Counselor Provides Resources on Spiritual Abuse

Michigan-based counselor Paul Fahey offers new educational resources to help laypeople identify spiritual abuse in the Church.

Updated on Oct. 26, 2026 in Catholicism

Gouache-painted editorial illustration of a solitary stone archway, representing clarity and guidance in a calm, neutral space. — Licensed counselor Paul Fahey is launching new educational initiatives to help parishioners recognize and address spiritual abuse within Catholic Church communities. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Paul Fahey, a 36-year-old licensed mental health counselor from Michigan, is providing resources for laypeople to identify spiritual abuse within the Catholic Church. These materials include a research paper, workshops, and a podcast.

Why it matters

Fahey created these resources to address a significant lack of language used to identify spiritual abuse, drawing on his own background as a former director of religious education. His work aims to empower parishioners to recognize and name coercive environments.

Fahey manages the Catholic Third Space platform, which currently reaches 27,000 subscribers through newsletters and a weekly podcast. His self-study workshops span four weeks and have already reached 150 attendees.

The players

Paul Fahey

A 36-year-old licensed mental health counselor from Michigan who previously worked as a director of religious education at a parish.

Lisa Oakley

A researcher who reported that 75 percent of survey respondents in the United Kingdom experienced coercion in Christian churches.

The details

Fahey authored the paper 'The Place Where You Stand is Holy Ground' to process his personal experiences with a difficult parish environment. He has since expanded his outreach, including a presentation on spiritual abuse to the Trappists' general chapter in 2025.

Fahey left his position at a parish in 2020.
Fahey presented to the Trappists' general chapter in 2025.
Details regarding his work were published in U.S. Catholic magazine in October 2026.

Culture Shift

This effort follows the pattern set by the ongoing shift toward addressing spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church by providing lay-led educational tools. It signals a move toward using secular mental health frameworks to navigate traditional religious institutional challenges.

Laypeople can access the recorded four-week workshops for self-study to learn how to identify potential signs of coercion. These materials offer practical language for individuals who may feel uneasy about their experiences within a parish environment.

The takeaway

Recognizing spiritual abuse requires specific vocabulary that has been historically absent in many parish settings. By utilizing resources from trained counselors, parishioners can better evaluate the health of their own spiritual communities.