text: There was a fellow survivor there who could not put two coherent sentences together because of the psych meds that she needed to cope with what she had endured as a six year old. There were several older Catholics who had struggled and were still struggling with staying in a Church that allowed the abuse to occur and repeatedly covered it up. There was a significant amount of pain shared that day. As a survivor, I had always considered that it was an" us versus them" scenario. I learned that day that things were not so black and white. There  were priests and lay people that really cared about what had happened to me and my fellow survivors. As a recovering alcoholic, I have attended meetings that were not the same every day meetings. They rise to a spiritual level when someone shares aspects of their recovery that touches everyone in the room. The "healing circle" was like that for me. I thank the people who attended for taking a day out of their lives to actually listen to me.