SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Sydney Morning Herald
December 8, 2018
By Farrah Tomazin
Christine James* was 17 when she met the man who would spend years treating her like his dirty little secret.
At first, she was flattered by the attention of a Catholic priest: confused yet elated that such a figure could be drawn to her.
Now, she realises she was his perfect prey: young and vulnerable, from a strict religious family where male authority was to be respected and feared. And in the hierarchy of her small-town church, there was no greater authority than Father Martin.*
Christine was barely an adult when the priest’s attention switched from pastoral to sexual. With that, Father Martin – 11 years her senior – became far more controlling.
He’d ask her to bring him breakfast after Mass, then got her to lie down so he could rub himself against her. He got her pregnant during university, and then enlisted two fellow priests to help him convince her to have an abortion.
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