BishopAccountability.org
Victims React to St. Edmond's Abuse Settlement

By Amy Cherry
WDEL
December 2, 2011

http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=39217

[with audio]

[with video]

Fourteen Delaware men, who say they were sexually abused as children, have reached a $7 million settlement with the former St. Edmond's Academy and the Capuchins. The agreement also calls for the release of public documents surrounding the abuse.

WDEL's Amy Cherry has reaction.

For survivors like Jeff Rose, the settlement doesn't erase memories of horrific abuse. He says very few people know what happened to him at the hands of John Fleming, and in going public for the first time -- Rose fell to the ground, overcome with emotion.

"A sense of closure, yes, but obviously given, what my emotional reaction, I'm not there yet," says Rose.

Jean Dougherty says her husband was also a victim of priest sex abuse at the hands of Father Carley over seven years. The former jazz guitarist died of leukemia last year. But she says it was the abuse that really got him.

"His self-esteem was robbed from him, and the guy might as well of killed him. It would've been kinder," says Dougherty.

Survivor Matt Conaty, founder of the Child Victims Voice, also played an active role in the settlement process. He says it's important no child ever endures the type of abuse he endured for so many years,


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