CCP collaborators include doctoral students working on various projects.  We have invited them to update us on their projects in the upcoming weeks.

My name is Sr Yessica Amaro Cáceres cdp, and this is the third year that I collaborate with the CCP.

I did my studies in education, religious sciences and psycho-pedagogy in Peru. Later, I obtained a licentiate in Psychology by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. I am currently the  international coordinator of the Formation Commission of my congregation. I also work doing accompaniment for psycho-spiritual integration for religious sisters, brothers and priests, mainly from Latin America. This working experience has helped me to deepen my research topic: the relational area in the human formation of priests in some seminaries in Latin America.  Working on this aspect of the human formation of priests can help to tackle effectively deep problems, including difficulties with interpersonal relationships and sexuality, thus becoming a protective factor in the prevention of abuse.

Disclosing sexual abuses from clergy has made it possible for some aspects of the personality of priests came to the fore, as for instance, a low capacity of establishing mature intimate links with people of their same age of both genders, social isolation, domination, lack of empathy, a low perception of him-herself and  of the others, etc. (Terry et al., 2011). In the formation of priests, it is important to develop skills for healthy relations; training men who are emotionally mature and able to recognize their own necessities of personal worth, affection, proximity and intimacy, as well as their interpersonal necessities (Appelwhite, 2012). These are basic relational abilities needed for living a psycho-spiritually healthy life (Rossetti, 2002).

-Applewhite, M. (2012). Lessons for Seminary Formation Found in the Pages of the John Jay Studies. Human Development, 33(3), 8-14.

-Terry, K. J., Smith, M. L., Schuth, K., Kelly, C. J. R., Vollman, C. B., & Massey, C. (2011). The causes and context of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the United States, 1950-2010. Washington: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

-Rossetti, S. J. (2002). The need for connections. In D. R.  Hoge (Ed.), The first five years of the priesthood: A study of newly ordained Catholic priests (pp.133–137). Collegeville: Liturgical Press.

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