| BishopAccountability.org
|
||
|
Dallas Resources – May 1997 By Ed Housewright
"The evidence will show the diocese followed a don't-ask, don't-tell policy," said Windle Turley, who represents eight of 11 plaintiffs. "[They said], `We don't want to know because to know will bring scandal on the church. The church hates scandal worse than anything. We will do anything to avoid scandal. ' " An attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas countered that officials suspended Mr. Kos in 1992 as soon as they heard the allegations and that the diocese should not be held liable for his conduct. "This was tricky manipulation by a smart sociopath," Randal Mathis said in his opening statement, as Bishop Charles Grahmann and Monsignor Duffy Gardner sat next to him. "The whole concept of child sexual abuse flies in the face of everything the diocese stands for." Mr. Kos is not expected to be at the trial, which attorneys say will last four to six weeks. He does not have an attorney in the courtroom. State District Judge Anne Ashby already has entered default judgments in the 11 cases against him, ruling him liable for the sexual abuse because he hasn't responded to the suits. The 10-woman, two-man jury will decide the damages, if any, against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable and, if so, assess damages. On Thursday, lawyers for the 11 plaintiffs, who sat with family members in the packed courtroom, argued that diocese officials had plenty of "signs and signals" about Mr. Kos but chose to ignore them. These included several letters from fellow priests as early as 1986 and statements from Mr. Kos' ex-wife when he entered the seminary that he was attracted to boys, attorneys said. The plaintiffs, who are seeking a total of $146.5 million, were as young as 9 when the alleged sexual abuse began in 1981 in the rectory of All Saints Catholic Church in North Dallas, Mr. Turley said. Some were offered drinks and drugs, and passed out before the abuse occurred, he said. Mr. Kos allegedly abused other boys at St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving from 1985 to 1988 and at St. John's Catholic Church in Ennis from 1988 to 1992. Mr. Kos then was suspended and sent to a New Mexico treatment center for pedophiles for more than a year. Even though the trial involves 11 plaintiffs, Mr. Kos may have abused as many as 50 boys, Mr. Turley said in an interview. Mr. Kos, now 52, preyed on boys who were from troubled homes or were having personal problems, Mr. Turley said. He attracted them by buying them candy, clothes and video games and would get angry if they expressed an interest in girls, attorneys said. "This predator not only abused them physically and with chemicals, but he destroyed them spiritually in many instances," Mr. Turley said. "This is a lifelong impairment." Today, most of the young men are in ongoing counseling for guilt and shame and will require it for years to come, he said. They have had trouble in school, on the job and in relationships, he said. One of the victims committed suicide in 1992 at the age of 20, in part because of the sexual abuse he suffered by Mr. Kos, Mr. Turley said. His parents are among the plaintiffs. Mr. Turley and Sylvia Demarest, who represents three of the plaintiffs, alleged that the diocese not only knew about Mr. Kos' sexual abuse but also that of other priests before him. "We can establish a pattern of knowledge," Ms. Demarest said. "There was a civil conspiracy to conceal." Mr. Mathis made it clear to jury members that the church was distancing itself from Mr. Kos and urged them to consider all the evidence before deciding that the diocese was negligent. He said the diocese referred Mr. Kos, a former nurse, to two psychiatrists for evaluation in 1992 after a priest complained to church officials. Both doctors said that Mr. Kos was immature and too emotionally attached to youths in the church but that he wasn't a pedophile, Mr. Mathis said. "The diocese relied in a number of instances - and now wish it hadn't - on the advice of doctors that turned out to be very, very wrong," he said. "We as a diocese have egg on our faces today. We're embarrassed, upset, regretful. This diocese wasn't negligent. It was fooled with the help of a lot of other people." Two of Mr. Kos' brothers, with whom he grew up in the Milwaukee area, will testify by videotape. He sexually abused one of them as a teenager, as well as another boy in the neighborhood, Ms. Demarest said. Mr. Kos, who is living in California but whose occupation is unknown, was indicted last year on one count of indecency with a child and one count of sexual contact with a child. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. His criminal trial is set for July 14. The civil case against him and the diocese has attracted national attention, said Tom Economus, president of Linkup, a Chicago-based national organization of victims of clergy abuse. "This is up there with the more notorious cases.”
By Ed Housewright Former Catholic priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos repeatedly sexually abused two younger brothers when he was a teenager and spent a year in a juvenile detention facility for abusing a neighbor, his brothers testified Friday "He was a great con artist," Don Kos said by videotape in the second day of the civil trial of Mr. Kos and the Dallas diocese. Rudy Kos is accused of sexually abusing 11 young men when they were boys. Don Kos and his brother Richard Kos testified that they would have told officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas that Rudy Kos was unfit to be a priest if they had been asked. "He would not be fit to be dealing with younger children," Richard Kos testified. "I wouldn't have lied about it. " An attorney for the diocese countered that church officials never knew about Don Kos but did seek out Richard Kos when his brother sought an annulment so that he could become a priest. At that time, the attorney said, Richard Kos didn't tell officials that Rudy Kos' brief marriage in the mid-1960s broke up because of his attraction to boys. "Richard did not tell the truth," said Randal Mathis, attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas. "That would have stopped this before he was ever admitted to seminary." The 11 plaintiffs, who were as young as 9 when the alleged sexual abuse began in church rectories, are seeking $146.5 million. The abuse allegedly occurred hundreds of times at churches in Dallas, Irving and Ennis starting in 1981. Mr. Mathis has said that church officials suspended Mr. Kos in 1992 as soon as they heard the allegations and that the diocese should not be held liable for his conduct. The 52-year-old Mr. Kos, who lives in California, is not expected to be at the trial and has no attorney. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse because he hasn't responded to the suits. The jury will decide whether to award damages against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable for abuse and, if so, assess damages. Also Friday, the deposition of Mr. Kos' ex-wife, Kathleene Hetzel Winkler, was read to the jury. In it, she says that she and Mr. Kos, whom she met in the fifth grade, lived together for only about six months after their marriage in 1966. They never consummated the marriage, she said. "My life was made a total disaster by Mr. Kos," Ms. Winkler said. "He decided to get married to make things look good. It was just a shield to make his life look normal so he could molest boys without any suspicion. " Shortly after their marriage, she said that she discovered a trunk full of love letters from boys. He also brought boys to their apartment and used drugs, she said. In hindsight, there were plenty of warnings of Mr. Kos' attraction to boys, she said. The biggest perhaps came on the day of her wedding. She received a curt phone call from an unidentified young man. "He said, `You married my boyfriend,' " Ms. Winkler recounted. "I thought it was a cruel joke and hung up." Before that, her ex-boyfriend told her he saw Mr. Kos "petting" with two boys in a car. Another time, she was at the house where Mr. Kos grew up and one of his younger brothers woke up screaming at Mr. Kos. "He said, `Keep him away from me. Don't touch me,' " Ms. Winkler said. "They were blood-curdling screams. " She said she realizes she was naive to go ahead with the marriage, which took place when Mr. Kos was on leave from his position as an Air Force medic. "Love blinded me," Ms. Winkler said. "I didn't see anything wrong. " She said she told a church official that Mr. Kos was attracted to boys when he sought an annulment so he could attend seminary. "She implies that the petitioner has some problems," a note from the official reads. "Something is fishy. Perhaps we should get the petitioner to level with us." Windle Turley, the attorney for eight of the plaintiffs, contends that church officials never followed up on the memo. Mr. Mathis, the diocese attorney, said officials did and didn't uncover anything. Mr. Mathis discounted Ms. Winkler's testimony. He pointed out that she says she has multiple-personality disorder. He also said he could find no record that Mr. Kos ever spent any time in a juvenile detention facility for sexually abusing a youth. "There's a real bizarre web of inaccurate information," Mr. Mathis said.
