To have been sexually abused by a priest is to have been religiously abused as well. A survivor puts it simply: To have been abused by a priest was to have been abused “in a Catholic way.” The abuse of children and young people by priests had long-term religious consequences. “It robs you of your relationship with God,” according to another survivor. This lecture explores how survivors contend with the religious consequences of abuse and in particular examines the place in their lives of the Eucharist and of the God who becomes really present on the altar at Mass.
Robert Orsi (*1953) is the first holder of the Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies. Before coming to Northwestern, he taught at Fordham University at Lincoln Center from 1981 to 1988; Indiana University from 1988 to 2001; and Harvard Divinity School and Harvard University from 2001 to 2007, where he was Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (2003 to 2007). In 2002 and 2003, he was president of the American Academy of Religion. Professor Orsi studies American Catholicism in both historical and ethnographic perspective. He is widely recognized also for his work on theory and method for the study of religion. Worldwide his research project is maybe the most exclusive, at least the most advanced project about the theme “Clerical Sexual Abuse“.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Heinrich Assel
God Had Nothing to Do With It: The Struggles of Survivors of Clerical Sexual Abuse with Its Religious Consequences
Öffentlicher Abendvortrag
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