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What Is Racism’s Role in the Abuse Crisis?
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What Is Racism’s Role in the Abuse Crisis?

Last week Awake hosted a thought-provoking Courageous Conversation about the ways racism impacts the problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The panel discussion, “Erased from the Narrative: The Role of Racism in the Abuse Crisis,” featured Fr. Bryan Massingale, a professor of ethics at Fordham University in New York and a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; Maka Black Elk, executive director for Truth and Healing at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota; and Jeremy Cruz, a professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University in New York. The recording of the conversation is available here.

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Hopeful News about the Synod Process — and Awake’s Synod Report
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Hopeful News about the Synod Process — and Awake’s Synod Report

After Awake Milwaukee hosted two synod sessions in June to ensure that abuse survivors, their loved ones, and concerned Catholics had a voice in the global listening initiative of the Catholic Church, we submitted our report to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s synod team. Awake’s complete synod report is available on our website.

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Praying the Rosary with and for Abuse Survivors
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Praying the Rosary with and for Abuse Survivors

On Tuesday, October 18, the Feast of St. Luke, a group of 30 lay people and clergy members from across the United States gathered on Zoom to pray a rosary with and for survivors of sexual abuse.

This prayer service used the Glorious Mysteries, inviting participants to reflect on the reality of abuse in light of God’s promise of resurrection and new life. Each decade of the rosary was led by a different survivor of abuse in the Catholic Church, who offered an intention based on their own experience.

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Catholics Have Questions About Awake’s Next Step Recommendations. We Offer Answers.

Catholics Have Questions About Awake’s Next Step Recommendations. We Offer Answers.

We call the recommendations “Next Steps” because we see them as building on the progress the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has already made to assist survivors and address abuse by church leaders. But we believe more can and should be done. We developed these recommendations carefully over the course of two years by listening deeply to survivors and researching widely accepted best practices already implemented in other dioceses.

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Deborah Rodriguez
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Deborah Rodriguez

“The greatest challenge I have had to endure as a survivor is shame. Because others forced me to keep silent about the abuse, I thought I was the one at fault, that I had done something wrong.”

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Courageous Conversation: Abuse Survivors Share What They Want Catholics to Understand
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Courageous Conversation: Abuse Survivors Share What They Want Catholics to Understand

Last week, Awake Milwaukee launched the third season of its popular Courageous Conversations series with “What I Want Catholics to Understand,” a panel discussion that featured five victim-survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church. A recording of the conversation is now available on Awake’s YouTube channel. Here we offer a summary of the main insights shared during the conversation, which was moderated by Sara Larson, executive director of Awake Milwaukee.

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Part 4: Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Transparency and Accountability of Lay-Led Advisory Boards
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Part 4: Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Transparency and Accountability of Lay-Led Advisory Boards

This week we continue to explore Awake’s recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, developed to help our local church take next steps to address the evil of sexual abuse. Today we consider the third set of recommendations, which focus on unacceptable boundary violations that may set the stage for abuse. The complete set of recommendations for our archdiocese is available here.

Last week we shared part 1 and part 2 of the recommendations and explored why Awake is advocating for these changes. The recommendations come out of our efforts to learn from abuse survivors across the country and our careful research of best practices implemented in other U.S. dioceses.

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Part 3: Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Proactive Steps to Prevent Abuse
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Part 3: Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Proactive Steps to Prevent Abuse

This week we continue to explore Awake’s recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, developed to help our local church take next steps to address the evil of sexual abuse. Today we consider the third set of recommendations, which focus on unacceptable boundary violations that may set the stage for abuse. The complete set of recommendations for our archdiocese is available here.

Last week we shared part 1 and part 2 of the recommendations and explored why Awake is advocating for these changes. The recommendations come out of our efforts to learn from abuse survivors across the country and our careful research of best practices implemented in other U.S. dioceses.

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Part 2: Awake’s Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Keeping Adults Safe from Abuse
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Part 2: Awake’s Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – Keeping Adults Safe from Abuse

Today we take a closer look at Awake’s second set of recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, related to the sexual abuse of adults. The complete set of recommendations for our archdiocese are available here. As we shared in a blog post earlier this week, these recommendations come out of efforts to walk with and listen to abuse survivors from across the country, as well as careful research of best practices implemented in other dioceses.

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Awake Unveils Next-Step Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
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Awake Unveils Next-Step Recommendations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

Today we at Awake Milwaukee begin sharing a series of recommendations that we developed to help our local Church take further steps to address the evil of sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has already taken important steps to ensure a safer Church, but more action is needed. We believe the best response to sexual abuse in the Church has two parts: first, accompanying and supporting victim-survivors in their pursuit of truth, accountability, and healing, and second, working proactively to prevent future abuse.

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Survivors Respond as Rembert Weakland is Honored with Archdiocesan Funeral
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Survivors Respond as Rembert Weakland is Honored with Archdiocesan Funeral

Today the Archdiocese of Milwaukee holds a funeral Mass for former archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland, who died on August 22 at age 95.

We at Awake know this may be a difficult day for many sexual abuse survivors and their loved ones, and the celebration of Weakland’s life may bring up strong, painful feelings. In a press release Awake issued today, we explained, “Sexual abuse, especially abuse by a religious leader, is a deep and long-lasting trauma, and we urge all people to be mindful of this reality when they speak about Weakland’s legacy.”

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Researchers Seek Information About Jesuit Daniel Kenney, “The Monkey Priest” with Milwaukee Connections
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Researchers Seek Information About Jesuit Daniel Kenney, “The Monkey Priest” with Milwaukee Connections

A group of academic researchers at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska has been working to gather information about Daniel Kenney, a popular Jesuit priest credibly accused of sexually abusing boys who attended Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha between 1965 and 1989. Kenney’s career also included multiple periods in Milwaukee.

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Bill Kessenich
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Bill Kessenich

“Pope Francis says that the Church needs to be a ‘field hospital’ for the marginalized. I believe that we survivors of trauma have roles to play as doctors and nurses for the field hospital.”

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