A Betrayal of Trust
One Man's Courage to Stand up to Salesianum & the not so hidden abuse of the Oblates
Table of Contents
Four allege Rev. Dennis Killion sexually molested them in '80s
Rev. Dennis Killion was removed in 2008 when civil suit(s) alleged abuse of four boys at Salesianum High in Wilmington in the mid-1980s. Two reported abuse at the time; Order did nothing. Worked in MD and in Ft. Meyers FL at Bishop Verot High 2006-2008. Had just been assigned to St. Bedethe Venerable in Holland PA when allegations were made. More suits were filed in 2008-2010. All claims with the Diocese settled in 2011. Two men settled with the Oblates in 2011 for $700K each. Name released as part of the Order’s 2011 $24.8M settlement with 40 individuals.1
This is the 15th sex-abuse lawsuit filed against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington since Delaware's Child Victims Act2 became law in July 2007. It is considered the nation's toughest law against child sexual abuse.
Sources3
Salesian Spirituality4
Salesian [Suh-leez-juhn] Spirituality emphasizes common sense and the power of doing little, ordinary, and everyday things for God and others with great passion and great love. It is a down-to-earth way of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, Salesianum has not lived up to the values of St. Francis de Sales when those in a position of trust & authority betrayed the very children they were there to guide & protect.
The Oblates5 of St Francis de Sales further disgraced themselves by settling with the victims monetarily to make this all “go away”.
Oblates settle abuse suits, paying $24.8 million6
August 22, 2011 | National Catholic Reporter
"I am sorry in the name of all Oblates for anything that an Oblate has done to violate a trust or to harm a person. We are committed to the restoration of trust." -Rev. James Greenfield, head of the Oblates' Wilmington-Philadelphia province.
The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales have settled all 39 lawsuits against the order and its Salesianum School in Wilmington under the Delaware Child Victims Act for charges of sexual abuse of minors by its priests.
The settlement money will come entirely from the insurance carrier contributions and the order's assets, Father Greenfield said.
Among the nonmonetary terms of the settlement is the requirement the order keep the names of the 12 on its web page at www.oblates.org for 10 years. The order also must allow survivors of abuse to post a letter about their story on its website.
The scandal even has it’s own Wikipedia page.7
The diocese said it is obligated to keep paying retirement benefits to six priests who church officials have confirmed are pedophiles!8
Diocese: Pedophile priests should get benefits
November 22, 2009 | Washington Times
"I know absolutely nothing in his time here that has made me suspicious or concerned," -Father Beretta
Salesianum School settles lawsuit claiming priest sex abuse in the '80s9
November 22, 2020 | DelawareOnline
The Lawsuit [2024]
The Complaint reads like a story, so I’m going to present it as such. The below text is copied verbatim, including footnotes, from the lawsuit filed.
This case exposes old wounds known to those familiar with the dark history of abuse suffered by victims of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, and the decades-long scheme of covering for perpetrators of sexual crimes against children, which persisted until the declaration of bankruptcy and subsequent Consent Decree issued in 2011 by the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.10
The Oblates of Saint Frances de Sales, who run the Salesianum School, settled claims as part of that Settlement Agreement in 2013. Among the perpetrators of sexual abuse was a man named Fr. Dennis Killion. Despite the passage of barely a decade since that time, Salesianum School has managed to scrub from its reputation all memory of that dark chapter from its past.11
This case is about a brave art teacher, Plaintiff Brian Magargal (“Plaintiff”), who stood up to the machine that enabled child sexual abuse to go unchecked for generations, and as a result, lost his career and livelihood. For the first time, and by way of this public filing, Plaintiff is revealing that he, too, was a victim of childhood sexual abuse by Fr. Dennis Killion while he was a sophomore at Salesianum School in 1981. Until now, Plaintiff has grappled with being a survivor in silence, alone.
Following the completion of his educational studies, Plaintiff decided to become a teacher at Salesianum. His decision was in no small part due to a feeling of responsibility to other children at the school who may have been victimized, like he was. He hoped he might be a positive influence to those who felt they had no choice but to harbor the terrible secret of their pain alone. Likewise, Plaintiff felt a compulsion to protect the children at Salesianum, and do what was necessary to prevent the same evils from perpetrating the school and creating new victims, as it had in the not-too-distant past.
