About Jay
Welcome!
This site belongs to Jay Nelson, a survivor of Roman Catholic clergy abuse and a former priest in an Independent Catholic church.
Despite my programming to be devout, I fled the dogmatic prison of the Church of Rome as a young adult long before I realized I had been molested. But the “call” would not go away. For several decades thereafter, and still on rare occasions, I have played a leading local religious persona in a local medieval recreation society.
Though quite fun, oddly enlightening, and even therapeutic, it was not enough. But my prayers to find a liberal church where I could I pursue my spiritual interests without sacrificing my intellectual freedom were ultimately answered. I “went legit” in 1991, when I was ordained in the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch. Made it up to the rank of Archpriest, too.
Ironically, less than a year later, on Good Friday no less, I first realized I had been a spectacularly “unlucky” altar boy, who had been ritualistically abused by a parish priest for years. Sure didn’t see that one coming…
Recovery has been a lengthy, tearful, and difficult struggle, not over with yet. My survival thus far has been due to good therapists, the unwavering support of my family, friends, and church, and the inspiration of countless other victims and survivors. Plus, of course, the mysterious grace of God.
The discovery completely overturned my life, and my efforts to found a parish soon withered. My main focus turned to clergy abuse activism. I participated in local protests and even led the only group of victims to demonstrate at World Youth Day in 1993.
For over a decade, I published both the newsletter and website for The Survivors of Clergy Abuse Linkup (now long gone), at the time the leading clergy abuse victim support and advocacy organizations in the US. Most of the articles I wrote then, plus historical “smoking gun” documents and much else, I’ve republished on my Priests of Darkness website.
Many of them — along with nineteenth century academic histories, Church decrees, and much else — form the basis of my recently self-published exposé, SONS OF PERDITION: New Mexico in the History of the Catholic Sex Scandals.
I’ve also written a novel: The Harrowing, a psychological horror tale about a survivor struggling against a diabolical cult in the Southwest. Personally therapeutic even if universally ignored. And I’ve also completed a much deliberately funnier work, a movie script for a dark medieval comedy, Once Upon An Inquisition. I hope to turn it into a novel soon.
I’m a professional graphic designer, albeit a mediocre but inspired painter, an essayist, and have even had a few mystical experiences as well. At my own request, I’ve been granted a full and complete excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, but have been raised to the rank of archpriest in the Church of Antioch for my modest contributions. I retired as a priest to better concentrate on clergy abuse surivivor issues, as well as to spare them any repercussions.
I continue to dwell in the Land of Enchantment as a hermit, testifying to the evils that yet lurk within the Catholic Church, and praying for the liberation of those whom it has oppressed. As my patron saint did, I wait in the desert for the Last Trump.
Thanks for coming by. Go in peace.
The Very Irreverend Jay Nelson