Rosaries of Healing and Renewal: Prayers for Survivors of Clerical Abuse and the Church

Announcing the release of my free Rosary booklet download. 

+JMJ+ There are some things that are written quickly while others are written slowly, prayerfully, and with deep intention.

This rosary booklet is the latter. I started working on this project a couple of years ago and, for a number of reasons, I wasn’t able to complete it until now. Rosaries of Healing and Renewal: Prayers for Survivors of Clerical Abuse and the Church came together over time through prayer and in suffering, a whole lot of spiritual warfare, but ultimately, in hope.

My 13-year-old daughter contributed this drawing to the Rosary booklet. I hope it touches you as much as it has touched me.

It was born from wounds. Even more, it was born from the persistent belief that there is always hope, healing is always possible, and that no suffering is ever unseen by God.

I was first inspired to write this during Mass a few years ago. Cardinal Sean O'Malley had asked the priests in the Archdiocese of Boston to talk about clerical abuse in their homilies on a particular weekend. Our pastor not only spoke, he took action - with prayer. He knelt before the congregation and led us in praying the Rosary for survivors. For me, it was a profound moment of healing.

Inside the pages of this booklet are meditations and prayers for those who carry wounds (especially survivors of clerical abuse) and for all who long for healing, peace, and renewal within the Church.

If you are downloading this booklet, I want you to know that you are not alone in your prayer, you are not forgotten in your suffering, and you are deeply loved by God. My hope is that as you pray these mysteries, you will find space to breathe peacefully again, to entrust what feels heavy into the hands of Our Lady and her Son, and to rest, even if only for a moment, in the gentle presence of Christ.

Whether you are praying for yourself, for someone you love, or for the healing of the Church, may these prayers meet you exactly wherever you are at.

A Childhood Rooted in the Rosary

Growing up, the Rosary was a part of my family’s daily life. To be perfectly honest, my brothers and I didn’t always approach it with perfect devotion. There was the occasional goofing off, the drifting off to sleep, or the hopeful suggestion that we switch to the Divine Mercy Chaplet because it was shorter (hey, we tried.)

Regardless, we prayed. We usually prayed after dinner, sometimes while doing dishes, sometimes gathered in the living room. We joined in the First Saturday devotions at our parish. These moments were so simple and yet they were so sacred. I just didn’t always recognize it way back then. 

When my oldest brother Matt, was a teenager and into his young adult life until he died at just 22 years old, he would often kneel while we prayed. That quiet act of reverence stayed with me. It planted something deeper than I understood at the time. Looking back now, I see how those small, faithful moments shaped my heart.

A Legacy of Faith Through My Mother

The love of the Rosary in my own life was handed down to me. My mother learned it from her own mother, a woman who faced profound hardship. After my grandfather abandoned the family (my mom was around 9 or 10 at the time), my grandmother raised four children on her own while working full-time. Still, she remained faithful.

She made sure her children prayed the Rosary. She made sure they got to Mass. She made sure they knew God. As imperfect and difficult as life was, that quiet, steady faith became a lifeline for my mother.

My mom once shared something with me that I have never forgotten: she struggled to see God as a loving Father because she did not understand a father’s love. What she did understand was a mother’s love, and so she turned to Mary. Through Our Lady, she came to know Jesus. 

Ad Jesum per Mariam—to Jesus through Mary.

For Survivors: A Gentle Path Back

I believe this speaks deeply to the experience of many survivors of clerical abuse. When the one who harms you is a man who represents Christ, the wound is both personal and spiritual. It becomes difficult, sometimes impossible, to separate the man from Christ Himself.

Survivors can feel anger, confusion, distance, and silence. In that place, even the idea of turning to God can feel overwhelming. Perhaps for some it feels different with a mother.

Perhaps for some of us it is easier to run into the arms of Our Lady—to be held by her without fear, without pressure, without expectation and to let her carry what feels too heavy.  In her gentle way, Mary slowly and tenderly leads us back to the heart of her Son.

This booklet was created with that reality in mind.

Two Rosaries, One Invitation

Inside, you will find two distinct Rosaries:

The first is a Rosary prayed with survivors—reflections written from one survivor to another, offering a voice of understanding, compassion, and hope.

The other is a Rosary prayed for survivors and for the church—offered by others who carry you in prayer when you may not have the strength to pray yourself.

For each of the two parts, there are reflections for each decade of the four mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous). I've also added some additional prayers you can say at any time and some Scripture verses for different situations, so there’s quite a bit included in this booklet.

Not every survivor is ready to pray again, and that matters. If that is where you are, you are still held. You are still remembered. You are still being prayed for. If even a small part of your heart is open and you feel the slightest bit ready, these prayers and reflections are here to walk with you.

An Invitation to Hope

Wherever you are in your healing journey, the Rosary offers you the presence of Jesus and Mary. It offers you a place of respite while you grieve. 

My prayer is that through these mysteries, Jesus and Mary will meet you in a deeply personal way and that you will encounter not only words on a page, but love that is real, steady, and unchanging.

I pray that, little by little, you will begin to see that healing is possible, that there is always hope, and that you are never alone.

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Click HERE for Rosary download