Matthew 18 is a heartfelt conversation between Bishop Bill Muhm and Carrie Bucalo, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Their mutual concern for the health and well-being of the Church led to an honest dialogue about the deep wounds victims experience, emerging in a fresh, relevant, and hopeful commentary.
Each chapter begins with a selected text from Matthew 18. Bishop Muhm offers theological insights, and Carrie responds with her experiences as a survivor. Together, they reveal that Jesus' words in Matthew 18 are a direct source of healing and guidance for the whole Church during this time of scandal.
Enhanced with Carrie's emotive artwork, this little book shows that the present time of crisis and sadness is also a time of extraordinary grace. "Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more" (Romans 5:20).
Author Biography:
Carrie Bucalo is an Army wife, mother, watercolor artist, and writer. She was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After being sexually abused for eighteen years by her biological father, an active lay minister in the Catholic Church, she ran away from home and joined the Carmelite Monastery of Santa Fe. There she studied the ancient ways of Carmelite prayer and mysticism. For three years she lived in silence and solitude and learned to navigate through the "Dark Night of the Soul," ultimately finding a way to communicate her faith-wounds to others. Her father was arrested for child sexual abuse in 2002, and Carrie became involved in an unbearable court battle that has spanned over two decades and is still ongoing.In 2005, Carrie married Justin Bucalo, a youth minister at a large church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. They have been married for seventeen years and have six children. Justin joined the United States Army in 2010, and the couple loves moving around the world with their family, as they serve their country. In 2010, Carrie founded the website, www.healedbytruth.com, to share her essays, The Spiritual Journey of Healing, and to promote faith-healing for abuse survivors and their families. For the past two decades, Carrie has advocated for the spiritual needs of abuse survivors in the Catholic Church, and she writes for the bestselling Magnificat. Bishop William (Bill) Muhm was raised in Denver, Colorado. He earned a BS in Business Administration from Colorado State University in 1980. He served on active duty in the Navy as a Supply Corps officer, as a civilian accountant, and as part owner of a family pizza business before entering the minor seminary in 1989 to study for the Catholic priesthood. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York in 1995 by John Cardinal O'Connor. After serving at civilian parishes in Ossining, NY, and Staten Island, NY, he returned to active duty as a Navy chaplain in 1998. His military assignments included shipboard and shore-based duty in Japan, Iraq, and the USA. Bishop Muhm retired from the Navy in 2018, with the rank of Navy Captain. In 2019, he was ordained an Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar for Europe and Asia for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. He currently lives in Germany and shepherds the U.S. Catholic communities at military installations in Europe, Asia, and Guam.
