This is the third in a series of related articles by Ms. Hartnett. Her other articles are listed under her name in our Archives by Author. 

For every survivor of any trauma, there is a network of Loved Ones who are affected.

Like survivors, their Loved Ones need emotional and spiritual support, even psychological counseling. Often, they need basic information before they can believe they are suffering, too.

“Secondary trauma” has received focused study during the later 20^th century as a phenomenon among trauma-care workers, e.g., health care, emergency room care, first responders. Research was trying to understand “compassion fatigue” and “vicarious wounding” in order to recommend how the “compassion professions” could avoid burnout. More recently, a few studies expanded into families, e.g., children of Holocaust survivors, or families of troops returning from battle.

(This does not rule out the insights of other kinds of scholarship, such as Bowen family theory, but it does follow a common and cautionary theme in my work that anyone who has survived abuse recovers better and more fully when the counseling and ministry offered to them is trauma-informed. The literature here is focused on the relatively newer scholarship around trauma and its individual cognitive and behavioral effects on survivor and others in relationship to the survivor.) Read More

We need your help.

Although we have repeatedly contacted approximately fifty Orthodox bishops and/or their chancellors since January 31, 2018, as well as St. Vladimir’s, Holy Cross, St. Tikhon’s, and Holy Trinity Seminaries—as recently as today—we have not had a whisper of a response from anyone, either direct (such as replies to our emails or something for us to publish) or indirect (such as anything on the websites of the Assembly, any individual jurisdiction, or any individual diocese). 

In addition to our several attempts to contact them directly, many bishops and seminary officials and faculty members are subscribed to Orthodoxy in Dialogue. This means that they receive an email notification every time we publish a new article, letter, or editorial.

None can plead ignorance.  Read More

On the evening of March 13 Orthodox Facebook (not to mention Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s inbox, thanks to very, very many of our loyal readers) lit up with the news that neo-Nazi, white supremacist, excommunicated (but possibly recommunicated?) hate group leader, Matthew Heimbach, has been arrested for an incidence of domestic violence involving an affair between him and his mother-in-law.

The cuckolded father-in-law is none other than Heimbach’s own partner in hate and unwitting Orthodoxy in Dialogue contributor, the Traditionalist Worker Party’s spokesman and “theologian,” Matt Parrott. (You can find Parrott’s theological masterpieces under his name in our Archives by Author.)

We got a headache trying to sort it all out. You can try for yourselves here on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website. At the very least we now see TWP’s Faith, Family and Folk slogan—which Orthodox husband, father, and mother-in-law-boinker Heimbach loves to display on his black teeshirt—in an entirely new, keep-it-in-the-family-if-you-can’t-keep-it-in-your-pants light. 

BUT THIS IS A DISTRACTION. The back-slapping schadenfreude going around the mostly white Orthonet last night makes for Exhibit A in the case of Orthodox White Privilege. 

For you see, earlier the very same day we had a heart-breaking conversation with an Orthodox interracial couple who have mixed race Orthodox children. (How many times and in how many ways can we stress that this family is Orthodox?) The thunderous silence of our bishops and seminaries A FULL TWO MONTHS (yes, we’re yelling now) after we began to beg for a response to white supremacy and neo-Nazism—NOT SOMEWHERE “OUT THERE,” BUT IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH—has this faithful Orthodox couple fearing for their children’s safety and wondering if the time has come to leave the Church. Read More

Orthodoxy in Dialogue is republishing this article from Huffington Post as part of our commitment to the well-being of transgender people. You may wish to refer to our “‘Transgenderism’ Isn’t a Thing” and “Intersex vs. Transgender” for background.

Please share this article as widely as possible. There are more transgender Orthodox and other Christians than we realize. By showing our love for them with this simple gesture we may be blessed to save even a single life known only to God.

Image courtesy of Trans Lifeline ~ Facebook

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