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	Pain of Priest's Sexual Abuse Spoken through Windsor Poet 'Angels Are Weeping' By Grace Macaluso Windsor Star April 5, 2008 http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/entertainment/story.html?id=ff5b98e8-41b6-42cf-8b77-6ed4b38c8cbd&k=49500 Storm clouds loomed over the Chatham courthouse on that day in August 2006 when 47 sexual abuse victims of Roman Catholic priest Charles Sylvestre finally saw justice. "We were on the top floor of Superior Court," recalls Paul Bailey, the Crown lawyer who prosecuted the 83-year-old clergyman on 47 counts of indecent assault on young girls over a period of 36 years. "Because there were so many spectators, we needed the largest room in the courthouse, and that room has a huge skylight, probably 15 feet by 16 feet. It was a very dark, cloudy day and 47 counts were being read out, one by one. At the end of each count he would be asked 'how do you plead?' He would say 'guilty.' " As the eighth count was being read, "the skies just opened up," says Bailey. "It didn't just start raining, it was a downpour and the rain was pounding on the skylight." Bailey then turned to a colleague and whispered, "the angels are weeping." The prosecutor would share that memory several months later with Windsor poet Mary Ann Mulhern, who was so struck by the celestial image that it would inspire the title of her latest work - When Angels Weep. Based on court documents as well as interviews with Bailey and five of the abused women, the collection of 81 poems explores the experiences of Sylvestre's victims. "I want it to be a unique voice for the women," says Mulhern. "Court documents are very factual, dry. I'm hoping the imagery of the poetry will have a heavy impact on the reader." Though the poems tell the women's stories, they are directed at the reader with the hope of shattering the silence that often envelopes child sexual abuse, she says. "I've heard it said that with poetry, the reader can internalize the loss and grief of another person. Several of the victims said they wanted their truth heard. And that's interesting because so many were called liars. "I'm hoping it will change perceptions (of sexual abuse) among people who never gave it much thought or who never really had a concept of how deep this goes and how long-lasting this is," adds Mulhern. "If one more time the silence of the issue can be broken or people can identify with it differently, hopefully people will start thinking about prevention." Mulhern began work on the project in late 2006 after being approached by Marty Gervais, owner of Black Moss Press, which published her previous works The Red Dress and Touch the Dead. "I approached Mary Ann to write this book because of her background as a former Roman Catholic nun," says Gervais, also a Windsor Star columnist. "I think her understanding of the church and how it deals with issues would help. More importantly I knew from her book, The Red Dress, the story about her convent life, that if she handled this subject the way she did that one, the results would be a story written with sensitivity, compassion and honesty." Mulhern collaborated with women like Kelly-Anne Appleton, who was a nine-year-old student in Chatham when she was abused over a three-year period by the pastor of St. Ursula's parish. At first, Appleton, 42, had reservations about turning her story into poetry. "Initially I was a little leery," says Appleton. "I had not been a big reader of poetry. I wasn't sure how these poems would have meaning and be artistic at the same time." Her doubts were erased by meeting with Mulhern and reading The Red Dress. "I thought her heart was in the right place," says Appleton. "She has an unbelievable ability to tell a story. I couldn't put the book down. Each poem builds on the other and created a story. That's what she's done with our stories." When Angels Weep captures the experiences of the women, says Appleton. "She saw into my heart and turned it into these amazing words." Gervais describes Mulhern's style as "minimalist, spare and non-judgmental. In this book about Sylvestre and his victimization of young girls in this diocese, Mary Ann stays out of the way and lets the survivors of that abuse tell their own story. She becomes a medium through which they can purge their nightmares." Sylvestre died in prison last year while serving a three-year sentence. But the impact on his victims is "long-lasting," says Mulhern. Themes of betrayal, shame, confusion, loss and fear emerged from Mulhern's interviews with the women. For the reader, the impact of her words can be a gut-wrenching and chilling experience. Her poems explore how Sylvestre would threaten them with damnation if they reported his abuse. "Sylvestre used religious symbols, such as the crucifix, to silence his victims," says Mulhern. "He'd say 'Jesus might come down and kill you if you say anything about this.' " Many of the girls who did try to tell their parents were not believed. One child, in particular, was punished at school by a nun who called her "a filthy, little liar," says Mulhern. Bailey, who read the finished product, calls the poems a "marvellous partnership between the criminal justice system and the artistic community. "Mary Ann portrays very vivid, painful imagery," says Bailey. "She really gets across the catastrophic suffering of not only the survivors but the families. She brings a clear focus on institutions, the church, the society that failed them." It is the hope of the survivors that When Angels Weep will help achieve the goal of prevention, he adds. "The most fervent wish of all of the survivors in the Sylvestre case was that this not happen again to any other group of little girls," says Bailey. "And it struck me that one of the ways to prevent that was to embody in artwork the misery and suffering that they as a group went through for decades. "Newspaper articles are long forgotten, but artwork endures." Contact: gmacaluso@thestar.canwest.com
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