Second Ex-Seminarian Sues Former Palm Beach Bishop For Sexual Abuse
By Peter Franceschina and Nicole Sterghos Brochu, Staff Writers
Originally published in the Sun-Sentinel, March 19, 2002
A second former Missouri seminary student is accusing Bishop Anthony O'Connell of causing years of depression and anger by using his role as a counselor and spiritual adviser to exploit him sexually as a troubled teenager.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Hannibal, Mo., the unidentified 47-year-old Minnesota man alleges that O'Connell counseled him when he was a student at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary beginning in 1967. Eventually, the suit claims, O'Connell turned the counseling into explicit discussions and sexual activity.
That led to years of depression and anger for the man, identified only as John Doe in the lawsuit, his attorney said Monday.
"He suffered in secrecy and silence and shame, the way victims of this kind of abuse do so often, thinking he was the only one. He has suffered from a lot of depression and never mentioned it, believing it was his fault," said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn., attorney.
In a little more than a week, O'Connell has gone from a revered spiritual leader to one of the Roman Catholic Church's highest-ranking officials to be formally accused of sexual abuse in a scandal that started in Boston and is now spreading nationwide. The pope has accepted O'Connell's offer to resign as bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach. O'Connell, 63, made his resignation offer public the day news reports about a former seminary student's sexual abuse allegations surfaced.
Not unexpected
O'Connell conceded then that there might be a second person bringing accusations from his days at the Missouri seminary. It was not known whether the Minnesota man who sued Monday was that person. Anderson said it was O'Connell's recent admission to inappropriate behavior that gave the man the courage finally to come forward with his allegations.
"It flooded him with emotions, and he realized for the first time how it impacted him," Anderson said.
Anderson, who has represented hundreds of people in clergy-abuse cases, said this case has familiar themes—a muted youth who grows into a bewildered adult and a holy man with a hidden past who rises through a protective church hierarchy.
"It is a culture of protection and secret keeping. It is essentially a cover-up by the hierarchy of the church. It's an institutional pattern and practice and insidiously particular to the Catholic church," Anderson said. "While they say they have cleaned up their act, they haven't. They continue to use their power to protect themselves and cover up."
Sought guidance
The Minnesota man said in a statement that he entered the seminary in 1967 at age 14. He came from a troubled home, the suit said, and O'Connell took advantage of him under the guise of providing spiritual counseling.
"I was a cradle Catholic, and I believed I would receive good advice and spiritual guidance there," the man said. "Instead of a wholesome environment that would prepare me for life's challenges as [a] priest in the Roman Catholic Church, what I found was a culture of exploitation and sexual abuse, hidden behind seminary walls."
During counseling sessions, O'Connell engaged the teen in explicit conversations about his sexual orientation and fantasies, Anderson alleges. That led to the youth engaging in "sexual conduct in the sacristy while defendant O'Connell watched and while he masturbated himself," the suit claims.
The alleged activity did not involve any sexual contact, Anderson said, adding that the man claims there were about five incidents over four years.
The allegations follow those of Christopher Dixon, 40, of St. Louis, who first made public accusations of a sexual nature against O'Connell this month. Dixon was also a seminary student at the school in the late 1970s, and he said O'Connell touched him inappropriately.
O'Connell admitted to touching Dixon but said it was a misguided attempt at counseling him. Before Pope John Paul II accepted O'Connell's resignation, the bishop went into seclusion. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names as defendants the Jefferson City, Mo., diocese, the seminary and the diocese's current bishop, John Gaydos.
Diocese of Palm Beach officials declined to comment, and Jefferson City church officials said they had no prior knowledge of the Minnesota man's allegations.
'Tired of the secrets'
Dixon went to the Diocese of Jefferson City with his allegations that he was abused by three priests, including O'Connell, and received a secret $125,000 settlement in 1996.
O'Connell admitted he never informed his superiors about Dixon's allegations, and Jefferson City officials said they didn't report it, either.
Dixon said Monday he felt vindicated that someone else came forward.
"I feel good that other people are coming forward. That really makes me feel good. That makes it all worthwhile. But it's really sickening. Honest to God, the more that comes out about that man the more I think how sick he is and he doesn't even know it," he said. "I don't know where I got the courage to let my face be seen and my name be heard, but I was tired of the secrets."
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said he talked with the plaintiff in Monday's lawsuit several times over the past week and called him "very credible and very wounded."
"O'Connell is a very charismatic, very warm, very popular kind of person. … He had a position of power as both an older man, a priest, a teacher and the head of the seminary," he said.
Cases multiplying
As alleged victims of past abuse go public around the country, it encourages others to do the same, Clohessy said.
"Every single time a survivor comes forward, other survivors begin to understand how they've been hurt and can begin to feel validated," he said.
Lawyers who have handled lawsuits against priests and the Catholic Church for past abuses say one stumbling block to the cases can be laws that limit the time frame in which they can be filed. Anderson said he is confident that this case meets Missouri's standards.
Robert Sherman, a Boston lawyer whose firm has handled about 300 cases of sexual abuse by the clergy since 1991, said statutes of limitations can be problematic.
"It is always a major hurdle every plaintiff has to get over," he said.
The Minnesota man said in his statement that he has had limited success with psychotherapy and medication in dealing with his trauma. Like Dixon, he said he came forward because he wants to see change in the church.
"It is time for the decision makers of the Catholic Church to accept responsibility for their actions," he said. "My goal is to encourage the church to change its management practices regarding personnel and reporting of wrongdoing and invite those who suffered like me to come forth for healing and vindication."
