After Priest Sex Scandal, Church Obliquely Warns Kids

Dec. 5, 2007 — -- David Clohessy was 11 when his Missouri priest began to molest him.

For four years, on church-sponsored trips, hundreds of miles away from home, the boy would wake in the middle of the night to find the man he trusted on top of him.

Clohessy initially blocked out the memories, until he learned that three of his brothers had also been victimized.

The trauma weaves through every aspect of his life: He filed a lawsuit against the priest who molested him, who was later suspended but not defrocked, and counseled other survivors of priest abuse.

But the most profound impact has been on how he has raised his own two boys -- now 11 and 15, exactly the same age as Clohessy when he was first molested.

"Sadly, there are few sleepovers at people's houses, and they have probably been told more than most kids about their body and privacy, and how to protect themselves," he said.

Clohessy has been watching the Catholic Church in New York City, where the archdiocese is distributing age-appropriate books to children to help safeguard them against similar abuses.

One -- a coloring book -- depicts a guardian angel hovering over a man under an open door and child at the altar. The angel says, "If a child and an adult happen to be alone, someone should know where they are, and the door should be open or have a big window in it."

The man does not wear a collar and is not explicitly characterized as a priest, an omission that disturbs Clohessy, who is now the national director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

"I think we should err on the side of clarity," he said. "We just have to bite the bullet and say to kids, even a grown-up who you like and your parents respect, and even a grown-up in a position of real authority, with a fancy title and a big job, can hurt you."

This mea culpa from the church is not only vague but useless, said to Clohessy.