RIDGEWOOD (NJ)
Northern Valley Daily Voice
August 22, 2018
By Jerry DeMarco
It was the summer before 8th grade when Ridgefield Park native Ed Hanratty said the worst sexual abuse he’d endured from a local priest happened – in his own backyard.
Before then, the Rev. Gerald Sudol of St. Francis of Assisi Church had kissed him and other boys on the mouth, Hanratty said. But instead of telling their parents, the boys made jokes about his sexuality.
“None of us ever thought to complain to anyone. Not our parents. Not our teachers….Nobody,” Hanratty, 41, wrote in a reverbpress.news column that has begun attracting widespread attention since it was published on Sunday.
“On Wednesday night we’d be making jokes about him loving men (because we considered ourselves men, not boys) and on Thursday morning he’d be kissing us on the lips after the 7:00 mass,” he added.
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