Abstract:
Rape by clergy sounds like a fallacy to those who have never experience it; however, it is one of the issues that the church has tried to sweep under the carpet for many years. The church has reached a stage where we cannot hide the abuse perpetrated by clergy. The challenge is that, those who have been abused by clergy have either left the church without receiving justice, or pastoral care. Others are still trapped and forced to be silent, especially about the abuses they endure within the church. The silencing of some women who have been raped by clergy is one of the reasons why this challenge is still going on to this day. The church has not yet put this challenge to the table, in order to possibly intervene, as a way of exploring the pain, and then stop this behaviour and to start the healing process for the survivors (take out victims).
This research seeks to investigate rape of women by male clergy. The aim of this study is to highlight experiences of women who were violated by male clergy within the Pentecostal church in Losasaneng (not real NAME) The research will also bring to light the issue of pastors who misuse their office, in order to gain sexual pleasures, including factors that promote the abuse of women by men which includes rape. This is done with an objective of coming up with a healing method that would assist pastors and pastoral caregivers to pastorally journey with these women. The research will also suggest ways of rehabilitating the pastors who rape to avoid the re-occurrence of this incident.