Nancy Werking Poling, ed, Victim to Survivor: Women Recovering from Clergy Sexual Abuse. Cleveland: United Church Press, 1999 ($16.50)
It's the details that get you. The pastor who jokes that he could raise money for the Church by writing erotic books, before he tries to kiss the young associate he supervises. The sacramental wine offered by the spiritual director before he suggests that a young victim of incest act out her sexual fantasies with him. It's the sentences that say more than just the words they contain - "I hate it when people react with sympathy." "Where the heck is God?" "I loathed myself." "It still scares me to think how dangerous some so-called love can be." -that grab your gut and make you feel, not just think, about how terribly wrong clergy sexual abuse is. The six victims who tell their stories in this book chronicle six different paths through terrible betrayal into genuine, hard won healing. The underlying pattern of the offenders' behavior is remarkably, chillingly the same; the powerful impact of the book comes from the vibrancy of the survivors who come across as ever so much more interesting and real than the charming but hollow pastors who betrayed them. If communities of faith are going to heal, it will be because stories like these are told, heard, and honored.
EH