This article describes and discusses the power–vulnerability intersect in thelives of 23 women and 6 men who experienced clergy sexual misconductagainst adults (CSMAA) within the everyday life of the Roman CatholicChurch. It argues that framing CSMAA around a ‘vulnerable victim’ ratherthan an ‘abusive cleric’ has led to the misinterpretation and continuation ofCSMAA, and an overall attitude of victim blaming. However, when victims/survivors of CSMAA are given the opportunity to tell their stories, a differentpicture emerges. The article concludes that CSMAA does not occur becausethere is a vulnerable adult but, rather, because there is a cleric willing tomisuse their powers to abuse adult vulnerabilities. This article also arguesthat the unique dynamics of CSMAA become more evident andunderstandable when those clergy powers and adult vulnerabilities areclearly delineated as being both positional and personal realities.

There is an ignored, misunderstood, and complex reality within the broader clergy sexual abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church (RCC)—that of clergy sexual misconduct against adults (CSMAA). Estimates and calculations of numbers of victims/survivors over the last half-century reach into the early millions. Furthermore, evidence reveals that CSMAA does produce many serious personal, relational, and practical harms. This article presents and discusses the many expressions of such harms. However, even with the evidence of such harms CSMAA events are, for the most part, still generally perceived as consensual affairs. Such a perception is challenged when CSMAA is contextualised within a professional misconduct framework, and even more so, when survivors thereof participate in the research. Furthermore, CSMAA is clearly not just one type of event. Accordingly, this article also presents a continuum of expressions of CSMAA to assist with perceptual accuracy of this issue along with an unambiguous definition of CSMAA.

The foundational study for this article asked: how do survivors of clergy sexual misconduct against adults (CSMAA) in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) describe and understand their experiences of reporting that misconduct to Roman Catholic Church authorities? The findings were that, while survivors sincerely believed that they would be cared for when they approached their Church officials, most soon began to sense a deep lack of insincerity coming from the officials dealing with their case. This insincerity was exposed in various forms by those officials as well as RCC hierarchy connected to the cases. The conclusion here is that the RCC seeks to neutralise exposure of CSMAA and the survivors thereof, and that they actually need to do so. The result—further and deeper harming of the already harmed.