IRELAND
The Journal
November 14, 2017
The Association of Catholic Priests is launching therapy sessions for the mental wellbeing of priests.
AN IRISH PRIESTS group is launching therapy sessions for its members whose morale has been affected by sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church.
The Association of Catholic Priests will run its first Circle of Healing session in Cork on 28 November, as part of its move to help churchmen affected by the Church’s scandals, including those who have been wrongly accused of sexual abuse.
Father Tim Hazelwood, a spokesperson for the group of 1,000 priests, said the aim of the sessions is to help priests “process” and “explore their feelings around the sexual abuse scandals” and to provide support of those who have had to deal with years of negativity within the Church.
“The last 20 years were hugely traumatic for the lives of priests,” Father Hazelwood told TheJournal.ie.
He said that the lives of priests have changed drastically over the past number of years and the public’s attitude toward priests has shifted, leaving priests fearful “that people will say things to them or get aggressive towards them” if they wear their clerical clothes in public.
“On top of that, there have been so many sexual abuse scandals. There is all that negativity and no forum where priests can talk about it,” Father Hazelwood said.
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