Twist of Faith Page #3

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I'll take care of you. Don't worry."

He came to our school.

He was recruiting altar boys.

I kind of hung back at the time,

and he did whatever he could

to make you feel

wanted, welcomed...

special.

He came over to our house,

a black shirt with his collar -

had a couple of drinks with my mom,

Dad was talking to him,

and I was asked if I would like

to go with him,

like a weekend vacation, to go fishing,

do some watersports,

do some swimming,

meet some other kids my age,

and try to give me a set of friends

that were heading in the right direction

instead of guys who were getting in trouble.

He invited me to come up to the lake house.

His family was up there.

Friends of his were up there.

It was a very family atmosphere,

what I'd been used to.

I went with a friend

and we all went up together,

and I thought it was the greatest thing

in the world.

We went sledding...

There was a pool table,

there was a huge deck,

a huge fireplace,

all the things that were just kind of fun,

and everybody was gathered around.

It was just a good camaraderie.

All of a sudden,

it became more of a party atmosphere,

you could look forward to going up there

and having fun,

We can play pool, we can drink some beers.

We can act like adults,

what every teenager wants to be.

The real alarms went off the next trip we took

to the cottage.

I got really drunk.

Apparently, I would try to go out

into the snow naked.

When I was up there the second time,

he had a day bed and a double bed

in his bedroom,

he said, "You can sleep on

the day bed in here."

I was like, "My gosh, I'm sleeping in his room."

I thought, "Wow, that's pretty nice."

A long story short,

I woke up the next morning,

and I'm laying in bed

naked with Dennis...

You don't remember

what happened the night before.

That was probably the first abuse

that took place.

You just wake up

and he's fondling you and...

you're not sure, you know,

what's exactly happening,

because also a lot of times, you've been

drinking before you've gone to bed.

He made sure. And he'd fix you drinks.

You'd get these rum and cokes,

anything that was sweet.

By then, I didn't know which way was right,

which way was wrong.

Here's a man who's supposed to be

helping me, protecting me.

How can he be doing this to me?

He'd grab your arms

and you'd be thrown down,

and you were gonna get it

whether you wanted it...

You had no choice in the matter, basically.

It wasn't, "Matthew, what would you like?"

Or, "How does this feel?"

Or, "Are you OK?"

You know, it was a rape.

We had oral sex.

Yeah, this is very difficult.

We tried anal sex one time.

A lot of the times,

he would just lay on top of me

and hump until he orgasmed or came

or whatever.

At the time - I'm going to tell you this -

I had thoughts about guys.

I mean, I had had thoughts about guys.

I thought, "My God, maybe this is it,

"maybe this is what this really is.

"Maybe this is being gay."

I even had conversations with him about that,

and we went to meet with a priest

so I could talk to somebody

about my feelings.

They told me it was completely normal,

not to worry.

This was the kind of things

he would do for you

and you'd just go, "God,

he really does care about me."

I didn't really know that there were others

until after Dennis moved to Toledo.

I mean, then I knew for sure

that I wasn't just sharing time with him

where we would go out or whatever.

I was sharing and I felt betrayed,

like, "Well, how many people

does he love besides me?"

That love that he talked about. How many...?

In an adolescent mind trying to rank them -

"Am I still the top?"

It's very hard.

There's a lot of guilt, a lot of shame,

and a whole lot of embarrassment.

I represent survivors of abuse across

the country and I've been trying these cases...

in the court of public opinion

and in the courtroom for 20 years.

And I am sad to say that the bishop here

and the officials of this diocese...

have operated above the law.

- How are you doing, my man?

- Good to see you.

Tony, we've talked a little bit about

what we want to achieve here.

The way it happened in Chicago,

and in part in Cleveland,

is that I said,

"You show us that you're willing to go

to the table on all these non-economic things -

"prevention, healing, outreach,

the whole thing."

That's what we'll do with this diocese...

So this isn't about the money.

It's about everything else first.

They'll say sorry to me,

my mother and everybody else

that I ask them to say sorry to -

my family, my parish.

I'm willing to compromise

on a lot of things.

I'm not willing to compromise

on any more lies or secrets.

There's going to be no more loopholes,

whether it be amendment rights, statutes.

They're gonna respond like every rational,

thinking moral adult. It's important.

- Let's go get them.

- It's important to us too.

It's important they admit they're wrong.

This is the first one.

The first of six new lawsuits

filed against the diocese.

Six allegations of sexual abuse

by a former Toledo priest.

He is a predator. He is a pedophile.

He is a criminal.

Six more allegations that the diocese

looked the other way.

The diocese of Toledo,

like the dioceses across this country

have really operated in secrecy.

And there's been little and no disclosure,

and they have become

the big part of the problem.

The point I'm at now,

they've lied so many times

and no matter how I try and play along,

I end up feeling like I'm getting f***ed again.

And now, what's going to make it right is...

sh*t's going to come to a head

and it's gonna get published in the Blade

and at least I'm gonna know...

that I did everything in my power

and didn't give up.

I think the church here was

trying to put on a front -

"We'll be transparent, help in any way we can."

It was like pulling teeth. It really was.

We asked them, and we put in

formal requests for records.

"Can we look at the archives of the diocese?

"Can we look at your personnel files

on these priests?"

- And we got nowhere.

- They didn't volunteer anything.

They have a very large,

very powerful law firm representing them,

and these lawyers

have been quietly settling cases for years.

This is a large diocese. It's 19 counties.

It's 8,200 square miles.

And these guys

have been criss-crossing northwest Ohio,

quietly settling cases,

silencing victims for years.

- What's on your mind?

- A lot.

I'm very anxious.

- Cos of the article coming out?

- Yeah.

Tony, what's that medal you got there?

- It's a St. Florian medal.

- Is that the patron saint...

Patron saint of firemen.

I used to wear a cross,

but I kind of took it off lately.

Can you go back a little bit

to how the bishop wasn't honest with you?

I got in contact with the diocese

because I wanted an apology

from the bishop to my mother

and to my wife.

I asked that he apologize to my wife

for the various disruptions in our marriage

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