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Victims of child-molesting priests call for Syracuse bishop to resign
By John O'brien
FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. -- Two victims of child-molesting priests fought back tears tonight as they told their stories and called on the Catholic bishop of Syracuse to resign. About 50 people listened to Kevin Braney and Charles Bailey retell the repeated abuse they suffered as children, and their call for Bishop Robert Cunningham to release the names of all priests against whom the diocese has found credible evidence of abuse. Many people in the audience at the Craftsman Inn in Fayetteville were there in response to a Syracuse.com story that revealed Cunningham's deposition in 2011 when he said victims of priest sexual abuse were partly to blame. "It brings me no joy to say that I believe Bishop Cunningham is not fit to lead," Braney said. "It does not feel good. But I'm doing so with belief that children in our community are not safe because our leader is protecting pedophiles."
Braney and Bailey started an online petition today on Change.org calling for Cunningham's resignation. One man in the audience suggested a better tack would be to hit the diocese in the pocketbook. "If you want to effect change, take away the income of this diocese," he said. "Instead of putting a donation in the collection basket, put in a note that says 'My donation goes in when Cunningham is gone.'" The audience broke into applause. Bailey told the horror of being raped more than 200 times by the Rev. Thomas Neary when Bailey was 10 years old. Neary would get Bailey alone in the boy's bedroom under the guise of teaching him to be a priest, Bailey said. "He would tell my mother, 'Don't be surprised if he's crying, because it's difficult to be a priest,'" Bailey said. "He would recite the Our Father as he raped me. I don't think people realize the depth and breadth of this evil." Braney told of the first time he was abused by Monsignor Charles Eckermann in the 1980s. "I remember being in the altar boy's cassock, being excited for Mass," Braney said. "Then having this feeling of someone's hand down my genitals. Then the whole world went blank." Eckermann, whom the diocese defrocked last year, threatened to kill Braney as a child if he ever told anyone what he'd done, Braney said. "Bishop Cunningham knows this story," Braney said. "How can a bishop say these things in public?" Cunningham said in the 2011 deposition that "the boy is culpable" and referred to child victims as accomplices. But he has since said he chose the wrong words. Cunningham said this week that the victims of priest sexual abuse are never to blame. Along with the 2011 deposition, Braney and Bailey cite Cunningham's refusal to publicly release the names of the priests against whom the diocese has found credible allegations of child-molesting. They cited the child pornography arrests of two priests at a retirement home for priests on East Brighton Avenue in Syracuse. "The failure of the bishop's release of names is my greatest concern about the neighbors of Brighton Avenue," Braney said. "I'm distraught that he will not do that." Cunningham has said he won't release the names of the defrocked priests because some victims urged the diocese not to. About 30 Catholic dioceses across the country publish the names of priests with credible allegations of child-molesting. The Rochester diocese is among them. Braney and Bailey urged people in the audience to push for the passage of a state law that would allow claims of child-molesting from years ago to be prosecuted criminally and civilly. Many of those claims are now beyond the statute of limitations. Some people at the meeting spoke out against the bishop but said they loved the Catholic church. "This is church right here," Bailey said, swinging his arm across the room, "God is with us." Contact: jobrien@syracuse.com
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