Bringing My Peace to NET TV & Washington's CIC

It has been a busy spring! On May 16, I graduated the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, receiving a pontifical licentiate in sacred theology (STL), magna cum laude, praise God. The STL is given under the authority of the Holy See and qualifies me to teach on the seminary level. If you are among those who have been supporting my studies with prayers, please know that I am deeply grateful.

More prayers will be needed this fall, as I begin the last leg of my studies toward a sacred-theology doctorate. All the major coursework is over—now the main task is completing the dissertation, which I have already begun. To that end, I am delighted to be entering the doctoral program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois, where the rector is Fr. Robert Barron of Word on Fire. My dissertation director is the prolific author and magnificent Thomist Dr. Matthew Levering.

Although my summer is mostly taken up with preparing for my move from Washington to Mundelein, I do have two personal appearances coming up in which I will share the message of my book of Catholic spirituality for adult victims of Catholic sexual abuse, My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints:

June 22: I will be the guest of Fr. Robert Keighron, discussing My Peace I Give You on the WOR Radio/NET TV program "In the Arena." 

• The radio version of the program airs at 8 a.m. ET on New York Talk & News Radio WOR (710 AM) and will additionally be streamed online via iHeartRadio.com.

• The television version airs at 8 p.m. ET on the Diocese of Brooklyn's NET TV (in Brooklyn TimeWarner Ch. 97 and Cablevision Ch. 30) and will additionally be streamed online.

July 31:  On this, the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, I will speak at Washington, D.C.'s Catholic Information Center on "Healing the Memory: What St. Ignatius Loyola and Pope Francis Can Teach Us." The talk is at 6 p.m.; see the CIC's website for more information.

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If you are interested in hosting me for a talk about healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints, or would just like to hear the message I share, here is a link to download a recording of the talk I gave October 20 at Jesus the Divine Word Parish in my home Archdiocese of Washington: "What the Saints Can Teach Us About Purification of Memory." Contact me through the e-mail address listed at the bottom of my home page, dawneden.com. I am particularly interested in continuing my apostolate to inmates, persons who have been prostituted or trafficked, and persons in recovery, and would also like to speak to Native Americans and other underserved populations.

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If you have benefited from my writing or speaking, please consider making a donation so that I may continue to spread the message of healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints.

Watch now: "What the Saints Can Teach Us About Purification of Memory"

Courtesy of Diocese of Aberdeen videographer Father Tad Turski, here is the talk I was pleased to give March 2 at Greyfriars Convent in Elgin, Scotland.

The topic, "What the Saints Can Teach Us About Purification of Memory," is taken from my book My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints.

Watch now: I speak at the Aberdeen Bishop's House on healing of memory

Looking for my U.K. tour dates? Click here!

I'm delighted to share with you one more video of my current U.K. tour, this one from last Saturday night, when I spoke to young adults at the Bishop's House in Aberdeen, Scotland, last Saturday night, sharing the message of my book My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints. Although this talk is on the same topic as the other video I posted from this tour—"What the Saints Can Teach Us about Healing of Memory"—much of the content is different, plus it includes a question-and-answer period.

In this particular talk, among the topics I discuss is "inner healing," which is popular particularly among those who have a charismatic bent and those who are involved in deliverance ministry. While lauding the intentions of those who seek to help their fellow Christians heal from painful memories, and being grateful for any and all healing God has brought from their efforts, I am critical of certain elements of that approach. In this talk, I propose a way to approach healing of memories that has the benefits of "inner healing" without its attendant risks. I would welcome dialogue with proponents of "inner healing" who are open to a charitable critique.

Please pray for me and my audiences as I prepare to speak tonight in Glasgow and then go on to England before heading home on Monday (see my tour dates).

FREE PODCAST: My talk at Notre Dame on healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints

Today I had the joy of speaking about My Peace I Give You at the annual Edith Stein Project conference at the University of Notre Dame. Although I have given many talks about healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints, this talk marked the first time I shared the story of Blessed Laura Vicuña (left), one of the saints featured in My Peace. If you were unable to attend and would like to hear the talk, click here to download it as a podcast.

