Clergy abuse survivors finding their voices, and each other

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

July 15, 2018

By Peter Smith

Jim VanSickle recalls the “long walk” into the room where members the 40th statewide grand jury waited to hear him.

“I was nervous, I was sweating, thinking, ‘Lord, give me the words that I need,’” recalled Mr. VanSickle, 55, of Coraopolis.

He sensed an assurance from that Lord, in whom he has retained faith in spite of the betrayals he felt from its purported ministers: “Just be true to yourself and your story.”

So he told his story. He testified how his trusted priest and high school English teacher mounted a humiliating, life-altering assault on his teenage body and innocence.

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