Delbarton Sexual Abuse Victim Bill Wolfe Shares Story As Gag Order Is Lifted

News 12
June 6, 2014

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/delbarton-sexual-abuse-victim-bill-wolfe-shares-story-as-gag-order-is-lifted-1.8363241

[with video]

A victim of sexual abuse by a priest is speaking publicly after Delbarton School has agreed to lift a confidentiality order going back 30 years.

For the first time, Bill Wolfe can speak publicly about the horrors that happened to him at the elite Delbarton School in Morristown. "It feels literally like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders," he says.

Wolfe turned to a Delbarton priest for guidance when he was 14 years old, and says he was abused. "He asked me to expose myself, and then he asked me to relieve myself, to masturbate."

The victim revealed the abuse to his family and successfully sued Delbarton, but under a 1988 court settlement, Wolfe had to remain silent until Thursday.

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After suing Delbarton again, the Catholic boys high school run by the monks of St. Mary's Abbey agreed to lift the gag order.

Wolfe says he needed freedom in order to recover. "Part of the healing process from any kind of sexual abuse is sharing with others and being there to help others who may need your help," he says.

Wolfe is now married and lives in California. The man who abused him, Father Timothy Brennan, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact.

A source familiar with the case says Brennan is kept in an institution for pedophile priests. A Delbarton spokesperson did not return a call requesting comment.