Awake Blog
Welcome to the Awake Blog! If you’re new to Awake, we recommend you check out these top blog posts from our archive.
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Fr. Frank Reitter
“God, through prayer, helped me understand I can never be the person I could have been had I not been abused, but I can be the person I can be.”
Emily Hess
“I sometimes feel imposter syndrome when talking to fellow survivors; my story is very mild compared to most of the stories I've heard from others.”
Gino Wolfe
"Speaking out has allowed me to grow as a man, father, and spouse...I finally feel that I can look at myself in the mirror and like who I see."
Maria Silvers
“Hearing stories like mine from other survivors has helped me to recognize and heal from the wound of shame.”
Allison DeGeorge
“It has taken me more than a decade to find the words that have become my abuse story and I feel very … afraid to share. The only reason I share it now is that I do not want anyone to have to endure the shame and isolation I felt as I searched … for an explanation of what happened to me.”
Gina Barthel
"Some people ask, “Are you going to be a victim forever?” The answer is complicated. I’m a victim, survivor, and thriver. The wounds are deep and will never go away, just like Jesus’ wounds didn’t go away after he was resurrected."
Eduardo Lopez de Casas
“I find it extremely necessary to share my stories with as many practicing Catholics as I can.”
Making the Eucharist Accessible to Survivors of Abuse
Recently Paula Kaempffer of the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis began to consider a powerful idea: why couldn’t she take the Eucharist to victim-survivors who want to receive it, in the same way that lay ministers take communion to parishioners who can’t leave their homes due to illness or mobility issues?
Aimee Torres
“One person can make a huge difference in someone’s life just by speaking up.”
Kathy Ann Coll
“It was painful to discover that my Catholic Church does not recognize adult survivors as ‘victims.’ ”
Paige Eppenstein Anderson
“I decided to share my story because it’s not the typical story you hear about abuse in the Church.”
Courageous Conversation: How Immigrant Voices are Silenced in Church Abuse
Awake’s latest Courageous Conversation explored important questions of how the abuse crisis has affected immigrant communities.
Awake’s Top 10 Blog Posts of 2023
To mark the arrival of 2024, we take a look back over the Awake Blog in 2023, a busy year of growth for Awake. Here are the ten blog posts that were read and shared the most often.
Carl Huber
“I believe in the power of storytelling as a means for people to feel validated, to feel heard, and it’s been a big part of my own healing.”
Holiday How-To: 10 Tips for Talking with Your Family About Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church
Editor’s Note: As we prepare for Advent and the holiday season, we revisit this popular 2021 post designed to help you raise the topic of the abuse crisis while spending time with loved ones. It’s the holiday season,…
What Structural Factors Contribute to Abuse in the Catholic Church?
Editor’s Note: This week we revisit our 2022 interview with Australian researcher Stephen de Weger, who offers his personal story of abuse in the Church and his take on the structural factors that he believes set the stage…
Awake Welcomes 6 New Members to Our Survivor Advisory Panel
Awake considers listening to and learning from victim-survivors of abuse to be central to our work as an organization, which makes our Survivor Advisory Panel a valuable part of our community. This diverse group of survivors is invested…
Meet Awake’s New Patron Saints
In a special prayer service this week, Awake introduced a group of patron saints recently chosen for our community, and launched a novena calling on the intercession of these saints. A recording of the service, just 16 minutes…
What Does Grooming Look Like in the Sexual Abuse of Adults?
As we grapple with the problem of sexual abuse of adults in the Catholic Church, it’s important to acknowledge the role of grooming, the tactics some abusive people use to gain access to their victims and avoid getting…
Courageous Conversation: Survivor Panel Describes the Spiritual Impacts of Sexual Abuse
Awake’s first Courageous Conversation of the 2023-24 season featured four victim-survivors who shared powerful stories of how they came to connect with God and to courageously undertake a long journey of healing. “Spiritual Trauma:…