St. Maria Goretti, Pray for us!

For every young girl who has been threatened or abused sexually, St. Maria Goretti, we beg your intercession.


For healing, pray for us.


For the courage to forgive, pray for us.


For the salvation of the one who caused us harm, we beg your intercession.


Excerpt from my story:
I couldn’t have been more than five years old. The abuse started in the basement of a parishioner’s house. The boy was young, too, but the difference in our ages made him seem more man than child. It was marginal abuse at first, but gained frequency and intensity over the course of a year (until we moved to another pastorate). I remember once, the young man held a pocket knife in the palm of his hand and commanded me to do something that sent shock-waves through my childhood innocence. I don’t remember what happened after that. I think I ran upstairs to be with my parents.