Sex abuse victim, 81, starts anew | Turkeys and Trophies

PENNSYLVANIA
Express-Times

By Express-Times opinion staff
on May 28, 2016

TROPHIES

Robert Corby Sr. is making up for lost time — and for the theft of childhood innocence many years ago. Corby, 81, of Bethlehem, is attending Northampton Community College after getting over the fear of taking classes and thinking he wouldn’t be accepted. Before that, though, he took another leap — seeking therapy to deal with the memories of sexual abuse by a priest at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church in West Bethlehem in 1947, when he was an altar boy. He said his life was changed by the Boston Globe’s investigation into the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. One of his regrets was never going to college, something is he now fulfilling through NCC’s offer of free tuition for those 65 and over; he’s indulging his love of philosophy and world geography. “I have opportunities to speak up for victims of sexual abuse,” he says. “If I can even help one other victim to know I can understand their pain and suffering, I consider that a success.”

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