In 2007, the State of Delaware enacted a law allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse to retroactively file suit against the responsible parties. Suits involving sexual abuse as a minor occurring prior to 2007 were able to be filed within a two-year period. During this time, Plaintiff agonized over whether to come forward as a victim. A motivating factor in Plaintiff’s decision to stay silent was fear of retaliation by his employer, Salesianum School.
Plaintiff witnessed the ascendency of Fr. Christopher Beretta in 2013 to the position of Principal of Salesianum School with unease, borne of the knowledge that Fr. Beretta had close personal connections with Fr. Killion from their mutual previous placement at an Oblates school in Florida. This lawsuit represents Plaintiff’s efforts to restore his reputation by exposing the true circumstances of his termination by Fr. Beretta and Salesianum School. The allegations of this Complaint demonstrate that Fr. Beretta fired Plaintiff in an effort to silence him for expressing his belief that young boys and men are endangered by Salesianum School’s institutional refusal to take seriously the lessons of the past about giving priests unfettered access to minors.
Fr. Christopher Beretta’s Concerning History With Fr. Dennis Killion
Fr. Beretta’s history represents a compelling indicator of his predisposition to ignore signs of sexual abuse and take seriously the critical obligation to prevent such abuse from occurring. As mentioned above, prior to coming to Delaware to serve as Principal of Salesianum, Fr. Beretta rubbed shoulders with Fr. Killion. The pair overlapped when they worked together at Bishop Verot High School, in Florida, between 2006 and 2008. In fact, it was Fr. Beretta, the school’s then-principal, who was responsible for the oversight of other priests working under him, including Fr. Killion. When the child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Killion came to light in 2008, Beretta publicly proclaimed: “I know absolutely nothing in his time here that has made me suspicious or concerned.”12
Reportedly, Fr. Beretta “also would not comment on whether it would bother him to find out religious leaders had known of prior accusations [about Killion] and didn’t inform him before sending Killion to Fort Myers.” “‘I really don't have any reaction,’ he said. ‘I don't have any knowledge.’”13 Fr. Beretta reportedly brushed off the request of the advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), who “pleaded with Beretta … to do outreach with parents to find other potential victims and connect them with law enforcement.”14 In response, Fr. Beretta claimed “his staff is trained to recognize signs of abuse and that he [would] address parental concerns when school starts.”
Fr. Beretta’s statement denying knowledge, suspicion, or concern about Fr. Killion is as relevant as it is wholly problematic. First, Fr. Beretta’s proclamation operates subtly, and likely intentionally, as a denial of the legitimate and truthful allegations against Fr. Killion. Second, Fr. Beretta’s statement, and corresponding refusal to engage in outreach to locate potential victims, raises doubts as to whether Fr. Beretta even cares to recognize or prevent child sexual abuse. As the countless lawsuits involving Fr. Killion and other sexually abusive clergyman make clear, the signs of child sexual abuse exhibited by these serial sex offenders are obvious. Individuals who deny or claim ignorance to the sexual abuse, such as Fr. Beretta, are either incompetent or willfully ignorant.
Strikingly, in the months preceding Fr. Beretta’s statement professing his absence of knowledge or concern, Fr. Beretta, at Fr. Killion’s request, reportedly sent Fr. Killion back to Wilmington, Delaware, the very place where Fr. Killion had initially perpetrated his child sex crimes.15
Fr. Beretta Becomes Principal of Salesianum School
As principal of Salesianum, Fr. Beretta has undertaken a years-long effort to improve the reputation of Salesianum as an environment that fosters athletics and promotes educational opportunities to disenfranchised youth, he has been given absolute authority over dissent, especially among members of staff. As a survivor of abuse, Plaintiff was keenly aware of the warning signs that Fr. Beretta was accumulating unchecked power to fire long-serving teachers and otherwise force those loyal to causes other than himself to resign in frustration.
For twenty-nine years before his termination, Plaintiff served as a beloved educator in the Art department at Salesianum. Over the years, Plaintiff conceived and produced numerous schoolwide projects that engaged students in the arts. Plaintiff contributed to the school’s effort to maintain robust engagement in art as an academic pursuit by publishing an annual magazine of student artwork.
