For 20 years, LA archdiocese has changed its approach to abuse prevention
Addressing students during the school’s morning Mass on April 12, Father Michael Wakefield, pastor at St. Francis de Sales Church in Sherman Oaks, relayed a story about a woman who inquired about the healing garden along the parish’s outside wall.
“Is this only for those who were abused as children?” she asked.
“No, not at all,” Wakefield said.
“Good,” she said.
“She sat on one of the benches outside and sobbed the entire time,” recalled the priest.
For Wakefield, stories like these help illustrate the deeper meaning of the events and activities organized around the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, marked every April.