What does it mean to hope—not with blind optimism, but with the quiet strength born from walking through darkness?

In Episode Eight of Descent Into Light, “Hope Illumines the Dark,” we close the series not with an ending, but with a beginning. Sr. Theresa Aletheia and Sr. Danielle Victoria share how, after a period of uncertainty, God opened an unexpected door. Against the odds, they prepare for Rome with a new home and the conviction that their vocation—to listen to survivors and call the Church to reform—is not just possible but in God’s plan.

This final episode explores:

- The last stage of grief: hope grounded in God’s presence, not in perfection

- How speaking openly about abuse in the Church demands both risk and courage

- Why real reform requires not just changes in law but conversion of hearts and why it involves all of us

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Nick and Corynne Staresinic for their invaluable help in producing this project.

Concluding Song by Kevin Heider, "The Body," 2018. https://kevinheider.com/thebody/

This episode uses sounds from various sources, including:

005-Airplane interior, call ding.wav by Trashcan_Studios -- https://freesound.org/s/616891/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Interior car moving on cobblestones by cassssi -- https://freesound.org/s/329583/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

0014 Car driveby LR.mp3 by DELandes -- https://freesound.org/s/232850/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0