By Ed Housewright A Plano man who says he was sexually abused as many as 500 times by former Catholic priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos testified Tuesday that he has lost his faith in God, has recurring suicidal thoughts and is overcome with guilt and shame "He raped me spiritually and murdered my soul," the 28-year-old computer programmer testified in the civil trial of Mr. Kos and the Dallas diocese. "I seem to be reliving this in more and more detail every day, and it's difficult." The man, the first of 11 plaintiffs to testify, brought some people in the packed courtroom to tears with his detailed account of how Mr. Kos allegedly enticed and abused him after he rode his bike to the rectory. He described his teenage years as his "lost adolescence. " The man said the abuse started in 1982 when he was 13 and progressed from foot massages to Mr. Kos kissing his feet to oral sex. He said Mr. Kos gave him mixed drinks and increasing doses of Valium to render him unconscious before most of the abuse occurred. Mr. Kos attracted him and other boys with candy and video games in his room at the rectory, he said. In addition, he always seemed understanding of their problems, bought them gifts and took them on trips to places such as Six Flags and Disney World, he said. "He would tell me he loved me, that I was special," said the man, adding that he saw Mr. Kos up to four times a week for nine years. "He was like my father figure. I could go to him for anything. I thought it was really cool that a grown-up would hang out with us kids. "I had complete faith and trust in him. He violated my trust.Not a day goes by when I don't think about it." The Dallas Morning News does not identify the victims of sexual abuse. The plaintiffs, who were as young as 9 when the alleged abuse began, are seeking $146.5 million. The abuse allegedly occurred at All Saints Catholic Church in Dallas, St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving and St. John's Catholic Church in Ennis from 1981 to 1992. The attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas has said that church officials suspended Mr. Kos in 1992 as soon as they heard the allegations and that the diocese should not be held liable for his conduct. The 52-year-old Mr. Kos, who lives in California, is not expected to be at the trial and has no attorney. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse because he hasn't responded to the suits. The jury will decide whether to award damages against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable for the abuse and, if so, assess damages. On Tuesday, the Plano man testified that he didn't consider Mr. Kos' behavior with him inappropriate until about four years ago, when another alleged abuse victim told him he had been molested. "As soon as I heard that word `molested,' it clicked and I understood finally what it was he was doing to me," the man testified. "I realized he had lied to me and controlled me all those years. I feel guilt, shame and embarrassment for not realizing what Rudy had done to me until I did." When he was a teenager, the man said, Mr. Kos discouraged him from dating girls. "Father Kos didn't like girls at all," he said. "He would always say they were tricking me or weren't being honest with me or were just using me. He sabotaged all the relationships I had with them." His last sexual encounter with Mr. Kos occurred in 1990 when he was 22. He said that he has not talked to Mr. Kos since. "I remember being very frightened," he said. "I wanted to get up and run out of there but couldn't. I put my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes. I remember feeling very helpless and alone." He said he sees a therapist weekly and struggles with intimacy in relationships. He also said he developed a drug problem after being given the Valium by Mr. Kos. He used marijuana steadily for nearly a decade, he said, and also experimented with cocaine. He made mediocre grades in college and spent four years longer getting his bachelor's degree than he should have because of his emotional turmoil following the alleged abuse by Mr. Kos, he said. Randal Mathis, the attorney for the diocese, said he didn't think the man's testimony hurt the diocese's chances of prevailing in the trial. "I think any time individuals in this kind of situation testify, it's heart-wrenching," he said. "But nothing he said this morning implicates the diocese. Rather, it's an indictment of Rudy Kos.” "Everything he testified of took place in private. That's the whole history with respect to the case. No one knew about it." Windle Turley, the attorney for eight of the plaintiffs, said the other young men also would have compelling testimony.es initially recommended that Mr. Kos not be accepted "for a year or two years and perhaps not at all. " Mr. Kos applied for admittance after being granted an annulment of a marriage that lasted several months and that his ex-wife has testified was never consummated. "There is a certain amount of instability here that I do not like," wrote Mr. Hughes, who retired a month later. About six months after that, seminary officials began discussions with Mr. Kos again. The new rector of the seminary, Father Michael Sheehan, recommended to Bishop Thomas Tscheope that Mr. Kos be admitted. He was. During the trial, Mr. Turley has alleged the church officials overlooked evidence that indicated Mr. Kos was sexually attracted to boys. "I spoke to him on a number of occasions," Mr. Sheehan wrote in a letter to the bishop. "I find him to be a likeable prospect for the diocese and priesthood.
