MONTANA
Char-Koosta News
Lailani Upham
BILLINGS — A two-day journey that began with openness of childhood sexual abuse, an epidemic that has tore the fabric of Indian Country communities for generations has been faced and ideals of healing had been launched for the future generations, at the 3rd annual Hope Conference, “Healing For Our People Everywhere – Seeking the Courage To Heal.”
At the opening morning Theda New Breast, Master Trainer and Facilitator of the Native Wellness Institute stated, “It doesn’t matter the number, but that you try your best in spreading the word of healing.”
Anna Whiting Sorrell, Billings Area Indian Health Director and keynote opening speaker of the conference, urged the group to fight the fight together, make difference and make a stand that the abuse in Indian communities would not be acceptable anymore. …
John Shuster, counselor, author and ex-Roman Catholic priest and board of director of The Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests (SNAP) held a workshop “Healing Choices For Survivors of Abuse.”
Shuster lectured on history of the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse on Indian Reservations in the Northwest and Great Plains area stating that most of the clergy that came to the Reservations were from Germany. Those who joined the seminary in Germany experienced sexual abuse in their lives and wanted to escape by joining the “priesthood” and ended up being sent to rural areas where they began perpetrating abuse on children just as had been done to them.
The abuse was brought over from what was happening in that other country, he stated.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.