Dioceses start support groups for clergy sex abuse victims

Published: 2003-11-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Once a month Sister Barbara Flannery waits outside a door for about two hours. On the other side is a support group for people sexually abused as minors by priests. "I'm there, hanging around," said Sister Flannery, chancellor of the Diocese of Oakland, Calif., and a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Sister Flannery and a priest who also was abused as a minor are milling around in case the group wants to talk to them. She told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview that sometimes they are invited in to discuss spiritual issues or are approached by an individual afterward. The diocese organized and finances the support group. Other dioceses around the United States also are organizing support groups as part of the outreach services to victims of clergy sex abuse. Support groups -- composed of victims talking among themselves -- are often an important way for victims to release the anger and pain locked inside them.

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