OREGON
Catholic Sentinel
Ed Langlois
Of the Catholic Sentinel
Patsy Seeley, a 64-year-old artist from Beaverton, didn’t darken the doors of a church for decades. The reason: As a child in Tillamook more than 50 years ago, her priest sexually abused her.
It wasn’t until she heard about the welcoming pastoral team at Holy Trinity Parish near her home that Seeley hazarded a return. It was Lent, and she ended up going through her own process of suffering and redemption. She began sitting in the back of Holy Trinity and moved forward pew by pew until now she is in front.
Mass, which she had been avoiding, was the very thing that ridded her of shame and blame.
“It was a powerful experience of reconciliation,” Seeley says. “I had been through years of psychotherapy. I had psychological healing, but not spiritual healing.”
She met with then-Archbishop John Vlazny and he suggested a retreat called Grief to Grace. Seeley attended one of the weekends and her healing was so solidified that now she is an organizer.
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