Man who says he is victim of former Lumen Christi priest finds sanctuary on baseball field

By Danielle Salisbury
MLive
August 25, 2015

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2015/08/man_who_says_he_is_victim_of_f.html

Umpire Andy Russell, 47, walks to home plate before a baseball game between Lumen Christi and Western high school alumni Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015, at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson, Mich. Aug. 8 was Russell's first time back at Lumen Christi since publicly announcing he was a victim of Lumen Christi priest James Rapp, who is charged with 19 counts of criminal sexual conduct.

Umpire Andy Russell, 47, center, talks with Andy Schirmacher, right, near Sean Lester before the 40-and-older baseball game between Lumen Christi and Western high school alumni on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015, at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson, Mich. It was Russell's first time back at Lumen Christi since publicly announcing he was a victim of former Lumen Christi priest James Rapp, who is charged with 19 counts of criminal sexual conduct.

JACKSON, MI – Baseball fields have been his sanctuary, places of respect, places of comfort.

They give him peace, and respite; they take his mind from the abuse that he said damaged his soul.

Andy Russell, 47, umpires more than 70 high school baseball games a year, and earlier this month, he returned to Lumen Christi High School's baseball field for a series of alumni games.

It was the first time he had been to the field since he publicly identified himself in June as a victim of James Rapp, a former Lumen Christi priest now charged with 19 counts of criminal sexual conduct. Rapp, 76, is accused of crimes against multiple students from 1980 to 1986.

"It was healing," Russell said of going to the field, which shares a name — Crowley — with his mother's family. "It was awesome."

He was nervous about it. He had anxiety, he said, but he received "a lot of support" from the Lumen Christi coaches and others, including fans.

Russell worked the first baseline and behind the plate. He joked with players. It was comfortable and fun. The focus was on baseball, on camaraderie between former schoolmates.

"Didn't even cross my mind," 1988 graduate Todd Mortimer said of Russell's part in the Rapp case. "It's a nonissue."

Mortimer played in the 40-and-over game and casually talked with Russell at the plate or between innings. "It was a great day."

Russell wanted people to know there was no animosity. The field is separate from the high school halls, a place of pain for Russell. "These kids and this baseball field had nothing to do with those things that happened," he said as he readied himself for the game for 30- to 39-year-olds.

He is not holding the past against those associated with the school in the present. He praised the coaches and celebrated the varsity team's recent state championship.

"This is about fixing what was wrong," he said. "It's about getting all this stuff that has been buried and getting it out."

Russell feels strongly about stepping forward and speaking, not on behalf of everyone, but for his own healing and the benefit of others. "We need to come together as a community and fix this so this doesn't ever happen again, so kids know to report," he said. "They don't have to be ashamed and be scared like we were."

Russell's fellow umpire, Sean Lester, of Grass Lake, who worked the alumni games with Russell, called his public statement a "brave act."

The two have umpired together about four years and Lester encouraged Russell before the games at Lumen Christi. "I told him if he got too serious, I was going to slap him."

He said Russell, always humble, is one of the best officials he has encountered on the field. Russell doesn't mention it, but he attended Wendelstedt Umpire School for professionals in Florida in 1994 and 2010 and umpired some minor league and Division I college baseball games.

Had his circumstances been different, he could have undoubtedly made it as a major league umpire, Lester said. "He is that good."

His coaches' ratings are "phenomenal," which speaks to more than his abilities and knowledge of the game. "It goes to how he treats players and coaches and how they feel he treats them," Lester said.

Lester learned of the abuse when he read about it on MLive. He had known there was "some kind of something there," but Russell never explained what led him to make the decisions he has.

Russell left Lumen Christi in 10^th grade. He said he was "dismissed for unknown reasons." He then attended Jackson High School, where he played baseball.

He lived in the South, worked in NASCAR and returned to Jackson about six years ago.

Here, he is raising his young son and daughter with their mother. He also has a son, 12, from a previous marriage and an 18-year-old stepdaughter. For a time, the 12-year-old attended St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Jackson.

He calls himself a stay-at-home dad who works high school baseball and recreational softball games. "Baseball is everything to me."

Russell gives players respect; they give him the same. "When I am on that baseball field at Lumen Christi, it is business. No matter where I am at, I am doing my job. I am being an umpire."

Off the field, what happened decades ago still affects him and other victims who are "just looking for help and wondering what they might have been, what they could have been."

"Once you are abused, your soul is damaged. It is something you don't forget," Russell said.

His focus now is on healing, and on his family.

"Making my life, turning my life around, being the best dad I can be, being the best husband I can be, that is what is important to me," he said.

"I am ready to move on and let go and start new. This is the time."