c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ On the make-believe screen of the movie theater, Bishop T.D. Jakes spends time in a prison cell, visiting a woman torn by the vestiges of child sexual abuse.

In real life, the Dallas megachurch pastor would like to see more Christian leaders pay attention to the scourge of abuse that affects children and adults who were victims of molestation.

“There needs to be increased awareness,” he said in an interview at a Washington hotel while in town to show screenings of the film, “Woman Thou Art Loosed: The Movie” ahead of its Friday (Oct. 1) release.

“For me, `Woman Thou Art Loosed’ is an opportunity to give voice to the silent screams of women who have written me (from) around the country for the last 10 or 11 years, sharing their stories and their secrets.”

Jakes hopes his R-rated movie will be a motivator for religious leaders and the general public alike to pay attention to abuse victims _ young and old _ and prevent further crimes when they can. The Pentecostal preacher has devoted attention to the theme in the past in other formats, including a book, conferences and a play. But he hopes the movie adaptation will trigger conversations between parents and children and among spouses about secrets they’ve kept concerning their past or present lives.

Experts on religion and on abuse agree that the attention is needed when studies show at least 1 in 10 children have been sexually molested by age 18.

They say churches have increased background checks of those working with children and started support groups for abuse victims in the last decade, but still have far to go.

Catherine Clark Kroeger, an author and faculty member at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., recently helped start an organization called Peace and Safety in the Christian Home to try to foster church involvement and create networks to address domestic abuse.

“They’re not doing anywhere near as well as they should,” she said of congregations. “The standard idea is minimize, silence, ignore, deny.”

Her Eugene, Ore.-based organization plans a conference next February called “Beyond Abuse” in Newport Beach, Calif., to bring together clergy and mental health professionals to find ways to work together to address violence in the home.

Jakes is carrying that same theme through the movie, which is distributed by Dallas-based Magnolia Pictures and partially funded by him. He invited religious leaders and social workers from the secular realm to screen the film. To draw further attention to the subject, he held a pastors’ conference in preparation of the nationwide opening of the movie.

“It is important that clergy understand that we are legally bound to report any suspected case of child abuse,” Jakes said. “It’s not our job to prove it.”

His congregation, the Potter’s House, has taken preventative measures to screen everyone who works with children, from choir directors to bus drivers. At the Megafest event he held in Atlanta in August, there was extra security _ and insurance riders _ for the 8,000 children under the age of 12 who attended.

But beyond background checks and police officers, Jakes says more work is needed within homes to address the issue. He thinks the movie may help achieve that. Though the R rating means adults will have to accompany those under 17 to the movie, Jakes said he’s supportive of young audiences viewing it.

“I think young people need to be able to see this,” he said, envisioning it as a method for them to be able to reveal “something like that happened to me.”

Researchers’ statistics vary on child sexual abuse, but most agree that at least 1 in 10 children have been sexually molested by the age of 18, said James Garbarino, a child abuse expert and co-director of Cornell University’s Family Life Development Center in Ithaca, N.Y. Those kinds of numbers are behind the efforts of Jakes and others to do more.

The film stars actress Kimberly Elise (who appeared in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “John Q” and “Beloved”), who plays a sex abuse victim who turns to a life of drugs and violence as she continues to suffer the trauma of childhood molestation. Jakes plays himself in a prominent role as the pastor to whom she reveals her story, in a series of flashbacks, and whose revival she attends. Her mother, played by Loretta Devine (who appeared in “Waiting to Exhale”), doesn’t believe her own boyfriend could be responsible for the actions her daughter claims.

Diane Langberg, board chairperson of the American Association of Christian Counselors and a speaker at Jakes’ conference, said there has been far less religious attention on adults who once suffered child abuse than on the safety of children currently attending church.

“The church … needs to be part of the healing community for adults who’ve been abused as children,” she said.

(OPTIONAL TRIM BEGINS)

Langberg, a Philadelphia psychologist who has worked with abuse and trauma victims for three decades has assisted churches faced with serious cases.

She’s dealt with situations where someone in leadership has abused a congregant and with cases where a known offender wants to attend a particular church.

“Churches have typically erred on the side of naivete about sex offenders,” she said. “Because someone cries and says they’re sorry, they assume it’s all over.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM ENDS

Jakes and others advocating for greater church attention to the subject say part of their mission is to help hesitant clergy be open to working with those outside the theological realm who have expertise in this area. The movie’s Web site lists resources for abuse victims, including links to coalitions and government offices.

“It is not wrong to invite the help of counselors in the rehabilitative process,” Jakes said. “You don’t have to be Superman. We can work with sociologists and psychologists. … We can deal with the spiritual part, but they can deal with the mental and the emotional part.”

MO/JL END BANKS