Dear New Pope:

I thought I would give you a few months to settle in before I wrote to you. I have carried on a (one way) correspondence with your predecessors so I thought I should continue the tradition and be in touch with you.

I want to commend you for what appears to be your actual concern for the people of God whom you lead. I also want to commend you for reaching out to your people and inquiring of their experiences and opinions about urgent issues in their lives, particularly about their experiences in families. The information which you gather will be critical to your discernment of the path ahead for your church.

I expect that you will hear from many survivors of sexual abuse by priests, relatives and family friends and also from survivors of intimate partner violence in the home. Across all races, classes, genders, orientations, ages, and nationalities, they are in the pews at every mass every week. Their voices must be heard.

I realize that your plate is filled to overflowing with the suffering of the world and the corruption of our institutions, including the church. There are many faithful Catholics who long to be a part of a new church and I pray that you will hear their voices and call on their help.

In addressing the moral crisis of clergy sexual abuse which has shaken the very foundations of the Roman Catholic Church, I urge you to read Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s book, For Christ’s Sake: End Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church for Good. Bishop Robinson along with two other Australian Bishops has launched a petition campaign urging you to call a new Vatican Council to address the crisis of sexual abuse in the church.

As you gather information and opinion from Catholics around the world, I urge you to include these petitions and to call on Bishop Robinson to help give direction to a serious critique of the institutional failures of the church which have so compounded the pain and suffering of thousands of individuals and families.

And as always, I stand ready as an ecumenical partner to support this effort.

Your sister in Christ,

Rev. Dr. Marie M. Fortune
www.faithtrustinstitute.org

- See more at: http://www.faithtrustinstitute.org/blog/marie-fortune/185#sthash.At725tga.dpuf

Here is a basic guide* for comparing and contrasting trauma-informed systems and systems lacking trauma-informed care: 

* guide adapted from Dr. Joan Gillece's National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) presentation entitled "An Overview of Fundamental Concepts." Accessed: www.slideshare.net/mhcc/gillece 

Traumatologists regularly study vagus nerve phenomena to discern its role in countering "fight or flight" responses to trauma. Many researchers argue that there are three keys to healing after trauma: relaxation, relationships, and having personal trauma perspectives acknowledged either verbally or in other forms of relationship. You can learn more about how to incorporate these three keys to healing in congregational ministries through resources guides on the ICTG training page. When persons practice these skills they avoid PTSD and other forms of dis-ease after trauma.

Recently, scholars studied vagus nerve behavior during choral singing. "Choir singing is known to promote well-being," the study conducted by a Swedish research team from the University of Gothenburg led by Bjorn Vickhoff begins. This study sought to flesh out what many ministers have come to take for granted, or, in other cases, perhaps could use some reminding especially after incidents of trauma. You can view a film of the researchers discussing the implications of their study here. 

The study explores why singing appears to be a universal phenomenon. "Unlike most other universal human behaviors there is no self-evident Darwinian explanation."  Instead, the universal nature of singing may be due to its group bonding results and its inherent collective calming abilities. Singing achieves relaxed and corporate communicative states, partly because "external and visible joint action corresponds to an internal and biological joint action."
 
The study acknowledges that the vagal effect of breathing is a calming reaction. They explain "how the length of the song phrases guides respiration, resulting in compliances of frequency and phrases of respiration cycles and [heart rate variability] HRV cycles between singers." In other words, when a congregation sings together, their heart rates and breathing come in sync, and, collectively, they relax. The study concludes, singing "produces slow, regular and deep respiration . . . [that] causes a pulsating vagal activity," which is collectively calming.  

This is good news for ministers seeking to lead congregations after trauma.  Gathering, for worship, after incidents of trauma – especially when worship involves singing – can produce all three of the keys to healing from trauma.  

Thank you to all who have participated in this year's silent art auction. If you had the highest bid, you can make your payment by visiting the art auction page and clicking on the "donate" button by your item.  Artists or art donors will be contacted as soon as funds are received to ship your piece to you promptly.  Thank you for helping to raise awareness and funding in support of ministers leading congregations after trauma. 

The 2013 ICTG Online Silent Art Auction has now opened.  You can view items on the 2013 Art Auction page.  

On behalf of the Directors and Advisors, we are grateful for all who have donated and are looking forward to participating in this week's auction to raise funding and awareness for ICTG programs to support ministers leading congregations after trauma.  To find out more about ICTG programming, please visit the pages throughout this website.  We provide links to national and denomination relief agencies, articles and books by leading experts, films, and online tools for ministering after trauma.  

Participating in this week's auction is an excellent way to partner with ICTG in creating more useful programs.