Under the administrations of leaders prior to Fr. Beretta, such as Brendan Kennealey and Father Jim Dalton before him, Plaintiff was given a classroom budget that was sufficient to meet the needs of the art program and curriculum. Until Fr. Beretta became principal, Plaintiff held the title of Director of the Art Department. After Fr. Beretta became Principal, Plaintiff immediately recognized a conflict between them that he experienced in the form of deep physical discomfort while in Fr. Beretta’s presence. Fr. Beretta’s history of working directly with Plaintiff’s childhood abuser, Fr. Killion, was of deep concern to Plaintiff and some other members of staff.
Teachers were generally afraid to voice concerns over the new Principal because of the unique way that the Oblates of St. Frances De Sales exercise ownership and operating control over the school. On paper, there is a civilian (“lay” or non-religious) Board of Directors that is designed to operate as a check on the ecclesiastical leadership of the school. The ecclesiastical leadership, including Fr. Beretta, remains at the top of a spiritual hierarchy that has always seen itself as transcendent as opposed to equal to the members of the lay leadership. One of the ways that Fr. Beretta first exhibited his antipathy toward free thought against Plaintiff was by depriving him of his Director title for no reason at all in 2013.
Over the years, Beretta reduced Plaintiff’s modest operating budget from $1,000.00 per month to a measly $100.00 per month by the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Plaintiff saw how Beretta’s control over Salesianum’s operations was absolute because any time he complained to a member of the Board about one of these petty indignities, he was assured there would be an inquiry, and yet nothing happened. Beretta relished the fact that Plaintiff was effectively neutered from exercising his ambition for the Art department in ways that felt deeply personal to Plaintiff. Still, the fact that Beretta’s arrival to the Salesianum scene had occurred in 2009-2010, amidst the Oblates’ settlement of the claims against it for priest abuse, struck Plaintiff as an opportunity to begin anew despite his own traumatic experience while a student in Fr. Killion’s class.
Plaintiff’s hope that Salesianum had learned its lesson came, in part, from its promise to engage in ongoing trainings to identify grooming behavior and stop child sexual abuse from happening, which was a part of the non-monetary settlement conditions imposed in the District Court litigation.16 Salesianum engaged Praesidium as a third-party provider of this training, which was supposed to occur during the Fall of every schoolyear. Praesidium is a company that works with organizations to help prevent the sexual abuse of children.
Despite his sense that Fr. Beretta did not like him, Plaintiff endured being marginalized in part because of his belief in the mission of Salesianum School and his heartfelt belief that his presence there was a positive influence over the institution. As long as Salesianum was engaging in the Praesidium training, Plaintiff did not raise concerns over the school’s adherence to other non-monetary portions of the settlement. Beretta’s attitude of absolute authority over staff fosters an environment at Salesianum that covers for problematic behavior and feigns ignorance to warnings that necessitate prompt, external intervention. Children at Salesianum are accessible to priests.
In fact, the athletic department and diversity program agendas work in perfect harmony to provide Beretta and other Oblates at Salesianum with a perfect breeding ground of young, vulnerable men. Because Salesianum School is not technically under the purview of the Diocese of Wilmington, it is not required by law to display placards stating the school’s affirmative policy to protect children from abuse. Nor does Salesianum School undertake voluntarily to display such admonitions, and in Plaintiff’s experience, Fr. Beretta makes no effort to draw attention to the school’s role in preventing the abuse of its students. Similarly, the Oblates continue to staff youth-accessible “lounge” areas, where uniform and behavioral rules and are relaxed.
Within the last few years, Beretta has situated his own office to remove scrutiny over his own comings and goings. By way of example, Beretta removed the desk of the secretary who used to occupy the anteroom in front of his door. As a result, students who are called to Beretta’s office are now unlikely to have a witness to say that they were ever there, should they ever need to corroborate such a fact. Beretta also declined to hire a qualified, licensed nurse as a member of the staff at Salesianum, citing alleged cost-cutting measures. The failure to do so leaves students with fewer avenues to seek professional medical advice if they experience abuse at the school or elsewhere.
