Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Sharing My Stages of Recovery - J Paul Lennon
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Disclaimer: This session was delivered for the 2023 ICSA Conference. The speaker of this session does not speak on behalf of ICSA as an organization.
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An interview with Michael Langone, PhD, I.C.S.A. executive director at the time, helped me become more clearly aware of the stages of my recovery. After twenty-three years in the group, I had impulsively ejected at age forty-one.
When I pronounced religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience at age eighteen, I had no idea of the cultic nature of this Catholic religious order I was entering. I lived in that straitjacket for twenty-three years, which included priestly ordination at age twenty-six and thirteen years of ministry.
I emerged from a very deep, dark abyss, moving gradually into a world of light and life, fed by the kindness of friends and strangers and a dogged survival instinct. I would like to share those stages and elements of recovery with others so that they may find hope and perhaps some pointers towards healing and happiness: a safe place, a support group, understanding the cult, my exiting, and myself; discovering my true self, forging a new career, and a joyful life.
Sharing My Stages of Recovery - J Paul Lennon
-
Disclaimer: This session was delivered for the 2023 ICSA Conference. The speaker of this session does not speak on behalf of ICSA as an organization.
-
An interview with Michael Langone, PhD, I.C.S.A. executive director at the time, helped me become more clearly aware of the stages of my recovery. After twenty-three years in the group, I had impulsively ejected at age forty-one.
When I pronounced religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience at age eighteen, I had no idea of the cultic nature of this Catholic religious order I was entering. I lived in that straitjacket for twenty-three years, which included priestly ordination at age twenty-six and thirteen years of ministry.
I emerged from a very deep, dark abyss, moving gradually into a world of light and life, fed by the kindness of friends and strangers and a dogged survival instinct. I would like to share those stages and elements of recovery with others so that they may find hope and perhaps some pointers towards healing and happiness: a safe place, a support group, understanding the cult, my exiting, and myself; discovering my true self, forging a new career, and a joyful life.
