It's blackmail, pure and simple

It shouldn't have taken so much time to figure this out.  

I have often wondered why good priests stood by and let predator priests abuse children.  So many knew about it.  So many looked the other way.  So many heard the confessions of pedophiles and did nothing. 

So many bishops plotted and schemed to keep the sexual abuse of children quiet.  "We'll take care of this.  We'll take care of Father So-and-so."  Instead, bishops moved these priest, hid them, exposed them to a new group of innocents.  The crimes continued.  

Bishops assured victim's families that they had taken care of it.  The children were too young to protest to these powerful men.  The parents didn't know what else to do.  The Catholic bishop and the priests were higher in esteem than even the police.  And the cycle of abuse continued, fostered and covered up by church authorities all the way to the top. 

But the priests.  The so-called good priests.  They remained silent.  It was more than fidelity to the brotherhood of clergy.  It was rooted in something sinister.  It was rooted in blackmail and extortion and cowardice of the worst kind.  

Here is where the sexual abuse of children meets the sexual exploitation of adult women and men.  Not able to free themselves from their own sexually abusive behavior, the priests who were engaged in sex with adults could say nothing.  If they reported a pedophile, they would themselves be revealed by these pedophiles.  Revenge and blackmail on both sides.  An ugly horrific pact of pain for the victims of both groups of abusive, exploitative clergy.  

It shouldn't have taken so much time to figure this out.  But it did.  It's blackmail, pure and simple.  

And now we know why no one saved our children.  

Knoxville and Nashville dioceses in the crosshairs of a complaint to the National Review Board concerning violations against the Dallas Charter of 2002

Read the entire complaint including letter to officials and Thomas Doyle's memorandum of support. 

If you are a victim of clergy sexual abuse either as a child or as a sexually exploited adult and you have been required to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement or Non-Disparaging Agreement) with a Catholic Diocese since 2002, then it is null and void.   And the Catholic Church knows it!

Article 3 of the Dallas Charter of 2002 states that no victim will be silenced unless they (the victim) wants silence.  Otherwise, the bishops want us to believe that you are free to tell your story.  But you are NOT if you are made to sign any NDA that you do not wish to sign.  

A complaint was filed about this with the National Review Board on January 14, 2020.  I received an answer from Dr. Francesco Cesaro, chairman of the NRB.  He had forwarded it to Bishop Thomas Doherty for action.  

No action.  

I wrote another letter and sent to all relevant parties in October 2020 and received no answer.  

This is the pattern of the Bishops and all the Catholic hierarchy.  They just don't answer.  They just delay and delay until you go away.  

In this case, they are not going to win this argument.  They are going to be hounded more and more until they admit their wrongdoing and rectify.  

If you have an NDA that pertains to your complaint of clergy sexual abuse whether it be a private agreement with the church that you undertook yourself or with a lawyer, you should definitely NOT have been required to sign it.  

Join us in holding them accountable and let's get rid of these illegal NDAs that silence you and re-victimize you.  

Email me at susan8324@gmail.com

 Click here to read the original complaint to the National Review Board in 2020.

 A little remembering - Abuse of Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell - first bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee

Link to the best summary of Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell.  You must read this.  

Link to proof positive of the lack of transparency in the Diocese of Knoxville.  This is the entry that I found in the notebook at the St. John Vianney shrine to honor deceased priests of the Diocese of Knoxville.  This St. John Vianney Purgatorial Society notebook was installed in the new Sacred Heart Cathedral.  

After talking yesterday to a wonderful man and friend of mine who was molested by Bishop Anthony O'Connell and Father Xavier Mankel at Sacred Heart Cathedral, I decided to do a little introspection.   Sometimes we just need to make sure we remember. Or maybe we should call it making sure that we never forget.  

When Anthony J. O'Connell left St. Thomas Aquinas Preparatory Seminary and became the first bishop of Knoxville, it was a euphoric day in East Tennessee.  But we would come to regret that day in many ways.  We got a new name, Diocese of Knoxville.  We got a new bishop, and he was a pedophile. 

This is not in dispute although if you talk to many members of the Diocese of Knoxville they will deny it.  This is how poor the leadership of the next bishops of Knoxville have been.  

