Healing Grace: A Framework of Hope for Sexual Abuse Survivors

Drawing on personal experience as a survivor and on the theology of grace, this synthesis paper develops a “Framework of Hope” for ministering to survivors of sexual abuse. Situating the woundedness of survivors and perpetrators alike within the doctrine of Original Sin, the author proposes “Healing Grace” as an image of God's self-communication mediated through the Incarnation, the Paschal Mystery, and the Church as Temple of the Holy Spirit, tracing how survivors may be awakened to and gradually deepened in this grace through community, the Eucharist, and pastoral accompaniment modeled on Christ's own patient, non-condemning mercy.