International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Abstract
A STORY OF CLERGY ABUSE AND FORGIVENESS ASKING A chill in the air, fog smearing his windows, Tom Blanchette drove west of Boston to Lexington. He had an appointment with Father Joseph Birmingham. It had been twenty-five years since Birmingham's going-away party in Sudbury, where they last spoke. "How could I ever explain to anybody that I had laid naked in Father B.'s bed over a hundred times? I didn't know how to explain these experiences. All I knew was I didn't like it. But I saw him every Saturday and Sunday, because I worked in the church rectory; I saw him at least one night a week for catechism classes, and at least one night a week he was at our house for dinner. Every time we were alone he pursued sexual activity. For two years I would say we had sex two or three times a week, sometimes two or three times a day." Until he was in his twenties, Tom had never mentioned a word of this history. One morning as Tom and an old friend were reminiscing about their teenage years, Father Birmingham's name came up. The friend grew angry and said, "that bastard ... he queered me." Tom then polled his brothers and learned that Father B. had solicited sex from them too. In a span of a week, Tom and his mother compiled a list of twenty-five victims.
Recommended Citation
Tran, Dung Q.
(2010)
"Toward a Servant-Led Response Rooted in Forgiveness and Restorative Justice in the Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal,"
International Journal of Servant-Leadership: Vol. 6, Article 12.
DOI: 10.33972/ijsl.195
Available at:
https://repository.gonzaga.edu/ijsl/vol6/iss1/12
Copyright Information
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