Laity

Read the book (purchase it here or contact us and we will send you an electronic copy of the book)
Work on your own personal, marital (if applicable), and familial (if applicable) holiness. Remove the plank from your eye before removing the speck from your brother’s eye.
Share a copy of the book with your pastor or priests that you know (contact us for free copies to give to your Pastor or Bishop)
Talk about the issue with your friends and identify who is concerned about the problem of clerical sexual abuse (perpetrated on children or adults) and recommend the book to them.
Encourage others to share a copy with priests and friends.
If you encounter a survivor of sexual abuse, follow the advice in the Healing the Brokenhearted chapter and walk with them to help them in the healing process. If you help one person who is suffering, all the work that the contributors have put into this book has been worthwhile.

Survivors

Begin the hard work of healing with a therapist, tell your spouse, parents or best friend. This is the first step in healing.
Find a support group like the Maria Goretti Network in your local area, contact Miguel Prats to find out more information.
Contact law enforcement and report the abuse, ask them how to proceed
If the priest is still alive and especially if he is in active ministry, after contacting law enforcement, then contact the Diocese and make a formal report. This could be the victim assistance coordinator (see Elizabeth Terrill’s chapter entitled First Steps, if there is no VAC, then contact the Bishop’s office and request a private meeting on a personal matter.

Read the book. If you have never met a victim of clerical sexual abuse, you can get to know four of us in the opening chapters of Abuse of Trust. Contact us and we will send you a free book. This book was written to help our Church heal from the trauma of priests sexually abusing children. This abuse harms many more than the direct victim, it profoundly hurts the family of the abuse victim, the communities in which the priest abusers worked and his brother priests. Know that many survivors pray daily for our faithful priests who are suffering greatly due to the sins of a brother priest.
Share the book with your brother priests and lay leaders in your community who also desire to help survivors in the healing process
If you are able, share this book with your parish community (contact us to arrange for a bulk purchase of the book - we self published and thus have a lot of flexibility and donors who will help make this happen)
Consider holding sessions about the problem and solutions related to clerical sexual abuse in your parish, especially if an abuser priest has served in the past. There could be much hurt among parishioners who knew the abuser, even if they weren’t abused (read about secondary victims in the Healing the Brokenhearted, Reclaiming Spiritual Fatherhood, The Family is Still Standing)