Attached Paper In-person November Annual Meeting 2025

Reckoning with Hidden Wounds: Pastoral Care for Undocumented Victim-survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse Confronting Anti-Immigrant Hostility

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This paper examines the compounded trauma experienced by undocumented victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the context of increasing anti-immigrant hostility. Drawing on recent data that shows declining rates of sexual assault reporting among immigrant populations, it explores how fear of deportation, distrust of authorities, and intensified anti-immigrant rhetoric further marginalize undocumented victim-survivors. The concept of cultural betrayal is introduced to highlight the additional harm experienced when abuse takes place within one’s own faith-based community—a space that ostensibly offers belonging and cultural affirmation. By analyzing the psychological and spiritual impact of cultural betrayal trauma, the paper underscores the importance of critically rethinking community values like unity and resilience. This paper aims to explore healing communities where pastoral caregivers foster mutual accountability and engage in inclusive theological reflection in pastoral care and counseling. In doing so, it calls on pastoral caregivers to stand in solidarity with undocumented victim-survivors, interrupting the silence and complicity that allow spiritual, cultural, and institutional betrayals to persist.