The Worthy Adversary

I don’t think this is what Fr. Damien had in mind …

Written by

Joelle Casteix

in

Things are looking uglier and uglier for the Irish Christian Brothers at Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu. To date, we have found five known perpetrators who worked at the school, had direct access to students, and abused. There are the three we discovered in January:

Fr. Gerald Funcheon, Br. Robert Brouillette, and Br. Thomas Ford,

And the two latest additions, just discovered in the past week:

Fr. Lawrence Spellen and Br. J.B. Lackie.

Call me crazy for saying it: but it’s looking like Damien was a den of child sex abuse.

 

Victims Rights

Victims at Damien High School have until August 1, 2012 to seek justice and accountability from the Irish Christian Brothers. But there is good news: victims rights in the Hawaii have expanded dramatically—but only for two years.

A new law in the State of Hawaii has given these victims and other victims of child sexual abuse new rights in the courts. Last month, Governor Neil Abercrombie signed Act 068 into law. It temporarily lifts the civil statute of limitations and gives victims of childhood sexual abuse a two-year “window” to come forward and use the civil courts to seek justice and expose predators, no matter how long ago the victim was abused.

Similar laws in Delaware and California exposed hundreds of predators and helped law enforcement put child molesters behind bars.

The new law gives rights to almost all victims, not just those at Damien Memorial. If you live in Hawaii or know victims who were abused there, pass the word. The biggest tragedy is when a victim learns about the law … after it has already expired.

Comments

One response to “I don’t think this is what Fr. Damien had in mind …”

  1. Keneke

    Thank you for posting this Joelle. I was on sexually abused by Spellen at Damien. Since, thanks to SNAP, I became aware of the fact that I wasn’t alone in this abuse I have decide to confront my abusers. I use the plural because even though it was Spellen who abused me, I now know that he could not have been successful in his “career” without the helping hand and blind eye of both the Christian Brothers and the Church.

    I have been doing a lot of research on both Spellen and the subject in general and am more convinced than ever that both the church and the Christian Brothers were aware of the problem but took actions to protect the Priests and Brothers versus protecting the children.

    Brother Lackie was also at the school when I was there. I don’t remember if he sexually abused me but physical “punishment” was a reality. We were beat with a wooden paddle by him. There were at least two other brothers that used this method of “discipline”

    I have created a timeline of known abusers at both Damien and Palma schools and it looks like between the two of them it was an abuser merry-go-round.

    Anyway, to those out there like me that thought they were alone, I wish you were. I wish you were the ONLY ONE. Even though even one would be too many, at least we could still have some faith in the “good” brothers. BUT since we are not alone, we owe it to those who didn’t survive the abuse to hold those responsible accountable. I almost didn’t survive. I almost commited suicide several times. My family has also suffered from this as it has affected my ability to be a good father and husband.

    You CAN hold them accountable anonomously. If you need someone to help you can contact SNAP through Joelle.

    Reply

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