By Ed Housewright Former Catholic priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos was a sexual "opportunist" who should have been kept away from children, a psychiatrist who examined him testified Wednesday in the civil trial of Mr. Kos and the Dallas diocese Mr. Kos fit the profile of a pedophile, said Dr. Jay Feierman, who worked at a treatment center for pedophiles in New Mexico, where Mr. Kos was sent for 14 months starting in 1992. "People like that should no longer have access to children - period," Dr. Feierman said. Dr. Feierman, who has evaluated 500 priests with sexual interest in children, said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas should have investigated indications that Mr. Kos was attracted to boys earlier. "If they had confirmed observations that this person is a pied piper with kids following him around, that in itself is a reason for concern," he said in videotaped testimony. "The 2,000-year-old rule of the church is don't ask, don't tell." Mr. Kos is accused by 11 plaintiffs of sexually abusing altar boys at three churches from 1981 to 1992. Dr. Feierman faulted church officials for not having Mr. Kos undergo a "plethysmograph," in which a sensor is attached to a man's penis and he is shown pictures of adults and children to see what arouses him. Attorneys for the plaintiffs told Dr. Feierman that another psychiatrist who examined Mr. Kos several months before he entered the New Mexico treatment center recommended such an exam but that Bishop Charles Grahmann rejected it. Mr. Kos went on to abuse other boys, the attorneys allege. "There's no doubt you have to protect the children," Dr. Feierman testified. Randal Mathis, the attorney for the diocese, disputed whether the psychiatrist had recommended a plethysmograph. He also maintained that church officials investigated every complaint about Mr. Kos and had him undergo two psychiatric exams, which showed he was not a pedophile. "Whenever there was a concern, there was an investigative response and a conclusion that there was nothing to worry about," said Mr. Mathis, who strenuously objected to the admission of Dr. Feierman's testimony. "Obviously, the conclusions were wrong. But the diocese did what appeared to be appropriate at the time." Mr. Mathis has said the diocese suspended Mr. Kos in 1992 immediately after it received its first complaint of sexual abuse directly from a teenager, and that it should not be liable for Mr. Kos' conduct. The 52-year-old Mr. Kos, who lives in California, is not expected to be at the trial and has no attorney. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse because he hasn't responded to the suits. The jury will decide whether to award damages against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable for the abuse and, if so, assess damages. Also Wednesday, Windle Turley, the attorney for eight of the plaintiffs, intensely questioned an official who recommended Mr. Kos' admission to seminary in 1977. Mr. Turley asserted that because of a serious priest shortage at that time, officials were so eager to get students that they were lax doing background checks on prospective candidates. He pointed out that Mr. Kos was originally denied admission in 1976 by the rector of Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas, who wrote that he was concerned about his "instability. " "Rudy Kos was one reject who got a re-run" Mr. Turley said in questioning of Father Don Fischer, who was the diocese's vocation director when Mr. Kos was subsequently admitted to seminary under a different rector. "You all went and got rejects because of the acute shortage of priests. You wanted to build enrollment at the seminary. " Father Fischer said that Mr. Kos and the other students were admitted because they appeared qualified, not simply to boost numbers. "I remember being excited about presenting him [Mr. Kos] to the seminary,' Father Fischer said. "He was intelligent and seemed extremely mature. I thought he was an excellent candidate." He said he was not concerned that Mr. Kos had been rejected once and that he had had a brief marriage annulled a decade before he sought admission. "His background, rather than being a hindrance, seems to have helped him prepare for his decision to enter the seminary," Father Fischer wrote in his letter of recommendation to the bishop in 1977. Father Fischer said he never learned that Mr. Kos' ex-wife told a priest who participated in the annulment that Mr. Kos was gay and was attracted to boys. "If he was a child molester, he never would have become a Catholic priest," Father Fischer testified. Mr. Mathis, the attorney for the diocese, disputed that Mr. Kos' ex-wife ever told any church officials that Mr. Kos was gay or that he was attracted to boys. A priest who was a seminary student with Mr. Kos testified that he told a high-ranking official of the diocese that Mr. Kos made sexual advances toward a young man his senior year. "I was surprised that he didn't seem as concerned about this as I was," said Father James Harris of Laredo. "His response, if I remember it correctly, was that it was too late, that the evaluations were in, that this man had been totally investigated.”
By Ed Housewright
"You're in God's hands," the Dallas man said Mr. Kos told him once after performing oral sex on him at the rectory of All Saints Catholic Church in North Dallas. Mr. Kos then led him to a church shower and sexually abused him after telling him he would "cleanse" him with holy water, the man testified. During the four years of sexual abuse, which began when he was 10, the man said he began to feel "defective" but also believed it was God's will for him to endure the abuse silently. "I had no clue," the man said. "I began to think something was wrong with me. For me to be accepted in God's eyes, this is what took place. " Mr. Kos is accused in civil suits of sexually abusing 11 boys at rectories from 1981 to 1992. The man said he finally broke off contact with Mr. Kos when he was 14 after he was abused on a trip to see Mr. Kos' mother near Houston. He said he heard another boy being abused by Mr. Kos in the travel trailer - the first time he was aware the abuse involved someone else. "I didn't want to be around him anymore," the man testified. "I accepted that I was not going to have God in my life anymore." The man's mother, whom he wouldn't let stay in the courtroom during his testimony, cried as she told the jury of the guilt she now feels for letting her son spend many nights with Mr. Kos at the rectory. She said she's a devout Catholic with priests in her family and that she never imagined what was happening. "It was a den of iniquity, an evil place," the woman said. "I was taken advantage of by a priest, a man of God that I had grown up to believe was better than the average person. " She said she blames Monsignor Raphael Kamel, who was the priest of All Saints Catholic Church when the alleged abuse occurred. Father Kamel died in the late 1980s. "I believe he knew what was going on - I really do," the woman said. "You understand we really take issue with that," answered Randal Mathis, the attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, which is a defendant in the civil trial along with Mr. Kos. The plaintiffs, who were as young as 9 when the alleged abuse began, are seeking $146.5 million during the trial, now in its second week. Mr. Mathis has said that the diocese suspended Mr. Kos in 1992 immediately after the first boy complained of sexual abuse and that it should not be liable for Mr. Kos' conduct. Early Thursday, the man testified that he frequently joined Mr. Kos and the other two priests who lived at All Saints for breakfast after he spent the night. They held hands in prayer before eating, he said. The man said he so idolized priests that he would wear his shirt inside out so his collar would resemble that of a priest. "He [Mr. Kos] was everything to me," he said. "I just wanted to be around him. I felt special. He gave me a lot of attention. He bought gifts for me all the time. " The 52-year-old Mr. Kos, who lives in California, has already been found liable for the sexual abuse because he hasn't responded to the suits. The 10-woman, two-man jury will decide whether to award damages against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable for the abuse and, if so, assess damages. During his testimony Thursday, the man said he estimated that he was sexually abused 350 times by Mr. Kos, most involving Mr. Kos masturbating with the boy's foot. Some people in the packed courtroom left in tears as he gave his emotional testimony. Several letters from Mr. Kos to the man during his youth were introduced. "I still love you a lot and am waiting to see you this summer," Mr. Kos wrote to the boy after he and his family had moved out of state. The man said he has never been able to keep a steady job, has had serious drug and alcohol problems, and has been arrested for driving while intoxicated, driving with a suspended license, shoplifting and passing bad checks. He said a therapist told him that child victims of sexual abuse frequently stop maturing emotionally at the time of the abuse. "I believe that," he said. "I have been a kid in an adult body and an adult world.”
