Trust Archives - Bob on Books

Cover image of "Accountability, Healing, and Trust" edited by Kimberly Hope Belcher and David A. Clairmont

Accountability, Healing, and Trust, Edited by Kimberly Hope Belcher and David A. Clairmont. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9780814688977) 2025.

Summary: Papers from a 2022 conference at Notre Dame addressing the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

One of the bigger new stories of this century was the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Clerical leaders from parish priests to cardinal were involved, not only in North America but many other countries. And lest non-Catholics are tempted to a kind of smug superiority, similar scandals have rocked the largest evangelical denomination, several major ministries, and Christian camps. In many of these situations, the trauma of victims was worsened by protecting perpetrators rather than victims, covering up wrong-doing, sometimes invoking the church’s sacred mission as a justification.

In recent years, the tide is turning, the church is facing the scope of the crisis, and holding perpetrators accountable. The church is beginning to listen to victims and recognize their trauma. In 2022, practitioners in the fields of psychology, law, and theology met at the University of Notre Dame to discuss strategies that address this crisis in three areas: accountability, healing and trust. The essays in this book represent those discussions and the three topic areas.

Firstly, they address accountability. Essays address needed structural changes, theological resources, and the particular challenge of the native American boarding schools. Accountability also needs to address the treatment and empowering of survivors. The biggest challenge is perpetrator authority, perpetrator access, and how good regard protects perpetrators. The last essay in this section focuses on walking with survivors rather than protecting perpetrators.

Secondly, they explore the long road to healing the trauma of abuse. First of all, the movement toward synodality in this context means a laity much more attuned to the breaking of the sixth commandment than the hierarchy. This is vital to address the failures of the hierarchy toward victims. A second essay focuses on how clerical control of the sacraments enables abuse. Healing liturgical theology is part of the process. Kimberly Hope Belcher offers a wonderful study of the raising of Lazarus in both texts and visuals to map the healing process. Then Patrick J. Wall turns to legal advocacy. The emphasis is, above all, do no further harm to survivors. Finally, an essay on “Wounded Healers Who Proclaim the Word” focuses on the ubiquity of trauma, the signs of trauma, and how one preaches in the light of this.

Thirdly, they tackle the hard work of restoring trust. The first essay addresses the formation of priests, particularly human, spiritual, and communal formation. Too often, the focus has only been on intellectual formation. The next essay focuses on professionalization of ministry, focusing on boundaries. Yet a focus on boundaries can maintain protecting the clergy, The third essay focuses then on protecting potential or actual victims rather than the church. This shift, the essay argues, is essential to engendering trust. The next essay focuses on virtuous language and truth-telling rather than euphemisms. A final essay addresses educating youth.

The mix of disciplines provides a holistic approach that is much needed. A renewed understanding of a the whole church as the people of God empowers accountability. Trauma-informed approaches to healing center the survivor. Building trust begins with holistic formation of priests while protecting the most vulnerable, including legal advocacy. Non-Catholics like myself can watch and learn from the thorough-going work of this volume. Accountability, healing, and trust are needed more widely, and we would do well to exercise the humility that recognizes the good work others are doing. This is an example.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Cover image of "Anchor of My Soul," compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press.

Anchor of My Soul, compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609815) 2025.

Summary: A compilation of readings, quotes, poetry and works of art on the theme of trust and hope.

The year 2025 is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has chosen as a motto for this Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope.” With so many countries, and even the creation itself, in tumult, this theme speaks to a deep need in human hearts. Always, to be sure, and especially in this moment. Appropriate to this year and moment, the editors at Paraclete Press have compiled a collection of readings including short fiction, poetry, letters, speeches, and quotes. Works of art, rendered in full color complement the readings

The work consists of three parts. The first is organized under the theme “Hope is the Thing with Feathers/A Patient Waiting.” It opens with the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name and includes O’Henry’s fine short story, “The Last Leaf.” Other works include a passage from Les Miserables, set off by Van Gogh’s Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, one of Bonhoeffer’s prison letters, an excerpt from Nelson Mandela, and another short story, this by Tolstoy.

Part Two is titled “And with No Language But a Cry/Taut Expectancy.” We read of growing hope amid a German prison camp in an excerpt from Corrie Ten Boom. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” reveals his hope for “a new birth of freedom.’ In a short selection from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard explores “the secret of seeing.” Opposite this reading, we are treated to Claude Monet’s Section of the Seine, near Giverny. Other selections include poetry from John Keats (“To Hope”), an excerpt from Anne Frank, Sullivan Ballou’s last letter to his wife during the Civil War, and Chekov’s “The Student.”

The readings in Part Three appear under the theme “Lift Every Voice and Sing/Anticipate with Trust.” Of course this includes James Weldon Johnson’s poem by this name. It has become an unofficial anthem of the Black community. Read this and you may find verses you have not heard before. There’s another story by Leo Tolstoy and Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” engraved in bronze at the base of the Statue of Liberty. A selection from the ending of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis and a quote from Tolkien appear opposite Odilon Redon’s Evocation of Butterflies.

I’ve not named all the writers or artists represented here. This book, printed on quality stock is a feast for both the eyes and the heart. It is easy to lose heart in our doomscrolls of despair. The work reminds us that there is another, deeper story that we need to hear. Instead of being mired in the “Slough of Despond,” the writers invite us to join the saints through history and the many who, this year, have embarked on a “Pilgrimage of Hope.”

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.