Clergy-perpetrated child sexual abuse: Perceived effects based on archival reports of adult survivors who pursued litigation against the Catholic Church

Clergy-perpetrated child sexual abuse (CPCSA) is neither a recent phenomenon nor limited to the Catholic Church. However, during the early 1990s, increased media coverage of litigation against the Catholic Church heightened the public's awareness of the sexual abuse by clergy. The primary research question investigated: What can be discerned from archival plaintiff documents about CPCSA?;Accessed through plaintiff attorney "gatekeepers," this mixed-method study utilized Claimant Questionnaires of 47 (36M, 11F) plaintiff-survivors, ranging in age from 27-68 years (x¯ = 48); age range at time of abuse was 6-17 (x¯=11) years. The incidents of abuse involved 43 defendant/accused clerics (42M, 1F), 33 priests, eight brothers, and one nun. Applied Thematic Analysis (ATA) techniques were used for coding and statistical analysis of codes was completed utilizing Dedoose `code application charts.' Descriptive statistical analysis clarified frequency and distribution of emerging themes.;Findings were organized according to before, during, and after the onset of abuse. Situational aspects of CPCSA included themes: Catholic clergy held in awe, someone should have known, high family devoutness correlated with access, defendant/accused cleric befriended family, increased attention as pre-requisite, gifts and enticements were utilized. Themes related to the actual abuse events: multiple settings utilized for abuse, sexually abusive acts were invasive and repetitive, majority experienced multiple incidents of abuse, duration of abuse, and types of sexually abusive acts (invasion of child's body, skin-to-skin, exposure of child and/or cleric, fondling, and other aspects). The lived experience of being abused by a cleric, disclosure and disclosure related events, and reported injuries following the onset of the abuse identified: effects of abuse were immediate, afraid to tell, disclosure delayed, first disclosure audience varied, disclosure responses varied, long-term outcomes (trauma symptoms, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, relational and sexual problems, physical health, loss and regret, including faith), and plaintiffs' experiences with healthcare providers..;This study informs prevention strategists' work such as Finkelhor's Preconditions Model of Child Sexual Abuse. Considerations for the Catholic Church, survivors and their families, litigators, and healthcare professionals are discussed. Contributions include bridging the gap (healing) between Church leadership and the survivor community.