See My Hands, See My Side: A collection of Rituals, Liturgies, and Poems for Clerical Abuse Victims/Survivors.

Abstract

This thesis interrogates the Clerical Abuse crisis in the Catholic Church from the positionally of an adult, female survivor. This thesis offers a commentary on the theology of the priesthood and the ways in which systemically, the church's structure is such that it enables abuse when priests choose to transgress boundaries. This collection reimagines what a relationship with the divine and divine practice looks like in the aftermath of abuse. Foundational to this collection is the work of feminist theologians and trauma theorists. Beginning from the embodied experience of living in a clerically abused body, this thesis is comprised of four sections that grapple with abuse and imagine a way forward. From reimagined Catholic liturgies to poems to blessings, this thesis is situated in a practical theological framework, commenting on the relationship between clerically abused bodies, sacramentality, and the institutional church.