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	The Star’s Editorial | a Victim’s Courageous Stand Kansas City Star December 7, 2011 http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/07/3307585/the-stars-editorial-a-victims.html Child molesters rely on intimidation, silence and misplaced trust to gain access to their victims. And in Kansas City and elsewhere, the Catholic Church too often has allowed those conditions to breed. In a three-part series this week, The Kansas City Star presented a horrific story of childhoods ruined and families devastated because of alleged sexual abuse by a priest. The story could be told only because a man who says he was molested as a boy, Jon David Couzens, made the wrenching decision to speak out. Couzens, 41, told The Star that a priest, Monsignor Thomas O’Brien, molested him and three Catholic school classmates after they were chosen to help serve Mass at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Independence in the early 1980’s. Couzens said that O’Brien, who has faced multiple accusations of sexual abuse of children but denies any involvement, told him and the three other boys they would be expelled from the church and disowned by their parents if they told anyone of the abuse. One of the boys committed suicide at age 14. Another struggled with drugs and alcohol and was himself accused of molesting a child. He died in a traffic accident at age 31. The fourth boy says he has no memory of being abused by O’Brien. By telling his story, Couzens has shined a light into dark recesses, the existence of which church leaders have long denied. For that, a few of the church’s more radical defenders are trying to impeach Couzens’ character. But, after struggling for decades with guilt and shame, Couzens showed great courage in telling his story. Because of him and others who are speaking out, people in positions of authority will find it harder to harm children. Couzens’ story is a painful one for the local Catholic Church. But leaders here and elsewhere must use its lessons to ensure that no other child or family will suffer the consequences of misdeeds committed under the church’s auspices.
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