Institutionalized Sin

In Episode 6 of You're Not Alone, the 1in6 podcast supporting male survivors of childhood sexual abuse, hosts Anthony Edwards and Beau welcome documentary filmmaker and advocate Sara Pearson. As founder/associate director of the Wisconsin-based project Nate's Mission and director of Manufacturing the Clerical Predator, Sara has spent years working alongside the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and lobbying on sexual-violence policy. A Harvard Divinity School graduate, she set out to make a film that could "live on YouTube" and answer the questions people keep asking about clergy abuse.

At the heart of the conversation is the documentary's thesis: that institutional abuse isn't simply a failure to prevent harm, in some cases the institution itself can form abusers. Sara describes interviewing three men from different generations, including a former Vatican insider, a former priest who is himself a survivor, and a former seminarian, to show how the same patterns are reproduced over time. The hosts and Sara explore the difference between a "crisis" (a threat to the institution's power and prestige) and a "catastrophe" (what happens to the people who are harmed), and why accountability has to come from outside the system.

The discussion turns to power and money, real estate, hospital systems, sovereign-state status, and why public scandal alone hasn't forced change. But the episode leads with hope. Sara shares how viewers reach out to disclose for the first time after seeing the film, how survivors in their 20s are organizing across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and how a project called Conclave Watch drew an unexpected flood of priest whistleblowers willing to do the right thing. It's a clear-eyed, support-forward conversation about male sexual abuse recovery and the long, shared work of healing.

In this episode:

• Making Manufacturing the Clerical Predator on a shoestring as a Harvard Divinity thesis
• The thesis: how institutions can manufacture, not merely fail to stop, abusers
• "Crisis vs. catastrophe" and why real accountability comes from outside
• The role of money, real estate, and global power in institutional staying power
• Conclave Watch and a surprising wave of priest whistleblowers
• Hope through a global, intergenerational movement of survivors

Content note: this episode discusses clergy and institutional sexual abuse and adult sexual assault in a non-graphic way, with references to the Holocaust and other human-rights violations.

You are not alone. 1 in 6 men have had an unwanted or abusive sexual experience. Free, confidential support is available 24/7 through the 1in6 Helpline and online support groups at 1in6.org.

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