Читать книгу Chronicle of a Silence Endured - Guido da Verona - Страница 3

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Additionally, in this book I am not endorsing any particular religion, nor am I forcing my opinions on anyone. I am telling a story, and I am telling it as best I can.

This book arrives to the world as the knee-jerk reflex of my own personal challenges dealing with the Vatican and church sex scandals that have plagued the world for far too long. Today, they continue to wreak havoc on the lives of its members and survivors. I consider it a blessing, an honor, but above all a duty to be Catholic. Yet, this is not a sole Catholic issue. It is not a sole Vatican issue. It is an issue of evildoing in the world. According to the latest UN claims, the numbers of cases from the Catholic churches alone reach numbers in the tens of thousands.

This is the spirit in which this book was written, and the spirit in which the story unfolds.

Let us not also forget that all families have secrets too. That’s a given. However, when the secrets that are being kept are directly linked to childhood sexual abuse, abandonment, neglect, and rejection – all across a single life – the cost to the victim’s livelihood, their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health comes at a very high price and with very powerful and potentially destructive consequences. This book has also been written as a warning to all families, irrespective of their background, history or demographic, as well as a source of courage and inspiration to those who are still living under the sentence of silence that comes with the shame and guilt of their abuse.

The events described in this book are becoming increasingly universal, and they cannot be allowed to perpetuate within any family group under any circumstances, and that is what makes the topic so important and so relevant.

Recovering from multiple layers of childhood abuse and the ensuing post traumatic stress is not something someone ‘just gets over’. The act of avoiding and withdrawing from family and the pressures of life in general only exacerbate the problem. Often, the family also holds the key to the healing, which makes the family’s courage and their ability to confront the truth just as important as it is for the victim.

This book is a tough read emotionally. The ‘hero’ is very lean and flat. I did this on purpose. When you are consistently the victim of abuse, the lens through which life is seen and experienced filters out much of the joy of living. Fortunately, there are seasons of joy and happiness in even the saddest of lives, but it was critical to have both the storyline and our hero as stripped down as possible in order for the drama to develop with deep focus and intensity.

The reader will find that critical to the development of the story is its spiritual aspect. I believe that no psychological problem should be addressed without serious considerations taken for the condition of the soul. Psychological problems make an easy target for the devil, and spirituality and psychology integration is an emerging, evolving branch of research that requires more attention today than ever. Investigation in this arena is, in my opinion, the best of both possible worlds. My curiosity about the phenomena is genuine.

Finally, true healing takes place in the field that is called a state of grace with one’s personal God. It is achieved through unity with nature, ourselves, God and the universe. I believe that by integrating psychology and spirituality the sick and the suffering ultimately acquire the power to heal, to love genuinely, and to persevere.

Let us pray and hope together, as it is my sincere hope that you enjoy and grow from this piece.

Your friend always,

-Guido Verona