From 2002 to 2004, Lisa Kessler photographed the sexual abuse crisis in Boston’s Roman Catholic Church as a project titled “Heart in the Wound.” In Boston alone over 800 people reported abuse to the church (victims’ advocates estimate 100,000 across the US were sexually abused at the hands of their priests). Kessler took great care to show the whole gamut of the crisis, from the protests at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, just down the street from where Kessler lives, to Cardinal Bernard Law’s resignation in December 2002 and the protests at Bishop Sean O’Malley’s installation, to the settlements, support groups, and eventual legislation. Through the project, Kessler aimed not only to document and shed light on this pivotal period and issue, but most importantly to use it as a platform from which to discuss child sexual abuse in general.

Originally from New York, Kessler is a freelance documentary and editorial photographer and educator with almost 20 years of experience. Currently teaching at Northeastern University and the Maine Photographic Workshops, she holds a BA in history from Brown University and a MS in journalism and photojournalism from Boston University. She was a finalist in the 2005 Artist Grant Program for Massachusetts Cultural Council, and in 2004 received an Honorable Mention for the Honickman Foundation First Book Prize in Photography from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University ( Durham, NC) for this project. An early version of “Heart in the Wound” received the 2002 Award of Excellence from the Pictures of the Year International competition in the Magazine News Story category. Included in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, her work has been exhibited at the Danforth Museum of Art ( Framingham, MA), Scollay Square Gallery ( Boston, MA), Boston Arts Academy, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute ( Birmingham, AL). 

When the clergy abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002, I started an independent project to document the healing in the Catholic Church. I had freelanced for the archdiocese, and in 2000 exhibited “Shades of Grace,” a body of work about the interplay of solitude and community in the church.

I did not find any healing to document, just pain everywhere. Violence and abuse had been papered over for decades, leaving the victims of rape and molestation silent and unseen. I wanted to capture on film the invisible forces of power and shame at the heart of sexual abuse.

The history I documented unfolded in front of me. My photographs are candid and unposed, but structured to communicate something larger than the facts recorded at that moment, to convey power or pain or connection or change.

Amidst the rage and denial of the crisis, I was drawn to the complexity of survivors trying to make sense of the abuse and of the betrayal of the institutional church. I taped long conversations with 3 people I became close with— Kathy, Phil, and Olan—each of whom are powered by both strength and vulnerability. An edit of their voices is the soundtrack to the DVD “Heart in the Wound.”

What’s next:

1. The American Medical Association calls sexual abuse “a silent, violent epidemic.” The silent part of sexual abuse is over. If you are being hurt, there is help.

2. New Massachusetts laws in 2002 mandated that clergy report abuse and neglect of minors, and made it a crime for a supervisor to recklessly endanger children. Because these laws did not exist previously, bishops who protected abusive priests could not be criminally prosecuted. The legislature is poised to pass a third law, one that eliminates the statutes of limitations on crimes of childhood sexual abuse.

3. Sexual abuse is not about the sexual orientation of the perpetrator; it is about the perpetrator's abuse of power and authority. We can all become more educated and get involved to help prevent abuse in our communities: www.masskids.org