology, as developed and advanced by Alison Jaggar, for generating and pursuing philosophical questions about religious experience. Feminist methodology’s sensitivity to theorizing situated subjects who stand to each other in relations of racialized male dominance helps us see the ways in which clergy sexual abuse is gender-based violence in both its causes and effects. It also helps us both ask and answer questions about religious faith in the unjust meantime from the perspective of those who endure spiritually violent faith communities.

Highlights

In July 2018, the high-ranking Roman Catholic Cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, resigned from the College of Cardinals as news broke of allegations that he had sexually abused children and adults for decades while serving in the Washington, DC, diocese (Zauzmer and Harlan 2018)
Clergy sexual abuse is both sexual and psychological violence, but it is a paradigmatic case of spiritual violence that rises to the level of what Michelle Panchuk (2018) calls religious trauma
I argue that the spiritual violence of clergy sexual abuse diminishes, and in some cases, may even destroy a survivor’s capacities for religious faith and other forms of spiritual engagement

Summary

Introduction

In July 2018, the high-ranking Roman Catholic Cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, resigned from the College of Cardinals as news broke of allegations that he had sexually abused children and adults for decades while serving in the Washington, DC, diocese (Zauzmer and Harlan 2018). By tarnishing a survivor’s relationship to worship, clergy sexual abuse can diminish and may in some cases destroy a person’s capacities for knowing and loving God and for other forms of spiritual engagement.

Results

Conclusion