Vicki Schmidt, Author of “Soul Light for the Dark Night,” includes daily meditations of healing from trauma and abuse.
Thirty years after a Schmidt ended what she called “a dysfunctional sexual relationship” with her parish priest and employer, she publicly named her abuser for the first time. Vicki Schmidt said the sexual abuse perpetrated by the Rev. Peter Mascari lasted 14 years. Mascari, who died in 2002, served for 36 years as pastor of St. John Vianney Church in Sherman and Holy Family Church in Athens. Schmidt has more recently identified herself as “a survivor of clerical abuse” without naming Mascari. She said her announcement didn’t “come from a place of vengeance, anger or a desire to attack the church.”
Schmidt said that “clericalism,” the assumption of moral superiority by priests, is “a core issue” in the sexual abuse scandal the Catholic Church is facing.