Next week, I hope to add some more dates to my online tour schedule, as I am awaiting confirmation of invitations to speak in Saskatchewan and San Antonio. In the meantime, you can click here to see my upcoming speaking dates in New York City and Denver.

Interested in saints and spiritual healing? Check out my Patheos blog, Feast of Eden.

VIDEO: Manhattan mingling

Click the image above to watch the video in a new window.
From a friend in NYC comes this fun video clip of the reception and signing following my talk about My Peace I Give You at the offices of First Things last night. The camera moves through the crowd and quickly pans the line of people waiting to meet me.

As you can see, the Sisters of Life turned out in full force! I didn't count them, but I heard there were twelve sisters present, which sounds about right. It was a joy to see them, some of whom I knew from when I volunteered for them before I moved out of the New York area. Their General Superior, Mother Agnes Mary Donovan S.V., wrote the foreword for My Peace I Give You.

All told, about seventy people turned out for the talk, including many very dear old friends as well as people who told me how they or a friend had already been touched by  the message of My Peace I Give You. One audience member had me sign a copy of My Peace that she said was lent to her by a staff member of the Archdiocese of New York's Family Life/Respect Life office. She said that the staff member was already using it in counseling post-abortive women, many of whom are victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Many thanks to all the Dawn Patrol readers who have been praying for my apostolate. I hope that from this brief video you may pick up a sense of how your prayers are bearing fruit.

PODCAST: My August 15 talk on My Peace now available for download

Speaking to the St. Thomas More Society of Orange County, August 15, 2012. Photo by James Doan (see more photos from the event on Flickr).
Yesterday I wrote in this space that, thanks to the good folks at St. Joseph Radio, I was able to offer a free download of the talk I gave to the St. Thomas More Society of Orange County on August 15 about my book My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints. Today I am delighted to report that, through the generous help of reader Dan, the recording has been edited so that it now qualifies as a podcast. That is to say, most of the introduction has been trimmed, along with the Q&A, plus it's now in MP3 format. So it's easy to download the recording and enjoy it during your commute, at home, or anywhere. Click here to download the podcast.

Next month I will be speaking about My Peace I Give You in New York City (at the First Things offices) and in South Carolina—click here for details and my full tour itinerary. If you would like to bring me to your parish or college, anywhere in the world, to give a talk like the one I gave August 15, drop me a line (click here to send an e-mail).

Please join me in contining prayer that the Jesus, the Divine Physician, may bring healing to all the readers of My Peace I Give You, to everyone who has heard my talks, and to all victims of trauma and abuse.

Speaking My Peace—on Cajun TV

Trista (left) and Karol (right) of the Diocese of Lafayette interview me for their cable-TV show "Catholics Today."

Here's a treat from my recent trip to Cajun country: staff members of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana's Office of Pro-Life Apostolate interview me about My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints on their cable talk show "Catholics Today." It was a beautiful experience for me to talk with fellow Catholic women about the effects of childhood sexual abuse and the great resources our faith offers for healing—particularly through the lives and examples of the saints.
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Seeking your help—please click here or scroll down.

My Greece he gives you

My new book My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints just received its first review from an atheist, courtesy of my friend Todd Seavey, who does me the great honor of likening me to Plato:

[Dawn] reaffirms the wisdom that good character can endure—and be more important even than physical survival—under circumstances that test body and mind alike. From my secular perspective, I'd say the peace she describes saints knowing even in the face of death is akin to the phenomenon Socrates was likely describing when he claimed that no harm can really befall a good man. There are parts of us that attackers cannot ultimately reach.

I'll be seeing Todd this Thursday, June 21, at 8 p.m., when he interviews me about My Peace I Give You as part of the Dionysium, his live monthly variety show at Muchmore's, a new bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Muchmore's is at 2 Havemeyer Street, on the corner of North Ninth Street, just three blocks east of Bedford Avenue, which is the very first subway stop into Brooklyn on the L train.

It will be my first time taking part in one of Todd's nightclub events since January 2007, when he hosted a debate between me and author Virginia Vitzthum over the question, "Is chastity a good thing for singles?" As you can see in the video below, I said yes, it is!



