Twist of Faith Page #4

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due to my...

whether it be depression or anger,

or however it came out.

He apologized to all three of us.

He said it with more sincerity

than anyone I had ever heard.

Then my mother asked him...

I asked the bishop. I said,

"Bishop Hoffman, are you aware

"of any other allegations...

"against Dennis Gray

regarding young people?"

And his response to me was...

- "Not to my knowledge."

- We asked him three times.

He said it with more sincerity

than anyone I had ever heard.

I believed that, based on who he was,

his position and what he represented

to the church,

that he was telling me the truth.

Anthony Comes was unable

to fight back tears while telling his story.

Comes claims he was molested

by his former priest

and later lied to by the highest leader

in the Toledo Catholic diocese.

He had led me to believe

I was the only one. He lied to me.

Comes' feelings resurfaced last Memorial Day

when he was driving down this street

of the neighborhood where he'd just moved.

He noticed the priest he once knew

lived five doors down from him.

The diocese intervened and Gray is now

in the process of moving.

But Comes says he's disturbed

Bishop Hoffman told him he knew

of no other allegations against Gray.

Then four months later, published an article

confessing there was another one.

That's when the firefighter

decided to fight back,

suing the diocese and talking publicly.

- Were you an altar boy?

- I was. Were you an altar boy?

Yeah! Shut up!

Yeah, me, Canning, Williams,

Dattinger, you.

I just don't understand how he got away with it

when there were other people there.

- Did it happen when we were there?

- Absolutely.

- He'd come out and say...

- I honest to God did not know.

Did you ever go skinnydipping there?

- At night?

- At the cottage?

I don't think so.

Do you recall anybody going skinnydipping?

I do recall that.

I remember wanting to go skinnydipping

with Molly Gray there.

Why would you want to go skinnydipping

with a bunch of guys?

It was innocuous.

Nothing happened other than fish biting you.

- Whatever.

- It's middle of the night.

If you're f***ed up, I guess.

Why would you shower after a game

with a bunch of guys? Same deal.

A bunch of guys up in a cabin drinking,

getting f***ed up. Who cares?

If none of us are gay,

who cares if I look at you naked?

Except you don't know if anyone's gay.

Bullshit. It's a very experimental time.

What?

Let me interrupt for a minute.

Do you see me...

or my life now

in my decision to go public...

as a positive thing

or a negative thing?

And do you understand

that my position is not...

...Catholics, it's the leadership.

- Why have you forsaken the Catholic church?

- I have not forsaken it.

But based upon my own experience...

seeing the current behavior of the church...

I am given a choice to either trust the church

in the same environment

while they're still telling lies

- with the care of my daughter...

- But I...

Let me finish. And risk, as minimal as it is,

- something happening to her...

- You'd never forgive yourself.

...or take her out, put her in public school,

deal with all the crap you have to deal with.

I'm worried that...

you're going to make other people pay

for a bitterness that maybe

you're picking up from it.

Because I do truly believe in the priesthood

and the Catholic church

as a good organization.

We're looking at a thousand years

of good, OK,

- that the Catholic church has done.

- Right.

And what we're dealing with now,

is ten years of a cover-up.

The overwhelming urge to drive down to where

the Bishop's laying to rest

and piss on his grave

is almost completely overwhelming,

But in the light of things,

I think I'll hold off on that.

But I'll do it.

Denny, when you're dead,

I'll piss on your grave too.

When I got engaged to Tony,

I made the choice...

to convert to Catholicism.

I did it because...

I believe in the Catholic religion

I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ

very strongly.

Our strongest link

to the Catholic church...

when I met Tony was John Shiffler,

who was a priest

in the Catholic church in Toledo.

Tony and I felt a very strong bond with him.

He helped us through a lot of difficult times.

He counseled us, he married us,

he baptized me, he baptized our daughter.

Unfortunately, over this past year,

we found out that he's also

one that has abused children.

State your name for the record, please.

- John Charles Shiffler.

- And Mr. Shiffler,

when did you first meet Dennis Gray?

In 1986, when I first came there.

How did you come to know him at that time?

He was also one of the teachers

in the religion department.

Did you share an office with him?

Our offices were adjacent to each other.

How many times did you have

sexual encounters with Matt Simon?

One.

What occurred between you and Matt Simon

in June 1987?

I am instructing the witness not to answer.

You refuse to answer?

At the recommendation of my counsel, yes.

The lies, the deceit, the betrayal

wasn't just from Dennis Gray anymore.

It was from the Catholic church,

the Catholic diocese of Toledo,

the bishop...

everyone that knew what was going on.

They knew that...

abuse had occurred by Dennis Gray,

by others,

but they chose to ignore it.

They knew before Tony was abused

that there had been allegations

against Dennis Gray,

but they chose to ignore it.

Please welcome Bishop Robert Donnelly.

The most visible action on behalf of

social justice in the Toledo diocese

is the Catholic Charities organization.

Catholic Charities seeks the common good

and wellbeing of all,

but especially the poor and the vulnerable.

My name is John Schoonmaker.

And with all respect, Bishop Donnelly, I ask,

where is the social justice

for the victims of sexual abuse by priests?

John, I want to...

respond briefly to that question, I guess.

I do want to say that we are

well along the journey

of responding dramatically, transparently

and justly to allegations, any and all.

If you want to continue, I'll do so afterwards,

but I'd like to answer another question.

- Bishop Donnelly?

- Yes?

- My name is Claudia.

- Sure, Claudia.

I'm not as eloquent as some.

In fact as I was listening to you talk,

I'd die a thousand deaths than stand up.

But I want you to know that while -

and please don't take my tears as weak -

but while you may be in compliance on paper,

there are people in this

community that are hurting.

And this is not an area

that social justice has prevailed.

And we need to be not thrown off

the church property

when we come to give you a letter.

We need to be engaging in a dialogue,

looking for solutions.

Claudia, I would indeed...

welcome some way to dialogue,

but I'm not sure that this is the place or time

for us to say other than

we are in compliance,

that is to say, we do the best we can,

we have lay men and women

in different groups

that have been appointed

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