I remember sitting in the office of Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz with his Chancellor, Father James "Vann" Johnson in attendance.  The subject of the meeting was for three moms and members of the diocese to ask for help from Bishop Kurtz, the successor of O'Connell as 2nd bishop of Knoxville.  We would be disappointed.  Not only did Kurtz refuse to counter all the lies that were being passed around the diocese about now-admitted pedophile, Bishop O'Connell, Bishop Kurtz sat in silence and just looked at us.  I asked him, "Bishop, are you and your priests going to rectify these lies?  Are you going to tell the truth and make sure the people know?  

Silence.  Total and complete silence.  

What has followed is years of lies perpetrated by the diocese of Knoxville about O'Connell.  He died in 2012, ten years after admitting his pedophilia and resigning as bishop.  Not once was the truth emphasized in Knoxville for the sake of our children.  Not once were the misperceptions of the people addressed and amended to keep our children are safe, making liars of anyone who says there is even a semblance of transparency in the Diocese of Knoxville.  

Kurtz is now the Archbishop of Louisville, KY and head of all of the diocese of Kentucky and Tennessee.  Father Johnston is now Bishop James "Vann" Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri (the place who gave us O'Connell to begin with).  Bishop Richard F. Stika succeeded Kurtz as the 3rd bishop.  He came to us from the Archdiocese of St. Louis where he held high positions in the Archdiocese including right-hand man to Cardinal Justin Rigali, then-archbishop.  Rigali and Stika were at the heart of archdiocesan power when reports about O'Connell started surfacing and reported in the Archdiocese.  

Nothing was done.  O'Connell was bishop of Knoxville at the time of the first reports but nothing was done to remove him.  No one was told, not the least of which were his victims of abuse.  

I call the Diocese of Knoxville "Boston South."  You will hear more about that.  Someday, the truth will be out there.  No rest until it is.  

Be at peace, my friend.  Someday when we have fought long enough and hard enough, the truth will be out.  Then we can say, "FINALLY!"  Finally, the people will know  Finally, there will be a day of reckoning for those who have hidden the dirt that they knew all this time.  

Looking back at a predator 

When death does not stop the pain

I was thinking today about Father Edward McKeown and how he died in prison a year before his parole would have come up again.  We all have the tendency to say, "That's it.  He's dead and gone.  Pain over." 

Not so.  With pedophiles and predators of all kinds, the pain lives, sometimes muted by time but sometimes not gone at all.  It's a personal response to a personal crime.  The objective reality that the inflictor of pain and shame is gone is only one reality.  The other reality is that the effects of the abuse linger and sometimes fester no matter how much we wish they wouldn't.  

Father Edward McKeown abused in Middle and East Tennessee when the area was all the Diocese of Nashville.  McKeown's abuse at Blessed Sacrament Church in Harriman, Tennessee, is well grounded in fact, but the people in that parish are still left in the dark.  Even the priests assigned there over the years may or may not know about McKeown.  The current Diocese of Knoxville finds it easier not to acknowledge the years before 1988 when it was established.  That way victims of priests who molested in any year before 1988 can be turned away with the admonition to "Go to Nashville.  We didn't exist then."

Except they did exist.  

On September 8, 1988, when Knoxville became a diocese, all that changed was the name and the bishop.  And that bishop was a pedophile, Anthony J. O'Connell.  Most priests in the Diocese of Knoxville stayed the same.  Parishes stayed the same.  This diversionary tactic works legally but it is an insult to the faithful in these churches.  More later. 

The devastation that the abuse of Father Edward McKeown wrought on so many young boys is horrific.  But he never paid for his sexual abuse of boys in the Catholic Church.  It was after the Diocese of Nashville turned him lose on the unsuspecting public that McKeown abuse 4 boys in the trailor park where he lived.  A non-Catholic mother caught him and turned him in.  He went to jail for 20 years for his crimes but died after 19 years there.  

Never say that death ends abuse.  Would to God that it did.  We can only hope that it is some manner of consolation to so many men who surrendered their youth to crimes against their childhood.  Edward McKeown is dead.  It's something at least but will never be enough.  The Catholic Churcs knows that; it just does not care.  

 My last post was in 2019.  That's a long time ago since this is 2021.  I think I will begin here to tell the stories of clergy sexual abuse of children and clergy sexual exploitation of adults.  This will not be a long post.  I have a lot of homework to do to get this going again.  I think it is time.  