Beretta himself has been accused of engaging in questionable behavior with children during his tenure. Upon information and belief, in or around 2014, Beretta reportedly began communicating electronically with students online, including in chatrooms. The same year, a teacher at Salesianum brought attention to Beretta’s online chat communications with students, and suggested it was inappropriate. Coincidentally, the teacher left her position with Salesianum at the end of the same schoolyear. Upon information and belief, Beretta continued communicating with students in chatrooms through the year 2018. As late as 2021, a teacher at Salesianum observed Beretta in the gym with a student, alone, in the early hours of the morning, with the student cutting Beretta’s hair. The teacher took a photograph of Beretta, a copy of which is below:
The teacher subsequently confronted Beretta, who was seemingly angry about being caught. The following year, the teacher’s employment was terminated. It is reasonable to expect that an institution responsible for the wellbeing and education of children, such as Salesianum, especially when carrying a checkered history of child sexual abuse, would do everything necessary to prevent such evils from ever permeating its halls again.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
In the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, Salesianum failed to conduct mandatory Praesidium training, which, by reminder, is designed to help prevent grooming and child sex abuse. Plaintiff was deeply concerned about Salesianum’s failure to hold the training. Accordingly, Plaintiff approached the President of the school, Thomas Kardish, during a meeting in Spring 2022 to inquire as to why Praesidium training had not occurred during the past two Fall schoolyears, despite COVID-19 restrictions relegating many events to video or remote conferences.
Plaintiff was assured that Praesidium training would resume in the upcoming Fall season, but knew that his question would cause the Board to inquire directly with Beretta about the missed trainings, and the school’s plan to hold a training in the current year. In Fall 2022, Praesidium training finally took place. However, there was a palpable shift in Beretta’s attitude. Several faculty and staff members privately commented that Beretta seemed especially annoyed about the deviation from regularly scheduled programming – i.e., the restarting of Praesidium training. During the Praesidium training, a faculty member asked the presenter whether it was appropriate for a person to drape his arms around students and whisper to them: “I love you.” Everyone present for the training understood that the question was referring to a priest at Salesianum named Father Zumbrum.
Fr. Zumbrum, a favorite of Fr. Beretta, is Salesianum’s head of “activities,” giving him abundant, unfettered access to students.17 Fr. Zumbrum is among the priests who have access to a lounge room where students can relax on couches between classes. Fr. Zumbrum is among the priests who allow for students to wear a casual dress code, as opposed to the uniform they are otherwise required to wear in the halls and while attending classes at the school. Fr. Zumbrum has, on frequent occasion, been observed by Plaintiff and others to express friendship and familiarity to the students by wrapping his arms around them and telling them, “I love you.”
When this behavior was mentioned during the 2022 Praesidium training, Fr. Beretta was visibly embarrassed and hissed “that’s not what he means,” referring to the presenter. In other words, Beretta was attempting to dismiss objectively predatory behavior by asserting that Fr. Zumbrum’s actions were somehow distinguishable from the conduct that the Praesidium presenter was cautioning against. The Praesidium presenter interjected that it absolutely was the type of behavior being identified as problematic “grooming” behavior that normalizes physical touch between adults and minors and can eventually lead to sexual abuse.
During Praesidium training, the presenter reminded attendees of the importance of reporting concerning behaviors, and how a culture of silence allows grooming behavior to proliferate into sexual abuse. Notably, none of the priests (such as Fr. Zumbrum) were required to be in attendance at the Praesidium training. At the conclusion of Praesidium training, in the presence of all staff, Fr. Beretta took it upon himself to remind all faculty that “Delaware is an at-will employment state” and that “we can fire any one, for no reason, at any time.” Apropos of nothing, Beretta was taking that opportunity to remind the staff that he alone was in control of the hiring and retention of staff. The implication behind the statement, and the circumstances under which it was offered, was to admonish the staff that any statements made in the presence of the Praesidium trainer or otherwise that might invite further scrutiny against the school would lead to their termination.
