While the USSCB likes to tout, and point people to, the Assistance Coordinator promise and program, my direct experience as a survivor of the Catholic sex abuse crisis in St. Louis is that the Assistance Coordinator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis does NOTHING to help survivors.

• Nothing

That's despite Vos Estis, the Pope's bill of rights for survivors.

• Vos Estis: The Reality

I discuss my experiences at length in...

• Assistance Coordinators & Other Lies

...but here's a short summary of my experiences, as an acknowledged survivor, with the various Assistance Coordinators of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Assistance Coordinator

What do survivors of the Catholic sex abuse crisis deserve?

How should they be treated?

How ARE they being treated?

You may think you know the answers to those questions.

But you're probably wrong.

Especially when it comes to the USCCB's promise of an Assistance Coordinator to help survivors recover from the abuse we experienced.

2017

I started to understand the truth about the USCCB's promise of an Assistance Coordinator at the very end of 2017, with the death of Cardinal Law, formerly of Boston.

• Assistance Coordinators & Other Lies

 In sum, from 2011 on I had never been offered the services of an Assistance Coordinator.

Promise vs. Reality

In 2002 the USCCB advised U.S. (arch)dioceses to create the position of (Victim) Assistance Coordinator.

The problem is — as I know from long, personal experience — the Assistance Coordinator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, at least, does nothing to help survivors.

The only thing the Assistance Coordinator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis will do for survivors is give them the name of a survivor of they don't already have one.

That's it.

They won't pay for anything.

And that's despite Vos Estis, the Pope's bill of rights for survivors.

ArchStL

The Archdiocese of St. Louis, at least, does nothing more than give survivors the name of a therapist of they don't already have one.

That's it.

That's what Sandra Price of the Archdiocese of St. Louis admitted to me during my March 26, 2019 meeting with Archbishop Robert Carlson and her, which I recorded and transcribed.

Just in case.

CO: I was never offered the services or told of the existence of an Assistance Coordinator. And this kinds into kind of our (Price and my) stuff. I don’t know what Hengen has told people, but…
SP: What is your understanding of what an Assistance Coordinator does?
CO: Well, that they are supposed to, you know, help set up, arrange for treatment and help pay for treatment.
SP: OK. So, typically, what Carol (Brescia) does… And you’ve talked to Carol… What Carol does is… Anybody in the diocese is free to call her. And what she does is link people to therapists if they do not have one. So that’s kind of her role for us. She’s not necessarily
somebody who’s going to make the determination if the therapy would to be paid for. That all happens through the review board. So I can’t again comment on what happened up to this point but certainly you have…you can call Carol.

The problem is FINDING a psychologist isn't the hardest part of getting help. Rather, the hardest part of getting help is PAYING FOR THERAPY.

It's not cheap, usually running $100-125 per hour and requiring years of weekly appointments.

Yes, that can get expensive, but why should survivors be expected to bear that burden?

How is that just?