To find out where I'll be speaking about this summer about healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints, see the listing of my upcoming events, part of the Patheos Book Club section on My Peace I Give You.

My read on Detroit

All smiles at Assumption Grotto Parish, Detroit, Michigan, May 20, 2012

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of my friend Michael J. New as well as a wonderful core of volunteers from Assumption Grotto Parish, I had a beautiful time in Detroit earlier this month promoting My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints with eight personal appearances in five days.

Things that stand out in my memory of the tour include:

• Finding my voice. This was my first tour speaking on healing from the wounds of childhood sexual abuse. Before, speaking about chastity at college campuses, I always felt the pressure of having to work into my talks some practical instructions on how to live chastely. Speaking prescriptively added a layer of distance between me and my audience. By contrast, in speaking about My Peace I Give You, I'm speaking descriptively, telling stories about myself and saints who experienced healing through discovering their identity in Christ. My message is still, in a sense, about morality, but here morality becomes one with Catholic spirituality; the saints show us what a fully integrated human person looks like. As a result, I'm finding it much easier to connect with audiences.
• Being surrounded by saints. Every day I met joyful, humble, and genuinely charitable people who took their faith very seriously. The parish life at Assumption Grotto is particularly rich, including daily Mass in both English and Latin (Extraordinary Form). With many of the parishioners, as well as people I met from other parishes, it seemed that even when they were not at the liturgy, it remained within them; they were eager to find God in all things.
• Becoming more sensitive to the action of the Holy Spirit as it brings isolated individuals into communion. At every appearance I gave, someone came up to me to tell me his or her own story of surviving childhood sexual abuse, or of trying to help a close friend or family member who had suffered such abuse. At some parish talks, ten or more such people approached me after my talk, one by one.
  

  As I listened to these audience members' stories, I was reminded of the many times John Paul II wrote about God's love for those who endure pain:

  "In this Body [the Church as the Body of Christ], Christ wishes to be united with every individual, and in a special way he is united with those who suffer" (Salvifici Doloris 24).
  

  "I consider particularly close to the Heart of Christ ... people who unfortunately cannot in any sense claim membership of what could be called in the proper sense a family" (Familiaris Consortio 85.

  It was deeply humbling to be entrusted with those audience members' stories and to know that they saw in me a kindred soul. They may have thought that I was blessing them with words of comfort, but they were really blessing me. Christ is with them.
  
  I thought of the closing lines of Dorothy Day's autobiography: "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community."

Unexpected blessing

Had a wonderful surprise yesterday while addressing the staff and therapists of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Lansing during my Michigan tour promoting My Peace I Give You: a visit from Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea.

As it happened, I had some medals of Pope St. Pius X that I had bought a couple of days earlier, during my signing at G.A. Fuchs Church Supply in Madison Heights. The photo above captures the moment when His Excellency graciously acceded to my request that he bless them.

St. Pius X has become a special intercessor for me in spreading the word about my book on healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints, because of his great protective love for children, which is exemplified in his decree lowering the age of First Communion. He deplored the fact that, in being made to wait until age twelve or later before receiving the Eucharist, "children in their innocence were forced away from the embrace of Christ and deprived of the food of their interior life."

The sound of the Spirit

The first leg of the My Peace I Give You world tour [see the itinerary here] currently has me deep in the heart of Detroit, Michigan, staying with the Sisters of the Holy Cross in their convent on the grounds of Assumption Grotto Parish. As I write, I am in my room waiting for my old friend Michael J. New to drive me to my next talk, for the Frassati Society of Detroit.

A friend warned me that, from my room facing busy Gratiot Avenue, I might hear automatic gunfire outside (though only in the middle of the night). However, since arriving, the only noticeable sounds have been the odd ambulance and, right now, the joyful noise of a gospel choir across the street, singing "Holy Ghost Power." The sound is so inviting; I can't imagine that anyone passing by wouldn't want to join in. And the song even mentions the saints!



Many thanks to those who are praying for me as I share the message of My Peace. I'm having a wonderful time, and it is a real blessing to be able to speak about healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints.