In this episode, Shielagh Clark closes out the summer of 2022—a season marked by both courageous steps and devastating setbacks. She reflects on the fallout from her attempt to be heard by the church, including the scolding she endured from her own attorney, whose words echoed the very dynamics of control and silencing she thought she had escaped. What was framed as a “confrontation” became another weapon used against her, showing how institutions and even advocates can twist survival into liability.

The episode also explores how the deposition process unexpectedly unearthed proof of the very truth Shielagh had been trying to tell all along, and how another survivor’s story confirmed that she was not alone in being dismissed and shut out by church leaders. Finally, she shares how the passage of New York’s Adult Survivors Act opened a new legal path, merging with her existing case and pushing it closer to trial.

This chapter of Perverted Justice reveals the cost of standing up for oneself when even allies resist—and underscores the persistence of truth, even when institutions try to bury it