By Ed Housewright Top-ranking Catholic officials knew that boys were frequently spending the night with the Rev. Rudolph "Rudy" Kos six years before he was suspended for alleged sexual abuse of children, according to testimony Friday in the civil trial of Mr. Kos and the Dallas diocese The priest who was Mr. Kos' superior at St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving began keeping detailed logs of the comings and goings of boys from Mr. Kos' room in the rectory in 1986. He gave them to Monsignor Robert Rehkemper, who was then the No. 2 official in the diocese, according to testimony. Father Daniel Clayton and Father Rehkemper told Mr. Kos several times that year to stop letting the boys stay overnight, Father Clayton said. Mr. Kos insisted that he was not sleeping with the boys and continued to invite them to his room up to four nights a week, according to testimony. "My private life is no one else's business! " Mr. Kos wrote in a letter to Father Clayton that was introduced Friday. "Your meddling in my life . . . will cease and desist. " Mr. Kos is accused in civil suits of sexually abusing 11 boys from 1981 until he was suspended in 1992. Early questions about Mr. Kos' behavior weren't restricted to Catholic officials. A parishioner told Father Clayton several months after the logs began that she didn't want her son to enroll in a karate class Mr. Kos was organizing because she had heard he liked boys, according to testimony. "When she asked if I had heard that, I delayed, and she said, `I don't have to ask. I can tell by the look on your face,' " Father Clayton wrote in the spring of 1986. Even before Father Clayton began keeping the logs in January 1986, the principal of St. Luke's school, a church deacon and several parishioners had complained to Father Clayton about the time Mr. Kos was spending with children. In addition, a church committee listed as one of its agenda items "the company-keeping" of Mr. Kos. "The church had huge blinders on," Windle Turley, the attorney for eight of the plaintiffs, said outside the courtroom. "They didn't want to know what was happening because it would have led to scandal." However, the attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas said that officials investigated Mr. Kos early on and concluded that no abuse was occurring. Randal Mathis said they suspended Mr. Kos in 1992 as soon as the first youth said he had been abused. "There is a whole lot to be explained with respect to Father Clayton and his dealings with Rudy Kos," Mr. Mathis said outside the courtroom. "I'll probably give myself a heart attack waiting until Tuesday to have my opportunity to question Father Clayton.” "Today leaves a bad impression because it's only the first part of a series of events." Along with some logs he sent to Father Rehkemper in 1986, Father Clayton wrote, "I present this to you out of concern for Rudy Kos, for myself and for any danger that may come to the church at large or here at St. Luke's." Later in the year he wrote a stern letter to Mr. Kos, who was an associate priest there. "I find the boys and young men staying overnight in your room inappropriate . . . " Father Clayton said. "I ask you that it come to an end. " That, in turn, prompted Mr. Kos' hostile letter to Father Clayton in which he said his private life was no one's business. "You do not lead a life I find desirable to emulate," Mr. Kos also wrote. "I reject your letter as full of tripe and unfounded .. . " The plaintiffs allege that the sexual abuse by Mr. Kos began at All Saints Catholic Church in North Dallas, then continued at St. Luke's and at St. John's Catholic Church in Ennis. They are seeking $146.5 million in damages. The 52-year-old Mr. Kos, who lives in California, has already been found liable for the sexual abuse because he hasn't responded to the suits. The jury will decide whether to award damages against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable for the abuse and, if so, assess damages. Also Friday, a psychologist who has examined a 25-year-old waiter who says he was abused by Mr. Kos as a child testified that he will need more than a decade of intensive therapy to prevent him from committing suicide or dying from a cocaine overdose. She estimated the cost of treatment at $517,000. The man has no health insurance. "This is a devastated young man," Dr. Alexandria H. Doyle said of the man, who gave emotional testimony Thursday. "In many ways parts of him have been destroyed. I believe he's been of unsound mind since the onset of abuse. " Dr. Doyle said that the Dallas man functioned better when he was 10 years old before the abuse occurred than he does now. He had a paper route for two years as a child and saved $1,500. He's never had a job that long or saved as much since then, the man testified. Plaintiffs' attorneys point to the man as an example of how the alleged abuse devastated the victims' lives and the amount of treatment they will need. Mr. Mathis didn't dispute that the man Dr. Doyle was speaking of needed treatment but said it would cost less than half the amount she suggested. "I don't think the diocese is at all to blame," he said in an interview. "Rudy Kos certainly is. That abuse occurred is not in question. That medical care is needed is not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether the diocese acted reasonably with respect to Rudy Kos.” "We think we did.”
