A while back, “wounded healer” was the new up-to-date jargonization of pop-psychology that had to be used by the politically correct “in” crowd of seminary formators. I always thought the term to be creepy, at best, but when I thought about it, I thought it to be a sick form of predatory whatever at worst.
At its best, “wounded” could refer to victimhood, such as having been beaten to a pulp by one’s drunken parents continuously as a child, in which case “healer” would refer to a “been there, know all about it” condescension of transference, in which the circumstances and psychology of the one to be healed is insignificant compared to the all important paradigm-for-everyone’s-life-archetypal-wounded-healer-person. This is a kind of mocking of others’ pain, vomiting one’s own history on others. Absurdly thinking that “My pain is better than your pain! Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah!” isn’t going to get anyone anywhere better, but will only make them worse for the experience of the mockery. Of course, in all this, everyone is so very nice.
At its worst, “wounded” could refer to self-inflicted sin, in which case, mind you, the wounded-healer-person is not a victim, however much that is the scenario painted by brow-beating gnostic power-seekers: “I’ve been there, done that. I’m a victim and I admit it. And that makes me better than you, at least until you become just like me.” See above.
Since this is a series on celibacy, let’s use illicit sex as an example of this kind of rubbish, just to show how dangerous it is. Someone comes to confession and confesses some sins against holy purity, and you, the priest, jump in to say that you’ve been there, done that, and that you’re just the person, therefore, to help such a penitent overcome their struggles with remaining chaste. [Vomit here...] Sexuality is terribly profound and complex, psychologically, emotionally, and in every other way on every level. In this example, the confessor should be upbraided in whatever way for making a pass at the penitent. A confessor should not point to his own sin and similarity in whatever way to the penitent, but rather point the penitent directly to our Lord, who has the grace to provide chastity in the ardent love of the Holy Spirit for those who ask. Big difference there, no? Jesus grants wholeness and healing. It is He alone who is so good and so kind.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
