Support for Victims/Survivors

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
By Bessel van der Kolk, M.D
A pioneering researcher transforms the understanding of trauma and offers a bold new model for healing in this New York Times bestseller.



Finding God in the Mess 
By Jim Deeds & Brendan McManus, SJ
The perfect tool to help us learn to pause, to take time to be with God, to contemplate our lives, and to recognize God’s presence in all of it, especially the hard times.


Healing the Church: Diagnosing & Treating the Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal     
By Sr. Nuola Kenny, MD
A renowned physician, scholar and religious sister, Sr. Kenny tackles the sexual abuse crisis in the Canadian Catholic Church head-on, looking for both the cause and the cure. Kenny provides a process for purifying, renewing, and strengthening the Church. She walks us through the process of acknowledging the tremendous pain the scandal caused to victims to healing the wounds of victims to preventing further suffering, and gives us ideas for sustaining a healthy and strong Church.


My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints    
By Dawn Eden
Eden, internationally known speaker and author of the bestselling The Thrill of the Chaste, shows how the lives of the saints have given her hope and aided her journey of spiritual healing after childhood sexual abuse. This book provides a much-needed resource for spiritual healing from the isolating effects of these wounds. 


Remembering God’s Mercy: Redeem the Past and Free Yourself from Painful Memories    
By Dawn Eden         
In this book, bestselling author Dawn Eden explores how memories impact and are affected by faith, and offers a guide to the process she used to heal from the pain of her sexual abuse. Through her own story, as well as the examples of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Peter Faber, and Pope Francis, she shows how the mercy of God, who holds all of the events of our life in His own memory, can bring you healing and inner peace. 


Restoring Sanctuary
By T. Pitt Green
This book, written by a survivor, is a reflection on her faith journey in healing from abuse from a predator priest. It is instructive and helpful in a compassionate and witty story. Other survivors of abuse say it has been helpful to their journey. This also may be helpful for priests or others who serve the church in helping professions.


Veronica’s Veil: Spiritual Companionship for Survivors of Abuse     
By Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS & T. Pitt Green
This book offers spiritual support to adults who wish to integrate their Christian faith into the arduous psychological recovery from child abuse by clergy and other persons in authority. 


You Have Set Us Free – Scriptural Reflections for Trauma Survivors  
By Kenneth W. Schmidt
This book helps survivors of trauma, and their family and friends to understand the deep and long-lasting effects of their trauma.  It also helps them to correlate their experiences of suffering and healing in the light of the paschal mystery of Christ.