Our Catholic Story

Or, a theology for healing from abuse and trauma. 

The Co-Founders of Spirit Fire talk about recovery that includes all human dimensions, particularly the spiritual dimension, to create a whole-person healing in terms of restorative justice principles.

Or, how stories heal people, families, and groups.

Narrative has been recognized as an essential part of therapy as well as in paradigms for conflict management, organizational change, and restorative justice. Multiple trauma-informed counselors speak to the concept of narrative in recovering from trauma and how it works in the process of healing.

Or, a friar's way. 

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap., recalls, from the point of finding his own vocation as a Capucin Friar to current day, his own experience as a priest and servant leader across the decades of his leadership work.

Or, the power of silence. 

Six Spirit Fire survivors share stories and reflections about the desert years, about loneliness vs. solitude, magical thinking vs hope, fear vs faith, enabling vs forgiveness, darkness vs light.... and how they emerged as wound healers with the wisdom and gifts needed in a suffering and traumatized world.

Or, the power of companions - and boundaries. 

Multiple clergy, ministers, and survivors who work with survivors of trauma and abuse and family members (family members who also share the burden of abuse with victims) talk about how to share a burden without owning the burden - or stealing the burden.

Or, the power of words, lies, and the Word. 

Spirit Fire survivors and friends who offer pastoral care recall different ways they chose a holistic, healthful relationship to the faith, nourished by the Eucharist, without denying or succumbing to the legacy of betrayals and lies maintained by abusers and their enablers.

Or, the power of awareness that leads to action. 

The President of Catholic University, John Garvey, shares thoughts on the call to participate in ongoing dialogue and improvements in the Church, including reflections by Steven White, the Director of The Catholic Project, which was founded at CUA specifically to foster conversations among laity and find ways to support and sustain ongoing reform.

Or, the power of truth. 

Catholic reporters and media specialists share reflections on the challenge and mission they find in reporting scandals in the Church.

Or, the power of lessons learned broadly. 

Champions of child protection programs that arose out of the first round of U.S. Church reforms remember their experiences in promoting child protection in the Church and beyond.

Or, the power of listening and the affirmation of God's abiding love.

Spirit Fire survivors and clergy talk about principles of restorative justice and the practice of trauma-informed pastoral care.

Celebrant: Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Boston, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

Spirit Fire survivors and participating specialists will be available to discuss various topics further in chat rooms immediately following the closing Mass.