Things have not gotten better.  They are worse than ever but the story remains untold.  I'll use this to let you know that opening your eyes and understanding clergy sexual abuse is critical, now more than ever.  

Diocese of Knoxville = infiltrated by pedophile priests

Victor Phelan - missionary and rapist of boys

I just found out that Father Victor Phelan was outed September 2013 as the vicious pedophile he is. Years and years of abuse - only now being exposed.

Phelan abused at will as a missionary priest who made visits to various parishes in the US to raise money for the African missions.  He took the opportunity while in these parishes to rape young boys in the parish  and the parish school.  He was the lowest of the low.  I only found out about 8 years ago that some of his victims were in a school where I taught in the late 1970s.  My students.

I am angry not only at the vicious abuser and the bishop and priests who enabled his crimes, but at myself.  I wish I could go back in time and stop this molester who stole so much joy from these wonderful boys. I wish I had had the vision to know. . . . but I didn't.

There is no prison sentence or punishment that is suitable for this low-life scum.  Nothing is bad enough for Victor Phelan.  I only hope that a dear friend of mine is right when she tells me, "God knows and he will take care of these perps."

I hope she is right.  There is no place deep enough in the pit of hell for Victor Phelan and his ilk.

Here are some of the assignments of Victor Phalen that we know.

Bishop Stika living like a king

Are bishops really trying to live a more simple life?  I don't really think so.  You certainly wouldn't think so if you saw  Bishop Stika's house.  Apparently the former Bishop's home wasn't good enough.  Only a mansion would do. 

Bishops apparently can't pay victims what is owed to them in compensation, but they certainly can pay for their expensive lifestyles.   And what was the justification for paying $850,000 for his Sequoyah Hills home?  The money was given as a donation!  Does Stika really think we are so stupid to believe such an idiotic reason.

Let's make a list of where that money should have gone other than to pay for his expensive house:
1.  Victims of clergy sexual abuse.
2.  Catholic schools.
3.  Tuition for children who can't afford to go to Catholic schools.
4.  Catholic Charities for all the poor, the sick, the hungry, and so much more.

I hope Pope Francis reads this. It would be an eye opener for him to see how lavishly this Bishop lives. And with his buddy, Justin Rigali.  Two peas in a pod!

Victim knocks on the door

A victim of Father Edward McKeown knocked on the door of the rectory at Blessed Sacrament Church in Harriman, Tennessee, and inquired of the pastor if he knew of Edward McKeown's molestation of dozens of boys in his parish.

The pastor knew nothing . . . or so he says.

Parishioners whom I have asked are astounded.  They had never been told.

How incredible that the people, probably parents, siblings, and other relatives of these molested boys do not know the truth even yet.

1989 when McKeown left the priesthood to 2014 . . . you do the math.

Don't let Edward McKeown out of jail

I get worried that Edward McKeown will walk the streets again.  He should never get out of jail.

Father Edward McKeown abused across Middle and East Tennessee.  The bishop and many, many priests knew.  McKeown left the priesthood on March 1, 1989 without anyone knowing how many little boys he had raped.  The church never told the Catholics what McKeown had done. They let statutes of limitation run and sent their "problem" back out into the community at large to abuse more boys.

McKeown is not the only criminal here.  The bishop and any priest who knew what McKeown had done should be sitting in the prison cell with him.  That won't happen but it should.

Don't let McKeown every get parole. Give the rape victims of McKeown at least that small amount of justice.

Walter Emala - passed off to Maryland, leaving carnage in Tennessee

Walter Emala was assigned Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and when his abuse in several parishes across Tennessee became too much for the bishop to cover up, he shared this abuser with Maryland.  And so it goes.  The cycle of passing abusers from place to place, state to state.

Emala's name showed up on a list of priest abusers that was turned over by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Did any bishop in Tennessee ever let the Catholics of Tennessee know anything about this.  No, and that is their pattern.  Just be silent.  Just don't say a word.  The sins of omission.  

Is there no other voices out there who will cry out until the truth is told?

A Cardinal gets parole

Although Cardinal Justin Rigali never was put in jail for his complicity in the coverup of clergy sexual abuse, nonetheless he got paroled.  He is now in retirement and living in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, East Tennessee.  His retirement to live with Bishop Richard Stika in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a major disgrace.  The people of East Tennessee have been led to believe they are the most fortunate people on the face of the earth to have the cardinal in their area.  He is touted as a saint.  He has a special page on the the diocese of Knoxville website.

