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  Event to Encourage Talk about Sex Abuse
Church Hosting 2-Day Conference for Victims

By Kristen Schorsch
Press-Citizen [Iowa]
June 23, 2005

About 75 Iowans and people from neighboring states are expected to attend a religious sexual abuse conference this weekend in Iowa City.

Hosted at Faith United Church of Christ, 1609 Deforest Ave., the two-day conference aims to open the door when it comes to talking about sexual abuse in the church.

"I think we hope that this will allow people to feel like they can speak about this," said Norman Johnson, president of Iowa City Call to Action, which is one of four groups sponsoring the event. "I think it's been a problem that people are just not comfortable telling their stories because they feel that they're going to be judged for this."

Based on Catholic Church surveys, about 12,000 people nationwide have been victims of religious sexual abuse, said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. However, Clohessy said he thought the number of victims was higher.

According to the Diocese of Davenport, 53 victims have made 60 allegations against 19 priests from 1950 to Feb. 25, 2004.

The conference will include a handful of sessions along with question and answer segments, including topics such as steps toward healing and prevention and why survivors end up in court.

Clohessy, one of a handful of speakers, said he planned to talk about national trends showing how the church hierarchy was responding to sexual abuse allegations, prevention and how people could help victims heal.

"We're seeing some serious backsliding from the promises made a few years ago to be more compassionate and more transparent," Clohessy said about the church. "It seems that they are relying more and more on their (public relations) advisers and on their defense lawyers rather than listening to their hearts and their parishioners."

The Davenport Diocese declined comment.

Johnson said several priests and people from the diocese besides priests are expected to attend. The event aims to help people, not attack the church, he said.