Several years ago, during one of my desperate late night web searchers, I stumbled upon The Hope of Survivors . In the midst of my long and painful journey, I’d finally found the people I’d been looking for, yet wasn’t sure existed; those who could identify with the exact nature of my own crisis.

I took a risk we are all familiar with and sent out an email, still uncertain of whom was on “the other side”. A warm and nearly immediate response soon came from the founder of THOS, an abuse survivor herself, Samantha Nelson. She embraced me and my questions with open arms and a gentle empathy that can only be described as angelic. Beyond my personal interaction with Samantha, I found a wealth of information on THOS website, which confirmed my own thoughts and feelings; that pastoral sexual abuse is not an affair; it is spiritual abuse, and an abuse of power.

The Hope of Survivors has helped countless pastoral sexual abuse victims since my first encounter with them. The website is filled to the brim with healing information related to this type of abuse. Sadly, so is this news page, which tells us just how increasingly common sexual abuse within the Church is. And how many damaged souls and destroyed lives are left in the wake of these tragedies.

Check back here often as we have exciting plans for this blog. Your questions and comments are welcome—we want to interact with you.

If you need help, please contact The Hope of Survivors. The journey may be rough and the waters deep, but the burden can be lightened by sharing with those who understand. Those who’ve been there.