The book A Guide to Preventing Abuse and Fostering Healing in the Churchbook, edited by Lisa Compton and Taylor Patterson, which will be released on December, withessays from different contributors, including work from Dr. Angela Rinaldi, our teaching coordinator. This is the first textbook on safeguarding tailored specifically for faith-based ministries and seminaries. In "Skills for Safeguarding” global university experts share insights on relevant topics in their fields.
Dr. Rinaldi contributed in writing the second chapter of Skills For Safeguarding, which is called “Abuse of Power - the effects of abusive relationships on conscience.” She describes the challenges that a survivor of clergy abuse faces when the “integrity of the conscience is lost” (33). Our teaching coordinator describes the importance of a survivor “regaining confidence in the distinction between the voice of God and the voice of the perpetrator, reestablishing the integrity of the conscience, and recovering a healthy relationship with the divinity” (34). Rinaldi understands how an act of abuse would affect the conscience of someone and make them challenge their religious beliefs.
In addition to discussing the effects of abusive relationships on conscience, Dr. Rinaldi additionally mentions her belief that abuse not only affects the survivor and perpetrator but additionally believes in the concept of “secondary victims” and how “the whole community is affected in some way” (35). What Rinaldi means by this is that these acts of abuse in the Church affect the whole Christian community as it creates the belief that the abuse of power is acceptable and installs fear in people.
Angela Rinaldi believes that religious systems that refuse accountability can have the following three characteristics: the confusion between the church as an institution and the church as the people of God, the protection of perpetrators and the refusal to hold one another accountable, and repeated attempts of the religious leadership to defend the institution in the media. To conclude her essay, Dr. Rinaldi includes a definition of safeguarding as a call to help others by protecting their health and safety. The essay includes questions for personal reflection as well as discussion questions Dr. Rinaldi invites the readers to consider.
Reading Skills For Safeguarding - A Guide to Preventing Abuse and Fostering Healing in the Church is the perfect opportunity to educate oneself on the importance of safeguarding as it explores many different aspects of the topic by different experts including the IADC’s very own Dr. Angela Rinaldi.