Plaintiff immediately felt there was a target on his back, as Beretta knew, or at least suspected, that Plaintiff was the one responsible for causing Praesidium training to resume. Further, Plaintiff had observed over the years that many of the longest serving teachers and faculty had resigned or been terminated due to what was known colloquially as the “Beretta Squeeze.” This phrase was understood by Plaintiff and other staff to refer to the process by which Beretta would marginalize, cut budgets, act with hostility toward, and diminish the credibility of skilled and admired staff who questioned his vision for the school and its future. Ultimately, those individuals in Beretta’s sights are “squeezed” out of the school.
This important background of fear and self-preservation reinforces Beretta’s motivations for firing Plaintiff. On Sunday, March 5, 2023, Plaintiff presented to the emergency room with two large (19mm/24mm) blocking bilateral kidney stones. He underwent emergency surgery the same evening, which involved the placement of two stents. The stents initially caused severe pain and prevented Plaintiff from teaching from the hospital. Plaintiff provided frequent health updates to Salesianum’s Dean of Students, Jude Sczerba, as well as to Beretta. On Thursday, March 9, 2023, Plaintiff asked Mr. Sczerba if he should be concerned for taking time off for the kidney stones. Mr. Sczerba advised Plaintiff that he “should be fine,” and added that Plaintiff had not even taken any time off due to illness during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Plaintiff returned to work the following Monday, March 13, 2023. On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, Plaintiff received an email from the health care benefits representative instructing Plaintiff to sign up for FMLA to protect his job. Plaintiff filed the appropriate paperwork, and his FMLA was approved. Plaintiff had a second surgery scheduled for March 28, 2023, and he continued teaching at Salesianum until that date. Following the surgery, Plaintiff remained out of work between March29 and March 31, 2023, as he was passing stone fragments, and still had two stents in place. Plaintiff returned to work again on Monday, April 3, 2023.
On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Beretta asked to meet with Plaintiff. Plaintiff assumed the meeting was about his health and healing progress. Present for the meeting were Plaintiff, Beretta, and the school’s recently-appointed CFO, whom Plaintiff had met only one time previously. At that time, Beretta informed Plaintiff that Salesianum would not be offering him a teaching contract next year. Berettta told Plaintiff that he was being let go because Plaintiff had become “negative” towards Salesianum. When Plaintiff expressed surprise, Beretta grew hostile and indignant. Beretta added to the list of reasons for the termination being Plaintiff’s “health issues.
When Plaintiff inquired about his supposedly “negative” attitude, Beretta explained vaguely that this was about his own “past interactions” with Plaintiff. Beretta handed Plaintiff a folder and asked him to sign the paperwork inside, which contained a severance agreement. By its terms, the agreement offered pay through the end of the calendar year and required Plaintiff to sign it within 21 days of their meeting (on April 4, 2023). The following week was spring break, during which time Plaintiff underwent a third surgery to address his kidney stones. Upon his return from spring break, Plaintiff requested a meeting with Traci, the health care benefits representative, to ask about FMLA protections, given the recent news of his impending termination.
Traci asked Plaintiff if he would like to file a formal report and have Tom Kardish (President of Salesianum) investigate. Plaintiff responded affirmatively, and later received an email from Tom Kardish stating that “at no time did Chris Beretta say you were being terminated for your health issues.” Plaintiff knew this information to be false, and because there is no human resources department or other higher authority to whom he could appeal, felt he was without recourse to assert his rights to contest the basis for his termination. In the weeks that followed, Beretta manufactured a false narrative that he publicly announced during the school’s graduation ceremonies in 2023 that Plaintiff was “retiring.”
Plaintiff was further humiliated by the depiction by Beretta that he was voluntarily leaving his employment when Beretta presented him with an “award” for outstanding service during the graduation; an event attended by students and their families, as well as members of faculty and the greater Salesianum community. Because Plaintiff was a proud member of Salesianum’s faculty for many years, he was humiliated to allow others to form the false belief that he was not willing and able to continue working. Plaintiff needed only a few short days or weeks to recover from surgery, and yet was deprived of the opportunity to exit from his career on his own terms. Plaintiff took time to reflect upon his options in signing the severance agreement.
On three separate occasions, Plaintiff was approached by individuals acting on orders from Beretta to encourage him to sign the severance agreement. By its terms, the severance agreement would have entailed Plaintiff’s waiver of rights to pursue any legal claim, including his right to report what he felt had been efforts to silence him for whistleblowing activity when he sought to address Salesianum’s adherence to Praesidium training in the 2021 and 2021 school years.