By Brooks Egerton San Diego - Rudolph "Rudy" Kos says he has conquered his attraction to teenage boys through intense therapy, still considers himself a Roman Catholic priest and probably would say Mass again if given the chance Speaking publicly for the first time since being sued four years ago, he said that poverty has prevented him from defending himself against the decade's worth of sexual-abuse accusations now unfolding in a Dallas County courtroom. He denied some of the charges, wouldn't discuss others and maintained that he simply quit fighting after his church wouldn't provide him an attorney. He said he couldn't afford the top-flight counsel necessary to match the plaintiffs' lawyers - Windle Turley and Sylvia Demarest, widely considered two of the finest in their field. "I've really been at the bottom," Mr. Kos said, describing how he lost the best job he had in California after his employer learned of the charges against him. He also told of losing badly needed mental-health drugs after the church cut off aid to him. He spoke by phone late Friday from San Diego, where he's been reinventing himself with a new career, an assumed name and frequent address changes admittedly designed to thwart private detectives. But even as he struggles to put the past behind him, he's also surrounded by images of what drove him into exile: He lives across the street from a Catholic church, a block away from an elementary school. And, after a five-month crash course at the University of San Diego, he works in the very profession that now bedevils him - law. Mr. Kos lost his job as a paralegal last year when his employer found out about his legal problems. He now works free-lance. He says he sometimes prays at the church across from where he lives, though officials there said they weren't familiar with him. Mr. Kos said he didn't realize right away that his latest move was taking him so close to a school. "I don't go that way," he said. "I don't see the kids. I don't even know if the thing's operating. " (The kindergarten-through-sixth-grade facility is in operation, though its officials said they were unaware of their neighbor's existence until visited by a reporter.) Mr. Kos said he now socializes exclusively with adults, no longer preferring the company of "14-, 15-, 16-year-olds" - the sort who used to flock to his rectory rooms at All Saints Catholic Church in North Dallas, St. Luke's in Irving and St. John's in Ennis. Unable to afford a car, the man whom boys called Father Rudy lives near downtown San Diego and does a lot of walking. He moves to the other side of the street, he said, if children come near. "I'm terrified," Mr. Kos said. "Not because I'm afraid I'm going to fall again. It just seems like the right thing to do." Specific only in denials The 52-year-old former nurse and Air Force medic often hedged when asked to discuss details of the civil charges against him - charges he's already been found liable for because he didn't respond to them. Mr. Kos is accused in civil suits of sexually abusing 11 boys from 1981 until he was suspended in 1992. A question he said he couldn't answer is "which ones I had sex with. " "I'm trying not to blame anybody else," he said. "I accept responsibility for anything I may have done. I'm sorry for that. " When Mr. Kos did get specific, it was in denial. "If I was a fixated pedophile," he said, "I'd deserve to be put to death. . . . They're incurable." Mr. Kos branded as "absolute nonsense" the testimony that he plied boys with drugs and alcohol, saying that many of his accusers were already abusing those substances on their own. And he said that he "didn't even know" two of the 11 plaintiffs, that they're merely "along for the ride" on a $146.5 million lawsuit against him and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas. "I may have met them in person at some point," Mr. Kos said. "But I never touched them at all, period." Ms. Demarest, who represents one of the men the defendant said he did not know, termed Mr. Kos' protestation of innocence "ridiculous" and "astonishing. " "I can understand why he doesn't want to take responsibility for what he did," she said. "I wouldn't want to. No human being would want to." Her client is a Dallas waiter who testified Thursday in the civil trial that he was abused for four years, beginning at age 10. "You're in God's hands," he said Mr. Kos once told him after performing oral sex on him in the All Saints rectory. Ms. Demarest agreed with Mr. Kos on one point: that he lacked representation because the church had turned its back on him. "The bishop of Dallas didn't want him in the courtroom," she said, suggesting that Charles Grahmann sacrificed the subordinate to deflect attention from the church's culpability. Not true, said Randal Mathis, the diocese's attorney. "The diocese has never had any legal obligation to provide Rudy Kos a lawyer," he said. "Criminal activity is outside the scope of his employment." Mr. Mathis has accepted the abuse allegations as true and attacked only the notion that the church was also responsible. Mr. Kos, he has argued, was a brilliantly deceptive molester who managed to fool parents and church leaders alike. The question of whether the diocese is liable remains to be decided at the civil trial, which is expected to last well into June. Also to be decided are possible financial damages against the diocese and Mr. Kos. Mr. Kos would say little about the two criminal charges against him - sexual contact with one child and indecency with another. He is scheduled to be tried later this year. He did say he was not guilty and expected to be exonerated, while also expressing fear that fellow inmates would kill him if he were sent to prison. "I'm not a hardened criminal," he said. "I'd be absolutely defenseless. " Mr. Kos has hired well-known Dallas lawyer Brad Lollar for the criminal proceeding. Mr. Lollar said he has done relatively little work on the case so far and that money hasn't become an issue. The trial isn't likely to start on time in July, he said, because transcripts of the civil trial probably won't be ready. Once a priest ... A third legal proceeding, an ecclesiastical one, is also pending: Mr. Kos is demanding that the diocese resume supporting him. It largely terminated aid after spending what Mr. Mathis termed six-figure sums on more than a year of treatment at a Catholic center in New Mexico. "They have an obligation to me to take care of me for life," Mr. Kos said. He argues that the promise the church makes to all priests remains in force unless they renounce their vows - something he hasn't done. "Once baptized, always baptized," he said. "Once a priest, always a priest. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic." Mr. Mathis acknowledged that Mr. Kos technically remains a priest, one who's been suspended of all powers. The diocese is trying to find a way under church law, he said, to forcibly terminate Mr. Kos' vows. Mr. Kos said he knew he'd lost the right to administer the sacraments and that he once turned down an offer to say Mass for the San Diego chapter of Dignity, an organization of gay and lesbian Catholics. But "if they asked me again," he said, "I probably would. " The church's cutoff of support left him without the prescription drugs he needs, he said, including lithium. "I had seizures," he said. "I had disorientation. . . . I will never forgive them for that. " Mr. Kos described himself as celibate, while also calling the 38-year-old man with whom he shares a one-bedroom apartment his lover. "I haven't had sex in two years," he said. "My roommate and I have better things to do. . . . We just don't put a high priority on it." Sex "has been such a negative thing for me" in recent years and probably always will be, he said. Therapy led him to conclude not that he was a pedophile but rather that he was gay and had been repressing his homosexuality. He realized, he said, "that my attraction in that lifestyle was misplaced on people that