NEW YORK (NY)
The Observer
July 2, 2019
By Sophie Partridge-Hicks
Nine years ago, Esther Harber was sexually assaulted by a Fordham Alumnus. After years of attempting to resolve the issue within the Catholic Church, Harber has decided to make her story public with the goal of protecting others in the future. She hopes that, by sharing her story, necessary change will be made to the Catholic Church and the way it supports victims of sexual assault.
Harber says she was raped by the Reverend Edwin Erhimeyoma in 2010. At the time of the assault, Rev. Erhimeyoma was pursuing a doctoral degree at Fordham’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, which he completed in 2015. According to Bob Howe, assistant vice president for communications at Fordham University, Fordham was never informed of the allegations against Erhimeyoma.
Harber shared in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (CNA) that she had met Erhimeyoma while she was working as a lay missionary serving women and children in New York CIty. Erhimeyoma was a priest at Holy Rosary Parish, a church in Edgewater, New Jersey, which Harber often visited. Over the next two years, the two engaged in what Harber calls an abusive relationship.
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