CAUSES OF ACTION
Additional details pertaining to the counts listed can be found on the Docket linked above.
COUNT I: RETALIATION IN VIOLATION OF DELAWARE’S WHISTLEBLOWER’S PROTECTION ACT, 19 DEL. C. § 1703 ET SEQ.
COUNT II: DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION UNDER THE DELAWARE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION ACT
Sallies Gay/Straight Alliance - DEI, Global Citizenship, and the Transgender Agenda
Studies have shown that there is a correlation between victims of sexual abuse and identifying as something other than the sex of which you were born.18
There is no question that the American family is under attack. Marxist Gender theorists have infiltrated all facets American society. What many may not realize, is that it is right here in Wilmington’s Catholic schools.
While Diversity & Inclusion sound great, it is really an insidious gateway term. Euphemisms. Diversity excludes viewpoint diversity, and to be Inclusive, you must EXCLUDE.
The concept of "global citizenship"19 should be viewed with skepticism and concern. There is an importance to national sovereignty and identity. Global citizenship envisions a “world without borders”. That is what America is experiencing right now!
Global citizenship is part of a broader agenda to promote a "globalist" worldview that downplays or undermines the importance of national identity and patriotism. Global citizenship is part of an effort to create a "one world" government or a new world order that would erode the sovereignty of individual nations.
Global citizenship is a way for elites (eg World Economic Forum in Davos) to impose their values and ideas on the rest of the world. An attempt to undermine traditional values and beliefs in the name of a globalist ideology.
When Marxists market "global citizenship," it is not in addition to national citizenship, but in place of it. -Tim Heaton
This is where it get’s really troublesome. How many parents have a false sense of security thinking their child’s catholic high school would be free from ‘gender’ theory indoctrination? I believe a majority of parents are ignorant to the anti-family agenda happening behind closed doors - or to other acts of deviancy that took place behind closed doors. I have it on good authority this is ideology has made it’s way into Ursuline, so if you have a child that is a student there, or any school for that matter, you may want to ask them questions.
Genders & Sexualities Alliances, or GSAs for short, are student-run organizations that unite LGBTQ+ and allied youth to build community and organize around issues impacting them in their schools and communities. GSAs have evolved beyond their traditional role to serve as safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in middle schools and high schools, and have emerged as vehicles for deep social change related to racial, gender, and educational justice.
In other words, it is public catholic school sanctioned, Critical Race Theory, Sexual Grooming, Marxist indoctrination club.
Update:
Letter from Thomas A. Kardish Ed.D; Salesianum President
Salesianum addressed the lawsuit in an email signed by school President Thomas Kardash and addressed to parents and alums in July.
Delaware Must Improve!
It was only a year and a half ago when I posted this story of a former Sallie’s Principal, disgraced William McCandless:
Archmere has it's own scandals of abuse:
Priests named in Pennsylvania abuse report have Salesianum, Archmere ties20
Officials said children had described Paul "French" kissing them, the report states. None of the children were over the age of 12. He was allowed to continue ministry at a different assignment and died in 1982.
After decades of quiet suffering, Delaware priest abuse victim tells her story21
She remembers being called to his room late one night. She remembers medicine bottles and cigarettes on the table. And him forcing oral sex on her.
Sarro was moved from St. Helena into retirement in 1998. In public statements and newspaper articles, the local diocese said his sudden departure was for "health reasons."
In reality, then-Wilmington Diocese Bishop Robert Mulvee had received a letter in July 1997 from a couple who had lived in Papau, New Guinea. Sarro was a missionary there in the 1970s and early 1980s. The letter stated that their son and daughter, who were then in their 20s, had recently disclosed being abused by Sarro.
"In our view, this man should never be allowed near young people or children," the letter stated. "It is too late for us but others should be protected."
…there will be no justice on Earth for Sarro. He died in July, ending his pending criminal trial.
A letter from Father Sarro's victim: "I am his survivor"
Records state that he admitted to molesting a girl who had not turned 10, "kissing, fondling her breasts and genitalia" and once inserting his finger inside her vagina. He denied ever molesting the boy, who was also younger than 10.
