Child Predator Sting: Westchester, Rockland Residents Accused of Trying to Lure Children for Sex

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
April 25, 2019

https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=184889

A panel in an exhibit at The Catholic University of America in Washington April 24, 2019, tells an abuse survivor's story. Eight survivors of clergy sexual abuse are sharing their experiences with the university community in the exhibit, which will continue through May 1. The survivors were paired with students, who developed a series of panels that highlight each individual's story to bring to light the impact of abuse. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Eight survivors of clergy sexual abuse are sharing their experiences with The Catholic University of America community in a weeklong exhibit.

The survivors were paired with students, who developed a series of panels that highlight each individual's story to bring to light the impact of abuse.

Karna Lozoya, executive director of university communications, said the exhibit emerged from the school's Catholic Project, which was formed in 2018 to examine the clergy sexual abuse scandal after it erupted again last summer.

"The amazing thing is the involvement of the students and how powerful that experience was for them. It was difficult for the students to hear the stories," Lozoya told Catholic News Service.

The exhibit features 10 panels, each 24 inches wide and 36 inches long. Each panel briefly narrates a survivor's experience. A panel of introduction and a closing prayer bookend the display.

A prayer service and blessing of the panels was to open the exhibit in a ceremony at Caldwell Chapel the evening of April 23. From there, students planned to process carrying the panels to the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, where the exhibit will continue through May 1.

The Catholic Project has sponsored an ongoing "Healing the Breach of Trust" conference series in recent weeks. Lozoya said though that those involved with conferences wanted to include the voices of survivors in programming.

"We said we need to tell the story of the victims," she explained. "Sometimes people tell their story, but it doesn't sink in and we wanted to see their stories have a presence on campus."

From concept through completion, the exhibit developed in a little more than a month as student groups became enthusiastic and sought a way to bring the voices of abuse survivors to campus, Lozoya said.

The survivors were connected with the students through Teresa Pitt Green of Spirit Fire, an organization that describes itself as providing "Christ-centered restorative justice for adults, families and faith communities wounded by child abuse."

"To (the students) it was how the sex abuse crisis became real to them. From Teresa's side, when she was talking to the victims about this, they were really touched that college students wanted to hear their stories. It made them feel very included in the conversation about where to go now with renewal and healing," Lozoya said.

The exhibit also serves to show that rebirth in the face of dire circumstances is possible.

"If we want to know what renewal is in the church," she added, "why not look at those who have experienced abuse and renewed their lives through the church?"