Acts of Recovery The Story of One Man's Ongoing Healing from Sexual Abuse by a Priest

Here is one man's story, told honestly and bravely of healing after being sexually abused as a child by a trusted family friend. The memory triggered in 2006 by a newspaper article with his abuser's name and the name of other boys who were abused by him. Through trying to understand and reconcile the trauma he experienced, Michael Hoffman focuses on what he calls his twelve "acts of recovery."

I am not going to write about that sick man and his enablers in this book. I am not going to give details of the abuse. That is my choice, and I hope you will respect it. As an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse, a practicing Catholic, and a husband and father of two children, I am trying to understand and reconcile in my life the trauma I experienced at the hands of my abuser and how those painful memories affect me today.

— From the Introduction

Michael D. Hoffman grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, and now resides with his wife and two teenage children in Chicago's Edgebrook neighborhood. He is the owner of a small orthopedic product distribution company. An active member of his local Catholic parish, St. Mary of the Woods, Michael is also chair of the Healing Garden Committee of the Archdiocese of Chicago and a member of the board of directors of Prevent Child Abuse - Illinois.