were too young." Some of those young people have told a hushed, teary Dallas courtroom in recent days that Mr. Kos used them for his own gratification hundreds of times. Yet Mr. Kos asserted that "I never was a selfish person. I never was that way at all. That's probably what got me into trouble. " Asked to elaborate, he talked not about sex but money, calling himself "the guy that will give out a dollar" to someone begging on the street. Then a voice that had been composed for more than an hour suddenly choked with sobs, and he continued this way while crying: "When you give to the least of my brethren, you give to me.” “There are so many hurt people in the world . . . and we worry about how much money we have in our pocket." This man who's now a pariah to his faith recalls his early days in the Catholic Church with great fondness, as a refuge from family strife. "In essence, that became my mom and dad," he said. "The love was just so great. " His parents divorced when he was 6, and he didn't see his mother again for more than 30 years. His "cold" father remarried repeatedly and left him at one point to be raised by nuns in an orphanage, Mr. Kos said. He's lost touch with both parents, as well as with his two younger brothers, who've testified that he molested them when they were growing up. Name has changed Today Mr. Kos says his emotional support comes from a tiny group of confidantes who know about his troubles. To others in San Diego, he has been not Rudy Kos but Rudy Edward, having turned his middle name into his last and obliterated parts of his past. "Oh, my God," said C.J. Colver, Mr. Kos' former landlord in San Diego, when told of the priest's legal problems. "I never heard about him being a priest. " But like other acquaintances, she said he'd left a positive impression. "He may have been molesting children," Ms. Colver said, "but to other people he could be totally wonderful. He was charming, bright. " Mr. Kos said he decided to speak publicly after all these years because "this has been boiling and boiling and boiling in me. I haven't had the chance to say my piece since this started. " His aim, his hope, his dream: "I don't want to hurt anybody else, I really don't. I don't want to be hurt, either. I don't think I can take any more. . . . "I don't know if it'll ever be over.” By Ed Housewright A priest who thought that the Rev. Rudolph "Rudy" Kos was spending too much time with boys in his room finally turned to the Dallas bishop with his concerns, testimony in a civil trial revealed Tuesday "I will not play psychologist, but I feel anxious about the situation," the Rev. Daniel Clayton wrote to Bishop Thomas Tschoepe in 1986, six years before Mr. Kos was suspended in connection with sex abuse allegations. "You are the only one I have to turn to. My instincts tell me to do nothing is not a solution. " Father Clayton, who was Mr. Kos' superior at St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving, began keeping detailed logs in 1986 of the comings and goings of boys from Mr. Kos' rectory room. He sent them to Monsignor Robert Rehkemper, who was then the No. 2 official in the Dallas Diocese. "There is no evidence Rudy is either a homosexual or a child abuser - just suspicious because of his behavior," Father Rehkemper wrote in a memo to himself in 1986 after Father Clayton expressed concerns. Mr. Kos, who lives in California, has not appeared at the trial. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse of altar boys at three churches from 1981 to 1992 because he has not responded to the suits. Eleven plaintiffs are seeking $146.5 million in the civil trial of Mr. Kos and the Dallas Diocese, now entering its third week. Father Clayton gave several "alerts," as he called them Tuesday, to church officials about Mr. Kos' conduct with boys. "I present this to you out of concern for Father Kos, for myself and for any danger which may come to the church at large or here at St. Luke's," wrote Father Clayton in a letter to Father Rehkemper that accompanied his logs. Windle Turley, the attorney for eight of the plaintiffs, argued that church officials didn't respond to repeated warnings from Father Clayton and parishioners about the time Mr. Kos was spending with boys. "It's absolutely inexcusable," Mr. Turley said outside the courtroom. "Without question the church was alerted. " Randal Mathis, the attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, said again Tuesday that the diocese acted responsibly with regard to Mr. Kos and suspended him in 1992 as soon as the first youth complained of sexual abuse. Mr. Turley pointed out that the personnel committee of the diocese recommended in 1986 that Bishop Tschoepe write a letter to Mr. Kos warning him that he would be suspended if he continued to have boys stay overnight in his room. The bishop never wrote that letter. Instead, Father Rehkemper met with Mr. Kos and expressed his concerns. Mr. Kos responded by telling Father Rehkemper that Father Clayton was watching him "like a hawk. " "I told Father Kos that if anyone other than his mother or father or adopted son stayed the night in the rectory in the future he would be running the risk of being suspended," Father Rehkemper wrote in a memo to himself. "I had him understand that we were not accusing him of any wrongdoing but that it was imprudent and the diocese could be jeopardized by a legal suit if anybody wanted to make an issue of it." Mr. Turley pointed out to Father Clayton during questioning that Father Rehkemper doesn't mention concern for children in his memo. "Just jeopardizing the diocese is all that's discussed," Mr. Turley said. "I think the understanding was that children could be jeopardized," Father Clayton answered. Father Clayton wrote another letter to Bishop Tschoepe several months after Mr. Rehkemper met with Mr. Kos. "I have and will continue to do my best to prevent any situation from becoming a crisis situation," Father Clayton wrote. Mr. Turley said that the personnel board warned Mr. Kos about his association with boys before he was transferred in 1988 to St. John's Catholic church, where he first became a head priest. "He was strongly cautioned about his showing favoritism to certain young men . . . " according to minutes from a board meeting. Before Mr. Kos went to the Ennis church, he restructured the youth program at St. Luke's in Irving, discouraging involvement by girls and supervision by parents, according to testimony. Mr. Turley said Mr. Kos did so to increase his opportunities to abuse boys. Father Clayton testified that Mr. Kos upset some parishioners with his restructuring of the youth program. "He was strong-minded and intense at times," Father Clayton said. The jury will decide whether to award damages against Mr. Kos. It also will decide whether the diocese was liable for the abuse and, if so, assess damages. After the testimony from Father Clayton on Tuesday, a 25-year-old Irving pawn shop employee testified of the sexual abuse allegedly committed against him by Mr. Kos for eight years beginning when he was 13. The man's testimony was similar to that of two other plaintiffs who have testified. He said the abuse began with foot massages, then progressed to oral sex and, in his case, anal sex. He said Mr. Kos attracted him with candy, gifts, video games, alcohol and drugs. "I was terrified," the man testified. "I didn't know what was going on. I thought they [priests] were as close as you could get to God. I figured he would help bring me up and be a good person.”
By Ed Housewright "I don't want anyone to think I could have prevented it because I couldn't have," he tearfully told the jury that is hearing the civil lawsuit of 11 plaintiffs against Mr. Kos and the Dallas Roman Catholic Diocese. The man, now 25, said Mr. Kos told him that he was sent away by the diocese in 1992 for treatment of stress. He and the parents of another abuse victim helped Mr. Kos pack, added the man, who said he was abused by Mr. Kos for seven years.
