Mount Cashel boys were horribly wronged: psychologist

By Barb Sweet
Telegram
June 15, 2016

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2016-06-15/article-4560656/Mount-Cashel-boys-were-horribly-wronged-psychologist/1

A New Mexico forensic psychologist described boys being horribly wronged at Mount Cashel during his testimony Wednesday in Newfoundland Supreme Court.

“These men were as vulnerable as any human beings could have been when they went to Mount Cashel. They were under the total control of the (Christian) Brothers in that institution,” said William Foote, who was qualified at the Mount Cashel civil trial as an expert on the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse.

The request was made on behalf of the former residents from the 1940s to ‘60s who say the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St.  John’s should be held liable for physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by certain members of the lay order Christian Brothers.

The church contends it wasn’t involved in the orphanage’s operation.

Foote also noted the sexual sadism practised by certain Christian Brothers at the orphanage, commenting everyone agrees it was a toxic place where boys were humiliated and degraded through physical abuse.

The boys were at Mount Cashel usually because of a loss of at least one parent, and Foote remarked during testimony on how research indicates children from a loving home life tend to fare better in recovering from sexual abuse. But at the orphanage, the Brothers were in a position of trust in the boys’ lives, but the boys did not get a loving, caring, nurturing atmosphere.

Instead, there was severe physical and sexual abuse by certain Brothers, he said.

Of one John Doe, who lost a his mother not long after she gave birth to him and his twin — his father also later died — Foote said the boy’s circumstances were “a particularly unfortunate series of events.”

He said it was one of the saddest in the history of cases he has evaluated involving sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Many cases he has dealt with involve victims in their 20s, 30s and 40s, and he noted the level of impact from the abuse on a man in his 70s.

Under questioning by former residents’ lawyer Will Hiscock, Foote said the fact that some boys were given penance for their sins when they confided in clergy about the abuse amounted to blaming the victim. (The court has already heard of instances of boys in confession telling a priest of abuse.)

Foote began testifying about the specific cases of four John Does, whom he met with in 2000. Those meetings included a series of psychological tests.

He got through two of the men’s cases Wednesday. One was the  John Doe case he described as one of the saddest he has seen.

That man — during his testimony in the trial — attributed a failed marriage and career stunted by the alcoholism he used to cope to his Mount Cashel experiences.

A psychiatrist testifying for the church had said only one of the four John Does had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and this man was not one of them.

But Foote said he did show major signs of PTSD, as well as depression.

One of the men had his military career disrupted by what happened to him at Mount Cashel as he struggled with alcohol, anger and problems with authority, said Foote, noting the man spent more than three decades in the military and left with a low rank, indicating there were serious problems.

Because of what happened at Mount Cashel, he did not feel good enough to be in a leadership role, Foote said.

He also pointed out the man has never had a consistent long-term romantic relationship.

Four test case John Does represent about 60 claimants.

The church became the sole defendant in the case after the Christian Brothers went bankrupt.

Justice Alphonsus Faour is presiding.

Follow live tweets from the courtroom at bsweettweets