Imbalance of Power: Exploitation of Women by Catholic Priests

Patricia BondI was a vulnerable young woman with a failing marriage when she went to a Franciscan priest for counseling. What followed was an all-to-common but largely unknown story of seduction, unfair advantage, and grief. Father Henry Willenborg and Ms. Bond conceived a son, Nathan who was abandoned by the church hierarchy, as he was losing his battle with brain cancer. He was twenty-two when he died. It was Nathan’s hope that other children of priests would not be cast aside by their fathers but treated as God’s precious children. This memoir is as much Nathan’s story as it is the mine. IThis important story was not only covered here in the United States but also in Rome, China, Germany, India, Australia, and Austria—basically around the world. The readers and viewers wanted to know more; they wanted to know how the leader of the Catholic Church handles not only women hurt by their priest but also about how they treated the son of one of their own.