July 07, 2005

Old Cabin, New Allegations

NASHVILLE (TN)
Nashville Scene

By John Spragens

In the week since David Brown went public with his childhood story of rape at the hands of a Nashville Catholic priest 45 years ago, three victims have come forward to tell similar stories to leaders of a support network for victims of priest sex abuse. Meanwhile, officials at Camp Marymount, the Catholic summer camp where Brown alleges he was abused in November 1961, say that the cabin identified in the Scene last week as the site of Brown's rape did not exist in 1961.

Marymount director Tommy Hagey provided letters from two brothers with longtime connections to the camp. In the letters, the two men explain that old buildings were demolished and replaced: the cabin Brown visited with the Scene last month (see "Rape of Faith," June 30) was not built until 1967, so it seems that he was recalling an earlier building that was demolished around 1980. His request that the Diocese burn down the cabin in which he was raped, then, is a moot point.

Camp officials say they were "distressed" to learn of the allegations and say that there "are strong policies in place to protect children in our care." Furthermore, they note that Father Paul Haas, Brown's abuser, was not an agent of the camp when he raped the 15-year-old boy and that camp wasn't in session at the time of the alleged abuse.

"The allegations regarding the incident in 1961 are horrific, and Camp Marymount takes very seriously the inference of abuse of any nature on our property or elsewhere," Eric Dahlhauser, chairman of Camp Marymount's board, said in a statement to the Scene.

Posted by kshaw at July 7, 2005 07:28 AM