MALTA
Times of Malta

Sunday, September 14, 2014 by Fr Paul Chetcuti

Abuse is abuse. Period. It is a fact – a horrible, destructive, irreversible fact in the life of many, too many! Abuse wounds so many of us, indeed all of us – a deep, unmeasurable wound that rips apart the human psyche and pierces the spirit. The deeper the wound, the fiercer is our reactions, both on a personal and a collective level.

Let me stop on some common reactions: shameful secrecy, angry judgement and prevention.

Shame, guilt and hence, secrecy, is the first reaction. The victim is wrecked by these reactions and often carries the festering woundedness for years in dark silence. The perpetrator does the same thing, but, often, too often, under the guise of denial.

Society, petrified by the woundedness of abuse, has tried to survive on this denial. And let’s not escape our…