The thing that struck me most about this story of an order of Catholic Jesuits who have agreed to pay out $166m to the (Native American) victims of child abuse (at the hands of their priests) was not the sexual abuse.

We all know that priests have been abusing children sexually. We know how widespread it was (and we hope it no longer is). Somehow, it’s not that shocking anymore. Amazing how easily we become desensitized isn’t it?

The thing that hit me most was the money.

What business does the Church, or any so-called religious institution, have hoarding hundreds of millions of dollars?!

I somehow can’t imagine Jesus ‘saving for a rainy day’.

I mean, it’s not like there are people starving in the world is it? Or villages without water? Or vast numbers of homeless refugees?

I’m not saying that the ‘victims’ of those priests don’t deserve a little compensation.

I’m saying that they shouldn’t need to be compensated, because they should never have been abused in the first place.

And a church that is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world, whose representatives have repeatedly taken advantage of the vulnerable people they are meant to protect, needs to be seriously questioned.

** If your life is scarred by the trauma of abuse, please contact me. I am a therapist and am able to heal the trauma of abuse (even a whole lifetime of abuse) in just one or two sessions. For more info see my blog or website (links in Bio below).