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	An Interview with Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune By Jaime Romo Healing and Spirituality July 29, 2010 http://www.jaimeromo.com/blog/ Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune is the founder and senior researcher of the Faith Trust Institute, which has been an ecumenical leader in working with religious leaders to promote healing from and end child sexual abuse, particularly that which occurs in churches, mosques and temples. JR: You’ve been in the business of working to end clergy abuse and promote healing for 30 years. What progress do you see among churches when it comes to ending clergy abuse? What areas are frustrating to work with? Why? MF: The biggest change is that the reality of abuse by clergy in no longer hidden, thanks to the courage and persistence of survivors. The second biggest change is that most judicatories and movements in our faith communities now have some policies in place to respond to complaints from victims. The most frustrating area I see is that relatively few judicatories have been proactive and motivated by a real concern for the health and safety of their members; those that have realize that this is a long term project requiring ongoing training and vigilance at every level of the faith community. They are motivated by the fundamental values of their faith traditions: promoting justice, healing and expecting accountability for their leaders. Unfortunately for far too many judicatories, the motivation for their response has been the advice of their legal counsel or the expectations of their insurance carrier and their goal is to protect the institution from the legitimate complaints of their members. This response never makes for healing but rather betrayal and alienation from their people. JR: We’ve spoken about the dynamic of bystanders in abuse. I think that when the average churchgoer (oblivious or guilty bystanders) begin to confront abusers, a profound shift in society can happen. What do you think? MF: Yes, but it’s not that simple. I think we are now realizing that the laity are key to solving the problem of clergy misconduct. An informed and aware laity will make it much more difficult for a clergyperson to violate boundaries with impunity. But they need education in order to have a framework for understanding what they may be seeing. JR: We’ve also spoken about how many congregants rush to forgive the abusive clergy. MF: When congregants rush to forgive abusive clergy, it usually means that they don’t understand what is happening in their church or they just want to remain in denial. The “cheap grace” of premature “forgiveness” is never good for the church, the victims, or the abuser. JR: I’ve read your blog and letters to the pope. What are the things that you think this pope needs to do to promote healing and end abuse everywhere? MF: Basically, stop being defensive; keep apologizing and meeting with survivors; hold perpetrators accountable; remove Bishops who knowingly left children in harm’s way; fix a system that is so tragically out of touch with its people. JR: The work of ending clergy abuse is a substantial task, and you’ve been a beacon of light and advocacy for survivors throughout your ministry. How has this work shaped your spiritual life? MF: Being involved in this ministry for over 30 years has challenged and deepened my faith. Challenged because I have seen firsthand so much pain and suffering among God’s people and way too much of it caused by or contributed to by the church. Deepened, because I have also seen remarkable courage and faithfulness by so many survivors of clergy misconduct and abuse. There are so many people who have refused to walk away; rather they have stayed to fight for their church and are calling the church to be the church. This gives me great hope. JR: I think that the deeper transformation in any religious organizations will happen when the average member begins to believe what she sees and not see what she believes regarding clergy misconduct. What do you think? MF: Yes, but it is very hard to believe what you see if you don’t have a framework for interpreting it. Especially when what you “see” is so disturbing. So we have to help provide tools for the laity to equip and support them to see, understand, and act. JR: I know that there’s a lot of attention to having safe church policies, as a result of major law suits and insurance companies demanding such action. In my mind, we need to create healing communities (which goes beyond the idea of ‘safe church’). MF: Absolutely. “Safe Churches” should be a given but it is only a beginning. Healthy boundaries, healthy ministry, healthy church: this should be our goal. This is a shared agenda among the whole congregation that seeks the wellbeing of the other, protects persons in their vulnerabilities, and respects the integrity of the other. This isn’t about lots of rules and regulations or being politically correct. It’s about the church being a safe place where justice and healing are practiced. JR: What sustains you or inspires you to do this work? MF: One advantage of doing something for a long time is being able to see the impact over time. So I am sustained by beginning to see things change in church and society. Also I am sustained because I see healing in people. I see people experience a glimmer of justice that turns their life around. For Christians, I think this is what Jesus meant when he says in John that he came that we might have abundance of life. JR: What do you imagine or hope will happen in the next few years related to ending violence and abuse? MF: My realistic goal is come to a time in our lives when sexual and domestic violence are peculiar and rare occurrences, clearly deviating from the norm. When my great grandniece hears a story about abuse in a family from one of her school friends and she comes to me and asks me what it is. And I will explain to her how things were in the old days. There will always be abuse and violence. But it should be rare, deviant and unacceptable. It just may take a few more generations.
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