PORTLAND (ME)
Press Herald
January 20, 2019
By Bill Nemitz
At first glance, it was yet another list, released last week by yet another Roman Catholic institution, detailing yet another travesty involving sexual abuse of minors.
But overlay the timelines of the seven Jesuit priests, all admitted or credibly accused predators, who passed through Cheverus High School in Portland over the course of nearly a half century and something startling emerges:
The years 1978 and 1979 were a particularly dangerous time for a vulnerable teenage boy to attend Cheverus. During those years, no fewer than five predatory men worked simultaneously at the school– four so-called “men of God” and one layman coach.
Think about that. Five adults, all prone to sexually exploiting their power and authority in a school where hierarchal discipline ruled the day. All free to roam the teeming hallways, the packed classrooms and, yes, the lonely locker room with an eye out for those who might make an easy mark.
At the same time, we can only wonder: How many more victims, now in their 50s, are still out there, their lives forever damaged, their trauma still raw, their stories shared with no one?
And how much are Cheverus and its alumni community really doing to reach back and help them?
“I’m sure you’re right,” Mark Smith, who graduated from Cheverus in 1972 and went on to teach biology there for 41 years, said in a telephone interview Friday. “I’m sure there have to be some others out there.”
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