PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano
He was a 13-year-old eighth-grader chosen by his classmates for the lead role in the annual parish passion play.
“I was elected to play Jesus,” Shawn Magee told the jury Monday in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse case. Magee, now 39, recalled how he originally thought it was an honor back in 1986 to be singled out by his classmates at Annunciation BVM Church in Havertown.
Then he found out the passion play was being directed by a pervert priest, Father Thomas J. Smith.
Magee told the jury how Father Smith brought him upstairs to the sacristy, and locked the door behind him. He had the boy disrobe until he was “completely naked,” Magee said. Then Father Smith kneeled down in front of him, with his mouth full of safety pins.
Magee told the jury how Father Smith’s face was “six to eight inches” from his groin while the priest took between 15 and 20 minutes to pin the boy’s loincloth together. This was done before every performance, Magee testified. He estimated that he had to strip for the priest between 15 and 20 times, as the passion play hit the road, and was performed at other parishes, as well as Villanova University.
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