The Rev. Robert Williams, who became associate pastor at St. John's in 1991 while Mr. Kos was in charge, testified that he was alarmed from the first day about the amount of time Mr. Kos spent with boys. Father Williams said he knew he had to confront Mr. Kos after he saw him in bed with a boy in his rectory room. Before that, he had seen hundreds of boys come and go, he said. "I had a growing unease," said Father Williams, who had just graduated from seminary. "I wasn't sure what to do. I felt very helpless. I agonized over it. " Father Williams said Mr. Kos acknowledged that he had a "discernment" problem with boys, some of whom had keys to his bedroom, and wouldn't let them spend the night anymore. But the boys continued to flock to Mr. Kos' room, drawn by candy, movies and video games, according to testimony. Mr. Kos became angry when Father Williams continued to confront him, saying he needed his privacy, he said. Mr. Kos eventually locked the doors that led to his bedroom and TV room so that Father Williams couldn't see what was going on in there, he testified. Father Williams said he met with Monsignor Robert Rehkemper - the No. 2 man in the diocese - several times to complain about Mr. Kos' behavior, but Mr. Kos was not removed from St. John's. Boys eventually stopped visiting the rectory, but Mr. Kos began offering to baby-sit them, Father Williams testified. Father Williams said no church officials told him that they had complaints about Mr. Kos dating to 1985. Monsignor Rehkemper had warned Mr. Kos in 1986 that he could be suspended if boys continued to stay overnight in his room. The first priest to complain about Mr. Kos, his supervisor at St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving, was so concerned that he kept detailed logs of the comings and goings of boys from Mr. Kos' room. Father Williams eventually put his concerns in writing, drafting a 12-page letter to Bishop Charles Grahmann in 1992. "I feel that as my bishop you are owed a complete statement and that I have to be sure that you are fully informed," Father Williams wrote. He detailed Mr. Kos' activity with boys. "When he hugged them he would hold them tightly against him and then rub them against him, almost like they were a towel in which he was drying himself," Father Williams wrote. "Other times he would hold them up against him and tickle them. He would also roll around on his bed with boys . . . "There was always an explanation for any one event, always a way to see each happening as legitimate. As a new priest in my first assignment, I looked for these explanations to put myself at rest.” Over time, though, the overall impact of the situation seemed to tell me that something was wrong." After Father Williams met with Monsignor Rehkemper, Mr. Kos was sent to a psychiatrist for evaluation. The doctor said Mr. Kos was not a pedophile. However, a social worker who specialized in pedophilia later said Mr. Kos appeared to be a "classic textbook pedophile" and recommended a second psychiatric exam. The second psychiatrist also told church officials that Mr. Kos was not a pedophile, said Randal Mathis, an attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas. Father Williams said he still was so concerned about Mr. Kos' activities with boys that he requested a meeting with Bishop Grahmann in August 1992. He testified that the bishop told him there was nothing the diocese could do in light of the two psychiatric evaluations. "I told the bishop it was only a matter of time before I caught him [Mr. Kos] molesting boys or a boy came forward," Father Williams said. The next month, the first youth did accuse Mr. Kos of sexual abuse, and Mr. Kos was sent to the treatment center for pedophiles. Mr. Kos, who lives in San Diego, has not appeared at the trial and does not have an attorney. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse because he has not responded to the suits. Eleven plaintiffs - including the man who testified Wednesday - are seeking $146.5 million. The diocese maintains that it should not be held liable for Mr. Kos' conduct. Before Mr. Mathis began questioning the plaintiff Wednesday, he told the man - as he has other plaintiffs - that he does not represent Mr. Kos. "I think you represent the people who brought Rudy Kos into my life," the man replied.
By Ed Housewright A Catholic committee on sexual abuse decided not to tell parishioners that their priest, Rudolph "Rudy" Kos, was forced to resign and sent to a New Mexico treatment center for pedophiles, according to testimony Thursday. Instead, an assistant priest at St. John's Catholic Church in Ennis was told to read a letter from Mr. Kos in 1992 saying he had voluntarily resigned to seek treatment for stress. Because church members weren't told the truth, Mr. Kos was free to abuse three young men again during leaves from the center, a plaintiffs' attorney alleged in the civil trial of Mr. Kos and the Dallas diocese. The Rev. Robert Williams, who was Mr. Kos' assistant at St. John's, testified Thursday that he was angry that he and parishioners weren't told the real reason Mr. Kos left involuntarily after a youth complained of sexual abuse. "The diocese asked you to read the parish a lie? " attorney Windle Turley asked Father Williams, referring to Mr. Kos' letter. "Yes," he replied. Mr. Kos, 52, is accused of sexually abusing altar boys at three churches from 1981 to 1992. An attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas on Thursday defended the decision by the committee not to initially disclose why Mr. Kos left. To say the diocese lied is "not a fair description," Randal Mathis said outside the courtroom. "Under all the circumstances, it did not appear to be the thing to do at that particular time," Mr. Mathis said. "It was still in question what had happened, and there were also the wishes of the complaining family. "In hindsight, it certainly would have been better" to tell parishioners about the complaint against Mr. Kos, he said. Mr. Kos was forced to resign seven years after church officials first discussed whether he was spending too much time with boys in the rectory. Father Williams was the second priest to write long letters to top church officials warning that Mr. Kos might be a pedophile. Mr. Kos' three-page resignation letter that Father Williams read to the Ennis church in 1992 makes no mention of any impropriety on Mr. Kos' part. "I must admit that I have ignored my own well being and have suffered greatly so much so that it was difficult for me to continue doing the best job that I could," the letter to parishioners read. "As your pastor I have tried to live up to the expectations that any one would have of their Pastor . " Mr. Turley criticized the decision by church officials to allow that letter to be read to parishioners without any further explanation. "Like so many things we've seen in this tragic story, I cannot imagine any reason for it," he said. "If you've got a sexual predator, you've got to protect the children first. Explosive conditions need to be diffused. " Father Williams said he had eight conversations with top church officials about Mr. Kos, culminating in a visit with Bishop Charles Grahmann, before Mr. Kos was suspended. "I was concerned about the children," Father Williams testified Thursday. Mr. Kos, who lives in San Diego, has not appeared at the trial and does not have an attorney. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse because he has not responded to the suits. Eleven plaintiffs are seeking $146.5 million. The diocese maintains that it should not be held liable for Mr. Kos' conduct. On Thursday, Mr. Mathis defended the way the diocese reacted to concerns expressed by Father Williams. For instance, after Father Williams met with Monsignor Robert Rehkemper, the No. 2 official in the diocese, Mr. Kos was sent to a psychiatrist for evaluation, Mr. Mathis said. The doctor determined that Mr. Kos was not a pedophile, he said. Mr. Turley strongly disputed that account, saying that the doctor did not give Mr. Kos "a clean bill of health. " After Father Williams continued to complain to church officials, they consulted a social worker who said that Mr. Kos appeared to be a "classic textbook pedophile" and recommended that a second psychiatrist examine him, Mr. Mathis said. That doctor, too, told church officials that Mr. Kos was not a pedophile, Mr. Mathis said. Mr. Turley disputed that account. Mr. Mathis said the diocese does not fault the two psychiatrists who allegedly said Mr. Kos was not a pedophile. "It was the result of Rudy Kos being a very difficult child abuser to diagnose," Mr. Mathis said. Throughout the trial, now in its third week, plaintiffs' attorneys have said that it should have been obvious to church officials that abuse was occurring before the first youth complained. Father Williams testified Thursday that "thundering herds" of boys came and went from the rectory, with a few "favorites" continually spending the night in Mr. Kos' quarters. "It wouldn't take a genius to figure it out," Mr. Turley said during questioning of Father Williams. Father Williams testified that each boy who came to Mr. Kos' room - where he had candy, video games and movies - was required to give him a hug. Some boys didn't appear to like the hugs and were not seen again, said Father Williams, who roomed across the hall. "My impression," he testified, "was that it was the beginning of a weeding out process."