Delaware is home to one of America’s most prolific serial abusers, disgraced Dr. Earl Bradley22, who before he went to jail in 2009 is believed to abuse 1,200 children! Dr. Bradly was a driving force behind the passage of the Child Victims Act23 in July of 2007.
In 2012 about 900 sexually abused pre-adolescent victims of jailed Delaware pediatrician Earl Bradley shared a Beebe Hospital fund of $123 million in Superior Court because of the CVA.
24 has been working with Delaware congress to expand the CVA.
HOW TO GET HELP
New Castle County Crisis Helpline & Rape Crisis Program: 1-302-761-9100
Survivors of Abuse in Recovery: 302-655-3953
\Delaware State Police encourages contacting the Victim Services Unit/Delaware Victim Center for support and resources 24 hours a day at 1800 VICTIM-1. (1800 842-8461). You may also email the unit Director at debra.reed@state.de.us.
House Bill 417, introduced by Laurel-area state Rep. Tim Dukes, would permit affected individuals to file claims in Superior Court at any time. This proposed legislation revisits the Child Victims Act enacted in 2007, which eliminated the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse legal claims going forward and allowed a two-year window for retroactive lawsuits.
A way of living the Gospel as learned, lived, and shared by St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) and St. Jane de Chantal (1572–1641), Salesian Spirituality is characterized by what Francis called “the little virtues” such as gentleness, patience, and humility and the idea that all people are called to holiness.
This spirituality is a practical, intentional way of living a devout life by doing all through love and nothing through force. Salesian Spirituality teaches us to engage in heart-to-heart relationships with God and others. It encourages us to embrace fully the present moment and to not look forward to the future with anxiety but to place the future in God’s loving providence.
St. Francis invites us to “live Jesus” - to place Jesus at the very center of our being and, in so doing, approach each person gently and humbly. To live Jesus is to do the ordinary, everyday activities of life with a great passion and great love for God and others.
From his way of life and through his teachings, Francis, the gentleman saint, offers practical wisdom and an inspired message of common sense that Oblates love to share. This is the heart of what we do.
You will find in St. Francis a friend who understands life and offers gentle ways to live your Christian call to holiness. Oblates believe that by living each day well, we are doing God’s will and building up the Body of Christ.
Sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_scandal_in_the_Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Wilmington
Letter of Rev. James J. Greenfield, OSFS, dated August 2012
web.archive.org/web/20140111111006/http://www.oblates.org/healing/healing_letter_oct_2012.htm
With at least one noteworthy exception, see https://www.wdel.com/news/delaware-priest-indicted-on-federal-child-porn-charges/article_5e095d88-35b3-11eb-b391-af6259a4330b.html
Article, NewsPress, Former Bishop Verot Priest Being Sued in Sexual Abuse Case dated 8/4/2008 available at https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/07_08/2008_08_04_Newspress_FormerBishop.htm
Article, NewsPress, Lawyers Say Church Leaders Knew of Abuse, 8/7/2008, available at https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/07_08/2008_08_07_NewsPress_LawyersSay.htm
Article, NewsPress, Former Bishop Verot Priest Being Sued in Sexual Abuse Case dated 8/4/2008 available at
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/07_08/2008_08_04_Newspress_FormerBishop.htm
Article, NewsPress, Former Bishop Verot Priest Being Sued in Sexual Abuse Case dated 8/4/2008 available https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/07_08/2008_08_04_Newspress_FormerBishop.htm
See Undertaking No. 6, CDOW website, (available at https://www.cdow.org/Non-Monetary-Undertakings.pdf).
Likewise coincidental is that Killion held the same position as Zumbrum in Florida, also under Beretta, during his tenure at Bishop Verot High School in Florida. See news article bishop accountability 8/4/08.
Disparities in Childhood Abuse Between Transgender and Cisgender Adolescents
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8344346/
House Bill 417, introduced by Laurel-area state Rep. Tim Dukes, would permit affected individuals to file claims in Superior Court at any time. This proposed legislation revisits the Child Victims Act enacted in 2007, which eliminated the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse legal claims going forward and allowed a two-year window for retroactive lawsuits.
