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Quotes From the Field
Reverend Bob Denton So, as they heal, they go back and help others heal. And, in fact, we feel there's a strong ministry to restoring community by working with the ripples that go out into the family. That's where we want the church and the synagogues and the mosques to help us. We want them to be co-facilitators of the healing process with us. And sometimes the church, the synagogue, or the mosque doesn't really know how to help that person and, so, they kind of just let them be. And that's the worst thing we can do—ignore a crime victim who's hurting. And some [victims] are members of churches, synagogues, and mosques and some of them are not, but they all need people to help promote the healing process. Bruce Cook My responsibility as a police chaplain is to provide trauma [and] crisis counseling for law enforcement officers and for victims during critical incidents. One of the roles is to provide referral services . . . . It could be going to the court system, showing [victims] how the court system works, even attending the hearing. Yes, I know, here I have a beautiful crucifix and people say, 'Oh, this guy's Roman Catholic.' I would say it doesn't matter what I am, what matters is that I'm here for you. . . . What can I do for you? Police Chaplain Jose Lorenzo Villegas, Sr. But crisis and traumatic issues are things that strip us at our very core . . . . We're not mentally prepared for it, physically prepared for it, and emotionally prepared for it. So a trained chaplain working alongside of law enforcement and helping our community is the ideal person to be among the first responders. I think faith-based organizations working with victims not only meet an emotional need, but a spiritual need. When people have something horrible happen to them, eventually it is a spiritual struggle. Some people . . . don't have their own clergy person to come to them. That's where the faith-based organization that is trained and skilled in crisis [intervention] and knows how to work with people [in a crisis] is really effective. All chaplains have their own faith that they rely on to get them through tragedies. But when they go out there . . . they are not there to prophesize, they are there to be an optional support system, they are there to be information givers, and they are there to do what is necessary. And if it is nothing more than sitting and listening, that's what chaplains can do. Chaplain Mindi Russell I discovered there were a whole lot of churches and congregations unaware of the issues of what happened to crime victims, to abused children, to domestic violence victims and rape victims, and to elder abuse victims, . . . even though they were in a prime position to see a lot of it. The biggest thing that we had to say in every training [session] was refer, refer, refer. . . . And I think that our being from the religious community was very much of a help to people, being able to expose their vulnerability. To say we really don't know, and we do need to learn more. Rev. David and Anne Delaplane I had gone to seminary in the early 1970s, and I pretty much knew what was happening in theological education, which was not very much in terms of crime victimization issues. Even though I took psychology courses related to theology, [victimization] issues were not addressed. . . . Most of the efforts by ministers at that time were to visit prisoners, and that would be part of the outreach of their church. Victims were really not met in terms of their needs, except occasionally in family violence situations when a minister would be counseling a couple. Chaplain groups were formed within police departments [on a] volunteer basis, and as police utilized ministers, to go meet the families and assist them in death notifications, they began to have more of a sense of the needs of crime victims. The networking started from grassroots organizations, mostly, initiating the contact with clergy and the churches. So when victims groups and individuals started to look for resources to help them deal with the impact, the trauma, many times they went to the clergy first. So studies have shown that clergy were one of the first places that victims started to go in the natural course of seeking counseling and moral support. And clergy were almost forced to begin to learn more about crime victim issues—they discovered that prayer is essential, yes; that group support of church members, yes, is essential. The Office for Victims of Crime, over the years, began to help fund training for clergy because they were focused on crime victims' needs and what the church and clergy could do to serve in that area. Clergy need to be mindful that one of the most critical events in a person's life, when it occurs, is criminal victimization. Crime victimization can dramatically change a person's life. Clergy need to be there. As seminaries are preparing them to speak from the pulpit, to counsel in family situations, to provide assistance in death and dying, the clergy also need to be cognizant of that area of life. Dr. Brian Ogawa There are many who have said that this is really the first time that the private sector, the government, and the churches have all gotten together to do victim services. So it was a unique experience. People in the social service community, the victim advocates, were wondering how clergy could possibly be involved. We as a religious people, we were wondering, 'How in the world can we cooperate with all of these other entities, and where do we fit?' I think everybody was wondering that. We didn't really know what our roles were and so we have kind of figured that out as we went along. Father Gary Mueller Many of those inner-city faith communities have focused much more on prison ministry and offender ministry than they have on victim ministry. So I think it's going to be a real challenge to broaden that. I think both sides have to realize that they may have some biased notions about each other that are not legitimate. . . . We both have to be open to learning from each other, and that's going to result in step one, which is trust. Janice Harris Lord, LMSW, LPC What goes on in the sessions, stays in the sessions. We really try to build a safe place for them to vent and talk. We say to folks that what we do is not therapy, but it's therapeutic. . . . The faith and the strength have come from the others and how they've handled it. My faith in mankind has been strengthened. When you see people helping people, you see that there is more good than bad. It was chaplains who kind of became the live bodies for the rescue people. I can't tell you the number of times a rescue person came to me and said, 'Chaplain, if you don't pray for me I can't go back in that building.' Police Chaplains Phyllis and Jack Poe I don't know the serendipity of why and how they came together, other than to be thankful that they did, and perhaps some of that thankfulness is because we were wise enough to realize the importance of the faith community. The faith community brought to this project an ability to reach people when victim services found itself lacking. Steve Siegel This "Quotes From the Field" page offers insight into FBOs' thoughts on victim assistance. It is part of several Web pages designed to provide timely, useful resources and information tailored to the needs of faith-related victim assistance efforts. Other sections showcase promising practices in the faith community and innovative partnerships between the faith and victim assistance communities. Browse the OVC & FBOs navigation box to access these pages. |
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