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	Monica Yant Kinney: Young Man Describes Sexual Abuse by 2 Priests, Teacher to Grand Jury By Monica Yant Kinney Philadelphia Inquirer September 4, 2011 http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/129198948.html For now he's known as "Billy." His name will become public if he takes the stand next year in separate criminal and civil trials that could cost the archdiocese dearly. Billy was 21 in March 2010, when he unloaded horrifying secrets to a grand jury investigating clergy sex abuse. In two wrenching hours, he talked about spending his adolescence in drug treatment and mental-health facilities, coping with the aftershocks of alleged abuse by two priests and a teacher who stole a 10-year-old's faith, innocence, and future. "My whole personality changed" after being molested and raped by men he feared and trusted, he said. "I turned into a loner." The pain and shame, "I buried it with drugs." Billy's story, unfolding in his own words for the first time, comes from a 63-page transcript of his grand jury appearance - a normally secret document released last week. Prosecutors introduced the testimony he gave under oath in the criminal case alleging that Billy was targeted and then shared like a sexual plaything by the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, the Rev. Edward Avery, and teacher Bernard Shero. All three men maintain they are innocent. Their lawyers cannot comment because of a gag order on all participants. What you read here is Billy's version of the events, one that will surely be challenged in court. Darkness brought to light The torment, Billy alleged, began in 1999 in the sacristy of St. Jerome's in Northeast Philadelphia when Engelhardt told the altar server to stick around after 6:30 a.m. Mass. "He gave me some church wine," Billy's story began. "He pulled out some pornographic magazines. He told me it was time for me to become a man and our sessions were going to begin." A week later, after another early service, Engelhardt made his move. "He told me to strip," Billy said. "He was very impatient." The priest also undressed, removing all but his socks. "He told me to come closer," then began performing sex acts on the stunned child. Billy said nothing and shut his eyes. Engelhardt soon told the boy it was his turn. "He kept on calling me son," Billy recounted. When it was over, "he basically told me that I did a good job and that I was dismissed." The 10-year-old did as he was told. He got dressed and proceeded to his fifth-grade class. He told no one, too terrified "I would get in trouble." Two weeks later, after another Mass, Engelhardt asked Billy if he was "ready for another session." "I told him no," Billy recounted, "and if he ever comes near me again I was going to kill him." Engelhardt "looked at me in shock," walked away, and did not proposition the boy again. The handoff A few months later, on a Friday afternoon after bell choir, Billy had far less courage when he encountered Avery. "He pulled me aside and told me that he had heard about my sessions with Father Engelhardt and ours will begin soon." The boy played dumb, but "my stomach turned." "Soon" came on a day Billy had to assist Avery with Mass. "He told me that our sessions were going to begin. He had me go into the sacristy. He put on music. . . . He had me do a striptease." Billy was confused, so Avery clarified his demand: "He told me to do kind of a dance" while disrobing. Once Billy was naked, the priest summoned him to his lap, where he performed sex acts on the child. "It's going to be OK," the boy recalled Avery saying. "God loves you." Then, just as Engelhardt had done, Avery congratulated Billy. "He told me we had a good session" and they'd do it again soon. Again, Billy went home and told no one. "I was embarrassed. I was afraid I did something wrong and I was going to get punished." The scene was repeated two weeks later when Billy was again cornered after Saturday Mass. Said the priest to his altar boy: "You know what to do." After the second attack, Billy avoided Avery. "He kind of, I guess, got the picture and left me alone." A ride home The next year, Billy, then 11, had sixth-grade homeroom with Shero, a teacher he thought was "kind of a creep." One day in the spring of 2000, Shero offered to drive Billy home from school. Instead, the teacher steered his car to Pennypack Park. "I asked why we were stopping there," Billy told the grand jurors. Shero's response: "We're going to have some fun." Shero ordered the boy to undress in the backseat, where he raped his student. "I started screaming in pain," Billy recalled, so Shero stopped and instructed the child what to do. Then "he told me to get dressed and walk home." Billy's abuse ended that day, but he relived it for the next decade. Weeks after Shero's attack, Billy began suffering inexplicable coughing and violent vomiting. "I couldn't eat," he relayed. "I missed a lot of school." That summer, the 11-year-old began smoking marijuana. He graduated to Percocet and Xanax, then heroin. He was expelled from Archbishop Ryan High School his freshman year for drugs and weapons and later attempted suicide. Through it all, he said nothing about the sexual abuse until breaking down after a 2008 group-therapy discussion in rehab. Even then, the revelation brought little relief. "I didn't want to deal with it," Billy told the grand jury. "I just kind of wanted it to go away."
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