Defensive Processes and Deception: An Analysis of the Response of the Institutional Church to Disclosures of Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Disclosures about the extent of sexual abuse within the church context and the gradual revealing of the way that the institution has responded in the past indicate underlying anxiety and associated defensive processes. It is suggested in this paper that these processes have led to secrecy and deception. Similarities between the behaviour of perpetrators and the response by the church are explored alongside current preoccupations within the church. Psychoanalytic ideas and theories of organizational dynamics are used to explore and reflect on the fantasies and explicit and implicit assumptions within the institution. It is suggested that the church has displayed institutional narcissism in its response to disclosures. Ideas are illustrated by generic situations.

“When an Elephant Has Its Foot on the Tail of a Mouse…” Trauma-Focused Court Preparation Interventions for Sexually Abused Child Witnesses

“…Also, violence and dysfunction in the family, power dynamics, awareness of the impact of testimony (on the family), and fragile social networks serve as barriers to CSA disclosure. 59 Interestingly, family hierarchies are reflected in childcare institutions, with children occupying the lowest rung of the ladder, 60,61 thus having adverse effects on their decisions to disclose and report abuse. Additionally, in the case of children in institutions, and their dysfunctional relationships with families, contact with the latter is likely to adversely impact children’s disclosure and reporting.…”

‘They would rather not have known and me kept my mouth shut’: The role of neutralisation in responding to the disclosure of childhood sexual abuse

“…This has been explored more relating to institutional rather than individual responses. In a recent UK parliamentary survey of adult survivors (The APPG for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, 2019), 40% of respondents stated that the police had not taken their initial reporting of CSA seriously (see also Gardner, 2012; Guerzoni and Graham, 2015; Lovett et al, 2018; Spraitz et al, 2017).…”

Hitting Home: Irish Identity and Psychotherapy in The UK

“…The breaking down of the previously monolithic authority structure of the Church has taken place against this backdrop. The shame‐driven secrecy about abuse in Ireland was extreme, and the public ‘shaming’ of the church in this regard may partly explain church resistance to a full acknowledgement (Gardner, ). There is a danger that the contemporary Irish equation of abuse and institutional home allows a collective disavowal of abuse within the home of origin.…”