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	Abuse Victim Aims to Set Record Straight By John M. Vai News Journal March 20, 2011 http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110320/OPINION07/103200314/Abuse-victim-aims-set-record-straight?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s I suffered years of child sex crimes at the hands of admitted and convicted pedophile Father Francis DeLuca when he was stationed at St. Elizabeth's parish. Despite these horrors I experienced as a child, I found the courage to expose the truth about those who ruined my life thanks to the passage of the Child Victim's Act. As an adult, I endured eight weeks of a civil trial against Father DeLuca and his corrupt church supervisors in order to expose the truth about the epidemic of child abuse and the cover-up which continues to this day. Throughout these experiences, I've been revictimized again as both myself and my family have been subject to a flood of personal attacks and smear tactics. I continue to be amazed by the chorus of false claims of the child abuse enablers and their apologists in the community. I write to set the record straight. First, the apologists claim that there was no evidence that St. Elizabeth's did anything wrong. It is clear that such persons never attended my trial; have no respect for President Judge James T. Vaughn, who excluded evidence that did not address St. Elizabeth's; and have no faith in the intelligence and ability of Delaware citizen jurors to analyze the evidence. The reason the jury found that St. Elizabeth's showed a "conscious indifference" towards and "recklessly disregarded" for the health and safety of numerous kids entrusted to its care, was because the jury heard eight weeks of evidence proving this. It included the testimony of St. Elizabeth's own high school principal Father Thomas Peterman, who repeatedly admitted that he suspected Father DeLuca was sexually abusing boys, but felt he should mind his own business and not report a brother priest or warn parents about this child rapist. It included the testimony that then-parish priest Father Thomas Cini accused another abused young boy of tempting Father DeLuca and leading him into sin, but refused to report DeLuca or stop the abuse of that boy or others, including myself. It included the testimony that the then parish pastor knew about DeLuca's abuse but did nothing to protect kids from him. It included the testimony of numerous witnesses about the steady stream of young boys being openly taken up to the priests' bedrooms by Father DeLuca in the rectory and the refusal of the pastor and the other priests to enforce the Diocese's own rules forbidding this. This was not evidence implicating only the Diocese, but was evidence directly implicating St. Elizabeth's own admitted employees, its pastor, principal and parish priests who knew about the abuse but refused to stop it. This is criminal activity which sadly cannot be prosecuted today. The only way to expose the truth and end the cover-up was through a public trial and exposure of these sordid facts. Blinded apologists may not accept the reality of the truth, however, the truth is well documented in court proceedings, trial transcripts and other evidence that cannot be ignored by sticking one's head in the sand. St. Elizabeth's did not protect kids. Second, the enablers claim that only the St. Elizabeth's of the 1960s is to blame and that the St. Elizabeth's of today is innocent. Again, such enablers ignore the testimony from St. Elizabeth's own longtime pastor Charles Dillingham and others which conclusively proved otherwise. Father Dillingham and Msgr. Clement Lemon testified that Father Dillingham was told that Father DeLuca had sexually abused boys. What did Pastor Dillingham do with that information? He welcomed Father DeLuca back into St. Elizabeth's with open arms. He gave Father DeLuca access to hundreds of kids and students by repeatedly letting him stay in the rectory and roam the parish campus for weeks at a time. He gave Father DeLuca access to altar boys by letting him conduct masses with these altar boys at St. Elizabeth's as recently as 2006. What didn't he do? He didn't warn the parents. He didn't protect the students. He didn't call the police when he learned that DeLuca was having young boys spend the night in his apartment in New York state. He stuck his head in the sand and covered up for DeLuca, the same way that Father Peterman, Father Cini and Pastor Donhoe did in the 1960s. St. Elizabeth's did not protect kids. Third, the enablers and apologists claim that the landmark Child Victim's Act only applies to the Catholic Church and not to public institutions. I urge those persons to sign up for a remedial reading class offered by any elementary or high school in the state. Read the law enacted by the General Assembly. It says it applies to "public" and "private" institutions. If remedial reading is too complicated, go to the courthouse and look through the cases that have been filed under the Act. It includes cases against public schools and private schools, including non-Catholic ones. In fact at least 14 cases have been filed under the CVA against Delaware's public schools. The rape and sexual abuse of kids is a problem of epidemic proportions in our country and has been for decades. The General Assembly responded to that problem and enacted a law which not only identified numerous child abusers and their enablers, and exposed previously secret internal documents admitting a decades long "cover-up", but most importantly, protects kids today and into the future. The Act forces public and private institutions to get serious about protecting kids and ensures that if they turn a blind eye and "recklessly disregard" a known danger as St. Elizabeth's did in the 1960s and the 2000s, there will be consequences.
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