Title : My Toe-Dipping Foray into Social Media Activism . . .
link : My Toe-Dipping Foray into Social Media Activism . . .
My Toe-Dipping Foray into Social Media Activism . . .
I have over-extended myself in Social Media this past few days, and although I rarely get controversial on this blog, I need to explain something to you in the interest of authenticity and some on-line consistency.
Over the weekend, my sister posted a link on Facebook. The link was to an obituary of the priest who targeted her when she was 11, began grooming her for the sexual abuse that began when she was 13 (I wrote and then deleted several paragraphs here explaining chronology, context, family life, etc. -- in fact, you'll see the abuse is a matter of public record. If you enter the priest's name in any search engine, you'll quickly confirm my sister's accusations, my claims here. Yet the obituary provides a rather laudable narrative, describes a bright, personable pastor with many gifts (albeit a disturbingly suggestive geography of moves).
In light of the recent, horrifying news out of Pennsylvania (300 priests! 1000 victims!), this whitewashing suggests that the Church is still sweeping the truth under a huge ecclesiastical carpet -- to any victims of this priest who haven't yet disclosed his abuse of them, an obituary like this makes it seem even less likely that they'll be believed.
Indignant that an abuser could be so easily transformed into a "Reverend" again, the survivors' injuries negated, I'm not the only sister who added a comment in the form provided. The site indicated that my comment would be "made visible once approved." Our comments are so far being blocked; a very pious and laudatory comment, on the other hand, has since been allowed. At least it provides great amusement in its note that the priest's "lessons on moral theology are still in-bedded, and being put to good use, all these years later." The mind boggles -- in-bedded/embedded. Mis-spelling? Freudian slip? Hmmmm
Trying to keep this story short, I will just say that I shared my sister's concerns that this obituary further exemplified the Church's silencing of survivors of abuse at the hands of its priests. I shared them -- and then I shared them. On Facebook (where I mostly limit friends to people I've met, personally) and on Twitter (which I scarcely use anymore as @materfam, but which seems to be the best platform for this kind of work) -- and then the good social media friends, that I've met and that I've only just been introduced to virtually, that Social Media "it takes a village" -- the word began spreading. I spent yesterday watch a small tsunami of support gathering momentum and I'm not sure that the newspaper concerned is going to address the issue. But it may be that an era of protected secrecy is ending. . .
So I'm feeling exhilarated and hopeful and buoyed by gratitude with regular interjections of indignation and dismay. But I'm also feeling jangled, nerve-frazzled, pumped with adrenaline, unable to settle down, anxious. I've been checking my Twitter notifications far too often, scrolling through Facebook posts (all those jokes and ads and news alerts), IM'ing my sisters. . . and right now, some symptoms are indicating that I need to step back a bit, put the laptop and the cellphone away for a few hours -- except for the Meditation app I downloaded last week and have been finding very helpful.
We're spending the days with a granddaughter this week, and I know that will help get the cortisol levels back where they belong. Your comments are very welcome, but I'm not sure when I'll respond to them. The next post here is most likely to be full of soothing garden photos . . . Oh, and I did post a few book recommendations over on the reading blog.
Over the weekend, my sister posted a link on Facebook. The link was to an obituary of the priest who targeted her when she was 11, began grooming her for the sexual abuse that began when she was 13 (I wrote and then deleted several paragraphs here explaining chronology, context, family life, etc. -- in fact, you'll see the abuse is a matter of public record. If you enter the priest's name in any search engine, you'll quickly confirm my sister's accusations, my claims here. Yet the obituary provides a rather laudable narrative, describes a bright, personable pastor with many gifts (albeit a disturbingly suggestive geography of moves).
In light of the recent, horrifying news out of Pennsylvania (300 priests! 1000 victims!), this whitewashing suggests that the Church is still sweeping the truth under a huge ecclesiastical carpet -- to any victims of this priest who haven't yet disclosed his abuse of them, an obituary like this makes it seem even less likely that they'll be believed.
Indignant that an abuser could be so easily transformed into a "Reverend" again, the survivors' injuries negated, I'm not the only sister who added a comment in the form provided. The site indicated that my comment would be "made visible once approved." Our comments are so far being blocked; a very pious and laudatory comment, on the other hand, has since been allowed. At least it provides great amusement in its note that the priest's "lessons on moral theology are still in-bedded, and being put to good use, all these years later." The mind boggles -- in-bedded/embedded. Mis-spelling? Freudian slip? Hmmmm
Trying to keep this story short, I will just say that I shared my sister's concerns that this obituary further exemplified the Church's silencing of survivors of abuse at the hands of its priests. I shared them -- and then I shared them. On Facebook (where I mostly limit friends to people I've met, personally) and on Twitter (which I scarcely use anymore as @materfam, but which seems to be the best platform for this kind of work) -- and then the good social media friends, that I've met and that I've only just been introduced to virtually, that Social Media "it takes a village" -- the word began spreading. I spent yesterday watch a small tsunami of support gathering momentum and I'm not sure that the newspaper concerned is going to address the issue. But it may be that an era of protected secrecy is ending. . .
So I'm feeling exhilarated and hopeful and buoyed by gratitude with regular interjections of indignation and dismay. But I'm also feeling jangled, nerve-frazzled, pumped with adrenaline, unable to settle down, anxious. I've been checking my Twitter notifications far too often, scrolling through Facebook posts (all those jokes and ads and news alerts), IM'ing my sisters. . . and right now, some symptoms are indicating that I need to step back a bit, put the laptop and the cellphone away for a few hours -- except for the Meditation app I downloaded last week and have been finding very helpful.
We're spending the days with a granddaughter this week, and I know that will help get the cortisol levels back where they belong. Your comments are very welcome, but I'm not sure when I'll respond to them. The next post here is most likely to be full of soothing garden photos . . . Oh, and I did post a few book recommendations over on the reading blog.
Thus articles My Toe-Dipping Foray into Social Media Activism . . .
that is all articles My Toe-Dipping Foray into Social Media Activism . . . This time, hopefully can provide benefits to you all. Okay, see you in another article post.
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