By Ed Housewright A judge threatened Friday to hold the former No. 2 official in the Dallas Catholic diocese in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions about his supervision of a priest accused of sexually abusing altar boys. State District Judge Anne Ashby first instructed the diocese's attorney to warn Monsignor Robert Rehkemper about being "defiant" during questioning about former priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos. Moments after the lawyer and Monsignor Rehkemper returned to the courtroom, plaintiffs' attorney Sylvia Demarest again complained to the judge that Monsignor Rehkemper was being unresponsive. He repeatedly tried to answer with more than a "yes" or "no." "It's extremely important you answer the questions asked," Judge Ashby said to Monsignor Rehkemper. "If you do not do so, you will be held in contempt of court. Do we understand each other? " "Yes," replied Monsignor Rehkemper, 73. "You don't want the judge to hold you in contempt," Randal Mathis, the attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, told Monsignor Rehkemper. Mr. Mathis at one point complained that Ms. Demarest was "badgering" Monsignor Rehkemper, who was vicar general and is now pastor of All Saints Catholic Church in North Dallas. Judge Ashby told Ms. Demarest to ask her questions more slowly. Mr. Kos, who lives in San Diego, is accused of sexually abusing boys at three churches from 1981 to 1992. He has not appeared at the trial. He already has been found liable for the sexual abuse because he has not responded to the lawsuits. Eleven plaintiffs are seeking $146.5 million. The diocese maintains that it should not be held liable for Mr. Kos' behavior. During more than half a day of questioning, Ms. Demarest asked Monsignor Rehkemper about repeated warnings that she said church officials had about Mr. Kos' conduct with boys. Monsignor Rehkemper first had a meeting with a priest who was concerned about Mr. Kos in 1985, seven years before the first youth complained and Mr. Kos was removed as priest. That priest kept detailed logs of Mr. Kos' activities, and another priest later wrote church officials a 12-page letter detailing incidents involving Mr. Kos and boys. Parishioners also wrote letters of concern. "Are you telling me, in order to deal with Father Kos, you had to have actual proof he was molesting children? " Ms. Demarest asked Monsignor Rehkemper. "Yes," the silver-haired cleric replied. "All this conduct over all those years didn't make any difference? " Ms. Demarest asked. "If you don't have evidence, you cannot remove a pastor," he replied. "Yes, you can." "You have to have evidence, my dear lady." Ms. Demarest asked him about the diocese's personnel manual, adopted in 1988, that discusses procedures for handling complaints against priests. It says no anonymous calls or letters will be acknowledged. If a letter is signed and the writer is not willing to let his or her name be known to the priest, the letter ordinarily "will be destroyed and it will not be a matter of record for the priest's personnel file," the manual states. "You could get 10 anonymous phone calls a day and five letters a week, and you would not look into the situation? " Ms. Demarest asked Monsignor Rehkemper. "That's right," he replied. He later testified that church officials have "discretion" in following the personnel policies and would vigorously investigate complaints involving sexual abuse. He said the diocese drafted a separate policy on handling sexual abuse later in 1988. Ms. Demarest introduced notes that Monsignor Rehkemper wrote to himself during a phone call with Mr. Kos in 1986, shortly after the first priest raised concerns about Mr. Kos. "Touchy issues," the terse, handwritten notes say. "Overnight guests, especially little ones.” Monsignor Rehkemper said he didn't recall the "context" of the notes. Ms. Demarest also asked Monsignor Rehkemper about a meeting of the church's personnel board in 1986 at which Monsignor Rehkemper told Mr. Kos that he could be suspended if he continued to have boys spend the night in his rectory room. Ms. Demarest contended that Monsignor Rehkemper received many notices after that meeting that boys were staying with Mr. Kos but that he never took action to suspend Mr. Kos. Monsignor Rehkemper replied that he had no proof that boys were staying overnight. Before Monsignor Rehkemper's testimony, a 31-year-old man testified that he lived with Mr. Kos for two years in his rectory room at All Saints Catholic Church as a teenager under the guise of being adopted. The man said he was sexually abused hundreds of times. The unusual living arrangement was publicized in an article in Texas Catholic and had the approval of the young man's single mother. But it was never a legal adoption, as Mr. Kos told the youth and fellow clergy. Looking back, the so-called adoption provided Mr. Kos an opportunity to abuse the teenager and others, attorneys for the plaintiffs and diocese said. "Knowing what we know now, Kos' motives for taking custody of the boy are clearly suspicious," Mr. Mathis said outside the courtroom. "At the time, it appeared to be legitimate." Monsignor Rehkemper also said the diocese had no reason to doubt the arrangement. The man who lived with Ms. Kos testified that Mr. Kos began abusing him when he was 10. The two met at Methodist Medical Center, where Mr. Kos was a nurse before he went to seminary, and the boy was getting long-term treatment for asthma. For several years, Mr. Kos traveled to the boy's home in Fort Worth to pick him up for outings before encouraging him to move to the rectory with him when he was 16, according to testimony. The man said that Mr. Kos, who introduced him to marijuana and beer when he was 12, encouraged him to drink at the rectory. Today, the man said, he is undergoing counseling and struggles with suicidal thoughts. "I'm uncomfortable talking about it," he said. "It's as
if I have a shadow and it follows me around. No matter where I go, it
follows me."
|
||
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution. |
||