LA Clergy Sex Abuse Settlement

I should be used to it but I'm not! I continue to be amazed at the lack of empathy felt for victims of clergy sex abuse by others - especially fellow 'Catholic' parishioners - who just don't seem to get it. Reading the comments in the LA Times yesterday one could easily find a cluster of dismissive, accusatory and rejectionary attitudes with regards the victims and the over generous $600... million settlement. It takes enormous courage to pursue the Church. I take my hat off to all the victims and their supporters for their unwavering search for truth. And lets not forget those who didn't make it. A brief lesson on the effects of clergy sex abuse: virtual annihilation of the body, mind and spirit; complex layers of shame, guilt, self-destruction. The victim is left with no belief in oneself, no belief in anyone, and no belief in God or some 'greater Power/Energy/Love. Here is my contribution to the Times' discussion re 'Is 600....blah blah too much?

No amount of gold can restore the soul that was murdered

No award can erase the detritus from the soul

No payment can give back purity and innocence

What use a check to the soul robbed of its raison d’etre?

Not even justice can recreate a love of life, a capacity for joy

In the slaughtered soul