ST. LOUIS (MI)
KSDK
August 20, 2018
By Rachel Menitoff
“What I’ve seen after three decades, is pope after pope after pope saying more sympathetic words about victims and expressing more remorse for the abuse, but never announcing real concrete steps to prevent this from happening.”
Pope Francis issued a letter to Catholics around the world Monday condemning the “crime” of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up and demanding accountability, in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church.
David Clohessy has been the voice of countless victims of sexual abuse linked to the Catholic Church. After Monday’s message from the pope, he decided to share his personal story for the first time, and reveal how he felt about the pope’s message.
“I’ll bet you there was a tennis picture in here,” said Clohessy as he flipped through his high school yearbook.
The days of competitive tennis bring back fond memories. But, behind his year-book smile are years of repression.
“I was abused for a period of about four years,” explained Clohessy. “Age 11 or 12, through about 16, by a parish priest who ingratiated himself into our family.”
Clohessy said his priest would come over for regular family dinners.
“In that era, it was a real privilege and honor to have a priest take an interest in a family,” he said.
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