Just as no one was ever told the truth about Knoxville's first bishop, Anthony O'Connell, so too the Catholics have not been told the truth about Justin Rigali. More to come on what Rigali has done and what a mess he left in the places where he was assigned.

So Knoxville's first bishop was a pedophile.  Knoxville's second bishop covered up the truth of the extent of the first bishop's crimes.  Now the third bishop, Richard Stika, has bought an $850,000 house for him and his housemate, Justin Rigali, to share. Knoxville Catholics, are you paying attention to the facts.

My advice?  Google "Cardinal Justin Rigali" and see what you find.

SOLs are our problem

Tennessee looks like a pristine pure state when it comes to clergy abuse. Far from it. The truth is that statutes of limitation have silenced hundreds of victims of bishops, priests, nuns, and brothers.  Too bad - because the losers are our children and teens today.

No abuse in the south???  Far from it. But the truth will never be told.

Bad time for everyone

It is a bad, difficult time for everyone who has any dealings with clergy sexual abuse. It is with heavy heart that we see that situation with William Casey.  How tragic for everyone involved!  How utterly devastating to see the effects of clergy sexual abuse on the entire community. It is never more painful than in the eyes of Warren Tucker whose courageous stand for justice has been seen by so many.  This is a time to pray . . . and when you do, keep the victims of religious authority abuse very high on your list of those you pray for.  And throw in a prayer too for all children, teens and vulnerable adults.

From the Greeneville Sun

http://greenevillesun.com/story/309164/1

A large number of links to reports on William Casey, diocese of Knoxville

http://x1news.com/news-search-Rev-Casey.html

Diocese of Knoxville Website

http://dioknox.org/tags/william-casey/

Former St. John Neumann priest charged Monday

Posted in Farragut Press, Monday, April 22, 2010

http://www.farragutpress.com/articles/2010/04/12369.html

Who bailed out william casey?

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Jennifer's story

I wanted to let all of you know how much I appreciate all the support you guys gave us. I couldn’t talk about this with everyone before now because my lawyer told me I couldn’t until it was over. I just want to explain this to everyone (some of you already know this) so you can understand what took place. My slander case was completely separate from the sexual abuse case. Had we gone to trial the sexual abuse would not have been part of it.


I talked to Cheryl and Crystal before this went forward because I wanted them to know where I was at from the beginning with all this so we wouldn’t have another Lynette situation. I wanted them to know that I just wanted CGT to be held accountable and know that people would stand up against them and that we wouldn’t be bullied into silence ever again. I never thought about a payday or how much we could get out of them. From the first lawsuit, I just wanted to be heard.

About a few months ago I really started to be able to let go of the pull that CGT had over my life and it was liberating. If you all knew what the last 4 years were like for me you would me amazed that I was even able to do that. I know it was only by the Grace of God, because I for one never thought that day would come. But it did. I realized that my children had lost a mother and Paul had lost a wife to this. I was so busy trying to keep everything together that I even lost who I was. I had no real life and the joy that I have always had was completely sucked out of me. It was time to reclaim my life again.

I know that some people are disappointed that this didn’t go to trial, but it didn’t need to and I am glad to have it over with. When I first decided that I couldn’t stay silent anymore (4 years ago) I really thought that the truth would matter to the people in CGT once there was no denying it. I thought that they stayed because they believed what Steve and the other Trustees were telling them. Now that we have proven the lies, they still don’t care. People didn’t even bother to read the depositions because they don’t want to know the truth and those that did read it don’t care about the real truth anyway. They cared about preserving their little world, even if it was based on lies. I realized that I was still fighting for a group of people that didn’t want us to fight for them. Those people that the truth mattered too already knew the truth and had left. The community was made aware and CGT now knows that if they cover up sexual abuse in the future they will be held accountable.

We accomplished all that we set out too. There was nothing else I could do and I wasn’t going to fight anymore just to fight. Now that doesn’t mean if I got a phone call tomorrow that someone was being abused that I would turn from it. I would jump right back in and try to help this person get justice but other then that, I am done. I want to focus on my family and friends and rebuild my life.

