By Verenaisi Raicola
The Fiji Times
September 8, 2008
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=100108
THE name Livingston may not ring a bell in Fiji.
But they - Joe and Paul Livingston - were raped by a Catholic Church janitor and shared, with 506 other people, a US$660million settlement reached with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles last year.
Joe and Paul, now in their 40s, were lured with doughnuts, candy and games of checkers at St Joachim's Elementary School in Costa Mesa at the age of six and seven and then were sexually molested by the church janitor.
On Saturday, the brothers were in Suva for a three-hour transit after holidaying at the Beqa Lagoon for a week.
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| Global mission ... Paul, left and Joe Livingston in Suva at the weekend |
They were motivated to speak to The Fiji Times to encourage boys and girls that may be abused to speak out and seek counselling after reading a story similar to theirs in this newspaper.
The janitor, who was never arrested, died in 1985.
"When I was six, seven years old I was raped repeatedly by a janitor in my Catholic Church," said Paul, who was recently described by the San Diego Union Tribune as taller than Michael Jordan and big enough to play offensive tackle.
"My brother too was raped by the same guy, these people raped families."
The brothers dropped out of high school and lived for years in a fog of alcohol, drugs and depression.
They were homeless together in the late 1990s, living in a stolen car in San Diego for months and camping in Mexican beaches.
When they won their cases, they quit their jobs as car salesman and travelled the country counselling other victims and speaking out against sexual abuse.
"We now talk on abuse to judges and lawyers in US so they know what to expect from the abuse survivor," Paul said.
"It is okay to talk about it and we advise those that may have gone through similar situations here to speak out.
"Children are ashamed and when they grow up they do not want to talk about the tragedy.
"My brother and I were into alcohol and drug addiction.
"People don't speak when they are young until they grow older.
"Our lives have been completely turned around but therapy is instrumental for growth."
Paul said he was 36 years old before he went public with his private tragedy.
He has a six-year-old daughter and never leaves her with anyone because he does not trust people.
"It is the people that we trust that abuse us," he said.
"They are the ones in positions of authority.
"I know many victims who repeat the cycle even though we have not."
Paul said, unlike Joe, he had forgiven the janitor.
"Healing begins when people start talking about abuse," he said.
"It is a painful process and abused people like to hurt others but the fact is that we have to move on.
"My brother has not hit that level yet."
Joe said Fiji was a beautiful place but recent articles had shown that paedophile victims were sweeping their experiences under the carpet.
"Paedophiles exploit children - they are child monsters and they repeat their offences - they are sick and there is a need for psychologists for the victims," he said.
"It is traumatic."
The brothers said the money they were awarded was nothing because the stress associated with rape remained for a lifetime.
"When it is committed by church people it is harder because our family brushes it aside and kids are scorned for making malicious accusations.
"Sometimes kids are scorned not to talk about such issues.
"I know of five brothers raped by the same priest but never opened up because their parents would not believe.
"We received a couple of million dollars each but one of us took his cheque and hung himself.
"It is not about the money, it is about suffering and shame - bottled and suppressed over years."
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