Spiritual Abuse Workshop

Register for Fall 2024!

Through the Church—the sacrament of God’s infinite love—her Scriptures, her Tradition, her prayers, and her liturgies, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and transformative grace.

But what happens when the men and women tasked with mediating God’s grace, appointed to preach God’s word and preside over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm is done when the place of healing becomes a source of harm?

I am a limited license counselor and catechist in Michigan and I work with individuals who have been harmed by the Church and with ministry leaders to help them make their communities safer.

Join me this fall for an online workshop focused on recognizing, preventing, and responding to spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church.

This workshop is for:

• Individuals trying to understand and/or heal from experiences of spiritual abuse in the Church

• Clergy and lay leaders interested in safeguarding their communities from spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience

• Therapists working with clients who have been spiritually abused

This workshop will help you:

• Recognize and prevent spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience in the Church

• Know the symptoms of spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and moral injury

• Respond to individuals who have been spiritually abused

Details:

This is five-part live workshop that will be held virtually. I’m running two workshops this fall, with day or evening sessions to accommodate different time zones and work schedules.

Groups will have between 5 and 12 participants and space will be filled on a first come, first serve basis.

• Group 1 - Wednesdays, 3:00-4:30pm (EST) | Dates: 9/25 - 10/23

• Group 2 - Thursdays, 7:30-9:00pm (EST) | Dates: 9/26 - 10/24

Pricing:

I believe that anyone, regardless of their financial situation, should have access to the information in this workshop. I do not wish for inability to pay to prevent you from registering. Based on my training and time commitment, this workshop is valued at $350. Making this workshop available to anyone who can benefit from it is important to me, but it is also an important part of my family’s income.

While the full value of the five-part series is $350, you decide what you can pay. Whether it's $10 or more than $350, your contribution is appreciated. Even if you can't attend, but you are grateful resources like this exist, you can financially support the workshop. Any amount helps.

How to Pay:

1. Preferred Method: Send your contribution via PayPal to paul@faheycounseling.com

2. Or use your credit card here:
https://pope-francis-generation.checkoutpage.co/spiritual-abuse-workshop-fall-2024

This flexible pricing is a new approach I'm trying to ensure inclusivity while also supporting my family as I transition into my counseling career. I hope it can be an opportunity for solidarity within this community and an opportunity for me to trust in God's providence more.

I’m looking forward to having you in the workshop!

Feedback from previous workshops

I first led this workshop earlier this summer and two-dozen people from across the country (and beyond) attended, including lay ministers, college students, parents, grandparents, religious sisters, clergy, spiritual directors, artists, and a farmer.

I had three personal goals for the workshop participants, that all would 1) better understand their own experiences of spiritual abuse, 2) feel less isolated, and 3) be more equipped to make their own communities safer. And, based on the feedback I received from the final survey, the workshop was a huge success!

Several participants gave me permission to share their responses:

I asked if the workshop met the participant’s expectation:

• The content exceeded expectations. It’s difficult in such a short span of time to cover it in its fullness, but the additional readings, videos, and podcasts were extremely helpful/informative.

• It helped me feel less lonely…and showed me that there are others like me out there who have suffered spiritual abuse and want to have the tools to recognize and resist abusive agendas.

• No one was ever pressured or coerced to unwillingly share what they did or did not want to. There is immense freedom in this! I have the sense that everyone felt this was a very safe space in which to express their experiences, thoughts, hopes, dreams for their own faith journey and where they fit in within the body of Christ, within the Church.

I asked what the most impactful aspect of the workshop was:

• Learning more in-depth terminology to put around the circumstances of my abuse and also having a place where I could try to speak objectively about my experience. I have only done that one other time, and I felt safe.

• Finally realizing that this is happening inside the church. And that this [does] not mean we have to move away from our faith. And how to recognize it. And how to actively act to try to change the structures that might be contributing for the reproduction of this harm.

• We are part of the solution; we are not defeated because of any spiritual abuse we have experienced. I had a very clear sense that everyone was imbued with more hope for themselves, their faith journey and their role within the Church.

I asked how the participants plan on applying what they learned from the workshop to their life moving forward:

• To continue growing, learning and listening to other's experiences in order to deepen my own faith, but also to be able to point out to someone if they have been or are being spiritually abused, I have a body of terminology and resources now that I feel better equipped to assist others.

• For myself, I plan to utilize this information and beginning discussions as I seek additional help for my own Moral Injury. With regard to my parishioners and others I intend to be more intentional about listening for the signs of Spiritual Abuse and making sure I give others a space in which they know they can discuss and share about it.

• This course has helped me realize how much I have been harmed and how I have harmed others unintentionally. The pain is real and it has helped enormously to have a group of people who feel the same way. I don't feel alone. It has also helped me realize this a new awareness of spiritual trauma and abuse and I have to be patient for changes in the church at large.