I have not been silenced about my past. I would never give up my voice. The only thing I can’t talk about is the slander case and how it was resolved. But there really isn’t a need to, because everything had already been made public by me when I posted the original complaint on my website and in the news. In working with SNAP I have learned that victims rarely get to be heard and there is rarely a positive outcome for them within the justice system. Anything we can accomplish is a victory for us. When I first came forward 4 years ago Becky said “Oh it’s JUST Jennifer, give her 6 months and she will be on to something else”. She will never know how much her words helped me at the times that I felt like giving up.

It was really important to me that you all know that I had not gone back on any word to the victims about what I would do in this matter. If this had been about sexual abuse then it would not have ended like this. But this was about my family. Although, I do feel like I honored Cheryl and Crystal in the decisions I’ve made, I also wanted to be sure they knew that I appreciated them being willing to stand up in a custody hearing and tell the truth about what happened to them. When I first came to them and asked them and others to testify about life in CGT they agreed They had no idea where else this would lead (nor did I ), but every time I came to them and others about not just stopping there and needing more from them, I was never turned down. They were willing to do something that would divide their family from that moment on because it was the right thing to do. And it wasn’t just them willing to do that. It was all of you.

But if you look back on everything that was accomplished during the past 4 years, I am very proud of everyone who was willing to take a stand. My nature is to stand up and use my big mouth, so for me this did not take me out of my comfort zone (even though it was more emotionally painful then I would have ever imagined) but for people like Cheryl, Crystal and Shari, well this went against their comfort zone and so I think they are far more brave than I ever was. It would have been harder for me to turn away and not speak out, so I completely respect the fact that they did something that was hard for them to do. It wasn’t just them that were willing to stand for the truth at the risk of losing family it was the Linder’s too. Not only did they stand up for the truth but their friendships with me caused tremendous strain on their relationships with their family still in CGT. They were cut off because people saw it as them choosing me over them. But it wasn’t that at all. They chose the TRUTH and people at CGT still don’t understand the difference.

But it is amazing how much strength everyone has gotten through this. People have been set free of many chains during this time, and people who never thought they had a voice found theirs. And we ALL (every one of us who spoke out, sexual victim or spiritual victim) were apart of something that had never been done before within the GAC group and God used all of us to shine a light into that place! I lost a lot of people that I thought were my friends, but I gained so much more out of this. I gained true friendships. I can look at all of my friends and have so much respect for them. So in the end I really didn’t lose a thing. It was more like I got out all the weeds and now my garden is able to grow and I am able to see the beauty. I know that sounds corny, but it is true!

I want to say a special thanks to all the victims of sexual abuse. I know first hand how hard this has been. You all have been so brave in coming forward. I want to recognize each one of you and tell you how much I love you and how you made such a difference by speaking out. That even includes Lynette. Even though I was very hurt by what she did, she is a victim of that place as well and I know how much pain she relived having to tell her story.

I also want to mention SNAP. A lot of you don’t know much about them but had it not been for Ann Brentwood (may she rest in peace) I would have never known where to even begin. She guided me through so much of this and taught me so much about character and love. She was with me from the beginning and she is the one who told me our voice was the most important thing we could give to this and then she taught me how our ears become just as important, because we need to give back to other victims who are coming out of what we have been through. She was the toughest ex-nun that I know of. She is so thrilled with what has happened. She would always tell me that the smallest victories needed to be celebrated in a BIG way. She made such an impact on my life and she is so missed. But it wasn’t just her, David Clohessy who is the Director of SNAP was there whenever I called.

He dealt with Libby at the beginning of this and let me know that he would do whatever he could to help. Libby didn’t realize that she helped me the day she started sending emails to him, trying to get him not to allow me to be a part of SNAP. Because of her, what we went through at CGT was made very clear to him. He never would even have known me like he does if it wasn’t for her. But his heart ached so much for me after reading what a mother would say about their own daughter that he got involved in any way he could. SNAP was mainly focused on the Catholic Church, but it didn’t matter that we weren’t Catholic. He cared because we were victims. Had it not been for SNAP we never would have known about the Lawyer in CA and we never would have sued. There are so many people that got involved who didn’t know us, but they did it because it was what was right. They were one of the first people to help me see that I mattered and that I wasn’t disposable.

Who would have thought that Catholics and former Catholics would have been apart of helping me??? I guess they were right when they taught us that Catholics were their beast It’s all a bit ironic and funny!!!

Anyway, I just wanted to let all of you know how much I love you and to thank you for standing with me during all of this.