my named parties

government investigations

media

press releases

survivor advocacy

I feel the effects of child sexual abuse I suffered at the hands of Monsignor Daniel J. Martin every day; augmented by grooming by Father Robert Hannon and Father Gary Ketcham, both of whom intended to molest me. I was their altar boy, guitarist at mass, and student secretary in their home. They inflicted themselves on me there, at another church, and at a Catholic university. I worshipped, worked, and lived in proximity to many priests and nuns, and was given increasing responsibility as a reward for service. Religious sisters, seminaries, and eventual priest confreres stood as enablers and bystanders throughout the abuse. The curriculum I received was more about grooming and manipulation than evangelization. 

Sensing a call to the priesthood, I compartmentalized the abuse. Other people I regarded as holy offered a wholesome example of service to others; I wanted to emulate them in their sacrifice, and in what I perceived to be their happiness. The abusers seemed like an unrelated basket of bad apples. Artifacts from 18 years of ministry belie my near-constant exposure to predators. From the time I entered seminary, when classmates and faculty replaced the protagonists of my childhood, until resigning from ministry I was sexually harassed in three assignments. Manipulation and coercion are constitutive elements of formation in seminary and priestly life—for rank and file priests—and not an inadvertent byproduct of doing spiritual business, as the Church tries to suggest.

As an educator, I know the procedures for the mandatory reporting of child sex abuse and have implemented them. Before I was a priest and educational leader, I was the same as most people who just know to contact authorities when a child is in danger. Bishop Lawrence Persico of the Diocese of Erie ignored the results of an investigation he assigned me to conduct, parallel to law enforcement, which exposed omissions and cover-up of child sex abuse by school leadership at Elk County Catholic High School in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. This failure of Persico to protect children was a central theme of my testimony against him before a grand jury.

As a whistleblower, I gave the names of over 100 parties to clergy sexual abuse to the 40th Pennsylvania Statewide Investigating Grand Jury in 2016. I revealed personnel, structural, and case-related information about the Dioceses of Erie PA and Buffalo NY. My testimony was about what happened to me, but substantially about sub-cultural mechanisms by which the Church sexually abuses children and vulnerable adults. The assistance I provided to the Grand Jury led to harassment, retaliation, and gaslighting by the Church. I am well-versed in the horrors perpetuated by Catholic priests in every diocese in Pennsylvania, with proprietary files on each abuser alleged by four grand jury reports. I am substantially familiar with several state and international reports on institutional church abuse.

The need for redress of human rights violations by the Roman Catholic Church compels me to advocate for justice. Survivors and their advocates stand against a behemoth NGO with United Nations Permanent Observer status and state protections, while calling for law enforcement investigations, interacting with media over personal trauma, and trying to pass lookback legislation in State Capitols. It is all too much to ask of those baptized in trauma. I seek to educate while searching for answers, while taking a revered institution to task over monstrous and serial torture. I encourage survivors around the world to speak their truth; if not publicly, then at least to a therapist, and to oneself gently.  

While not a member of the bar, I assist lawyers and law enforcement in their pursuit of justice for victims of clergy and institutional sexual abuse. I have data and can provide a case and frequency audit on every RC diocese in the United States, as well as several international dioceses. These include perpetrator histories, and thousands of bishop and diocesan records of abuse and coverup. I assist with identification and examination of every facet of abuse, including likely defendants, preparation for filing and depositions, and how to secure discovery materials. My data shows when a diocese is especially ripe for investigation, and there are many. As I am unable to secure reconstitution for my own trauma because of inadequate lookback legislation in Pennsylvania, I find it fulfilling to work as an Investigative Researcher. My assistance originates from the unique vantage point of survivor, priest, educator, whistleblower and advocate. 

professional portfolio

japan journal

five story pagoda

artwork

response to predators