CNN Anchorman Abused by Priest

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Doug
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CNN Anchorman Abused by Priest

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Editor's note: Thomas Roberts has been a Headline News anchor since 2001. In this story, he discusses being sexually abused by a Catholic priest as a teenager.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- I became a victim of sexual abuse at the age of 14; the abuse lasted three years. It took me nearly 20 years to gather the strength to help put my abuser behind bars. Now, a year after "justice" was done, I am ready to tell my story publicly in ways I never have before.

My abuser was Father Jeff Toohey, a trusted man of God. He was the equivalent of a religious celebrity in my private all-boys Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. Father Jeff was every boy's friend and mentor. I considered him my mentor as well.

When my parents divorced, I was sent to Father Jeff to help me cope with all the changes. Divorce in the mid-1980s still seemed so foreign. Plus, I was just a kid, and I didn't know much about divorce. I just knew it sucked.
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All I had at that time in my life was my family and school. Those were my constants. But as my family fell apart, so did my life at school. After the abuse began, high school became a prison of shame and lies.

I felt trapped. My parents would be horrified to know their failure at marriage put their son at risk to be sexually abused and that the man abusing me was the high school chaplain and beloved priest. (Watch Roberts' mom say the priest will 'burn in hell' Here.)

See here.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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Post by Barbara Fitzpatrick »

Maybe it's just that priests don't have wives. When my then-7-year-old younger sister was "touched the wrong way" by the Methodist youth minister, she stopped him by telling him she'd tell his wife. She then came home and told Momma. That put an end to that. Of course, I don't know how many kids he abused who didn't have the wit to tell him they'd tell his wife.
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Post by Doug »

Barbara Fitzpatrick wrote:Maybe it's just that priests don't have wives. When my then-7-year-old younger sister was "touched the wrong way" by the Methodist youth minister, she stopped him by telling him she'd tell his wife. She then came home and told Momma. That put an end to that. Of course, I don't know how many kids he abused who didn't have the wit to tell him they'd tell his wife.
DOUG
That is scary. Seven years old!
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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Post by Barbara Fitzpatrick »

My younger sisters were taught about "touched the wrong way" very early - My grandfather "had a problem" and Momma made sure we knew what to do to prevent that "problem" from happening to us.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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