Father Chris Laine, Abbot of The Order of Saint Patrick of Armagh, has a vision to rescue and treat abused women and children in a way never done before.
We are asking the great Saint Patrick of Armagh to lead in the building and operation of comprehensive care centers for these neglected victims. Historically, monks following the example of this patron saint of Ireland made their monasteries centers of prayer and contemplation but also of active service. They cared for the sick, widowed, poor, and abandoned.
St. Patrick, in the mid-400s, delivered Ireland from the cult of the Druids by his ultra-convincing arguments defending the gospel and thereby Christianized the country. His educational center was established in the city of Armagh, where his principal church was founded. He decreed that only those who were educated at Armagh could be permitted to preach the gospel.
Our vision is to purchase an older motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From this location we will provide not only safe haven but medical and psychological care to clients from the bordering states of Arizona, Colorado, and Western Texas. In the future, we plan on establishing monastic centers in New England, the Pacific Northwest, and the South Eastern US. If God continues to call we will carry this ministry to Europe, Asia and Africa -- whereever there is a need, we will be.
Father Chris has recognized and accepted a calling to design and implement truly effective care for abuse victims; that is, treatment that takes into consideration spirituality, comfort, in addition to providing a safe haven. We must break the cycle of abuse in order to say we have afforded any help at all for these victims of abuse. In order to break that cycle appropriate
psychological and psychiatric care must be given along with any necessary medical intervention.
Efforts have already been launched to establish communities within the U.S. and abroad as well. The first American site may be developed in Northern Arizona, near Flagstaff. A request has already been received to establish a facility in South Africa and the Cleveland, Ohio, area is also being explored where the Diocese of Cleveland may either sell or donate property for use in this Apostolate.
Spiritual communities with the dual purpose of contemplative prayer and comprehensive healing will be established at each new location. The Monastery of Saint Patrick, the Mother House for the community, will be located in one of the Western States and will consist of consecrated sisters and men who have received a calling and are in formation. There will be separate housing for priests and male religious as well as well as a convent for the women religious. The Order will also be open to those members of the laity who feel a calling for the religious life and wish to make a solemn profession to serve Christ. Those in formation will provide grounds-keeping, clerical functions, hospitality, and similar work of the day. All will gather for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each morning. The Daily Office will also be observed by the entire community throughout the day.
Once established as a house of prayer, the monastery will begin to welcome women and children who have suffered the devastating trauma of abuse as well as those who have been devastated by the horror of having been kidnapped and forced into sex slavery as a child or young adult.
Statistics indicate a literal pandemic of abuse throughout the world. In North America, some woman suffers some kind of violence every nine minutes! As Chris says, this is someone’s daughter, mother, sister, niece, friend…another human being degraded and treated as something less that one of God’s creations. Practically everybody knows someone whose very soul has been mangled by abuse.
In the U.S., one in three girls and one in four boys are abused severely enough to cause life-long emotional pain and a diminished self image marked by self-condemnation since they blame themselves for the abuse. They feel "less-than" and become prone to further abuse because predators can easily spot wounded prey. For this reason, many such victims end up living with or marrying an abuser. They think they don’t deserve any better.
One does not think of slavery in the modern world, much less an act of human depravity where in excess of 100,000 children are kidnapped from INSIDE the United States (source US State Dept.) and forced into sex slavery. An additional 15-25,000 are trafficked into the country illegally from other parts of the world to be forced into sex slavery. These people are kept drugged in order to control them. When they no longer serve their purpose they are eliminated with only a few ever being discovered by law enforcement. There is no major organization offering aid to these people anywhere in the country at the moment.
Making this disaster still worse is the fact that abuse and trauma treatment are not covered in traditional Ph.D. psychology programs or in psychiatric residencies. Professionals are largely ignorant of what to do with abuse-centered posttraumatic stress disorder and the many other ramifications of abuse.
For this reason, graduate students in psychology will be recruited to serve a practicum where they will be afforded the opportunity to add this milieu to their training as treatment providers. Medical treatment will be provided by local teaching hospital facilities. Re-entry into society will be aided by the appropriate governmental Rehabilitation Agency. Psychiatrists will also be available through the local teaching hospital.
The Order of Saint Patrick has been licensed by both New Mexico and Texas as a Non-profit entity. All donations are tax deductible. We are currently making application for an IRS 501(c)(3) designation. As we are a religious institution all donations are automatically tax deductible even without that designation. However, we do need that status in order to apply for the numerous grants which are available.