Wrestling With God

by Hanley, Don;

  "Absolutely not, Bishop, absolutely not. I want to spend more time with my family. This work has been far more time consuming than I ever imagined." I handed him the large brown envelope and said, "Please take a look at this and I'll share with you some of my recommendations, and answer any questions you may have, okay?" He nodded and opened the envelope. "I listed the people according to when I first interviewed them. I believe that some kind of compensation should be made, but I've no idea on how much it should be. As soon as the articles come out, these people will be hounded by attorneys, I'm sure. In the articles, I only used first names, but an enterprising attorney will find their last names and cases, so ..."

  "You'll note that Richard Quinn is still in a Missouri prison. He assaulted a priest in Missouri for molesting his younger sister. I never looked into that part of the case. He prefers to be called Richy, and he was the one who alerted Jack Carroll, who in turn engaged me. His testimony was corroborated by Marie Sorrel of Coleman, Illinois. Joe Carroll came on to Marie, but she resisted his advances. She knew Richy, and has been very helpful to me in locating the other victims. She is a full-time mother of three young children and I believe she should receive some kind of compensation. I plan to stay in touch with her."

  "How old is Richy?"

  "I don't know exactly but I'm guessing he is in his late twenties."

  In a rather scolding voice, Bishop Rider asked, "As a professional interviewer, I'm surprised you didn't ask his age."

  "I was more interested in him as a person and in his experience and his broken heart than in his age." I'm sure I sounded equally scolding in my response. To soften my words, I added, "My husband, Jerry, asked the same thing. I think it is a rather male-female thing. I believe some kind of settlement could be given him in a trust account for when he is released. Maybe it could be used for some psychotherapy, which he very much needs."

  "Bishop, Joe Carroll never physically forced himself on his victims ." Bishop Rider looked surprised and I went on, "Rather, he seduced them into thinking he loved them and they were all, individually and unknown to the others, his partners in a love affair. Then when he finished with them, he told them to get lost ... often in the harshest of words."

  "How long would this 'love-affair' go on?"

  "The longest, I believe, was about two years. That would have been Ruth Morehouse, but it is hard to tell. The second victim, Susan Gilsinnen, committed suicide after she was rejected by Father Joe. They all called him Father Joe. I interviewed her mother but her mother knew little about the relationship. I learned more from Marie Sorrel. I believe Susan's suicide has nearly ruined her mother's life. I think your attorney should look into some kind of compensation for the mother."

  "The third interview was with Marie Sorrel. Joe came on to her in his rectory. He had hired her to do some typing for him and tried to seduce her after he rejected Richy Quinn. Marie heard Joe's harsh words of rejection directed at Richy and was appalled at his heartlessness. She didn't want anything to do with him. She threatened to report him to the police but Joe told her that they wouldn't believe a poor little sixteen-year-old over that of a veteran clergyman, so she never did report it, until that day I talked with her."

  Bishop Rider looked at his watch and said, "Let me ask my secretary to cancel my next appointment. This is very difficult for me to hear, but I definitely need to hear your report ... and not just read it." He called his secretary and hung up. "So, Rebecca, please continue."

  "The same day I saw Marie and Mrs. Gilsinnen, I went to the home of Chad Bostick, there in Coleman. He was living with his grandmother. I guessed him to be in his mid-twenties. There is another similarity among the victims. They all were from dysfunctional and poor families—usually with single mothers. Chad's mother, I gathered, was a drug addict and had left the mothering to her mother, Chad's grandmother. Although it was late afternoon when I arrived, Chad had been sleeping and his grandmother woke him up. That made him angry and the grandmother left me with him while she visited a neighbor. Chad started off saying that he and Father Joe had an affair and then Joe just told him he never wanted to see him again. Chad had a real meltdown while I was talking to him. He must have yelled, 'I didn't do anything wrong' a hundred times, as he paced back and forth in front of me. Grandma came back to the apartment and Chad ordered her to send me away. 'Get rid of this mean lady,' was the way he put it.

  "At her urging I did go to the door and, unfortunately for me, there were four steps next to their door and as I stepped out, Chad gave me a push and I fell down the stairs. I ended up in the hospital with a few broken bones in my shoulder. I didn't want to add to Chad's misery by reporting him to the police. He, I believe, was literally out of his mind. He and his grandmother definitely need some compensation—for their very dire need of mental health treatment, if for no other reason."

  Now I looked at my watch and it was noon and time for lunch. Bishop Rider asked if I would join him for lunch. Being that I had left home at 7:00 I was hungry, and I accepted. He said he usually ordered something from a nearby deli and asked me what I would like. I said a chef's salad if it was available. It was, and I joined him and two other priests in the lunch room. Both men were polite and a bit uptight, I thought. I'm sure that having a woman in the lunch room was a rare occurrence.

  When we returned to the office, I told the bishop about the mother-daughter Morehouse pair and their leaving the area after I told the mother why I wished to interview them. She adamantly denied that Father Joe molested or raped her. She said they just had an affair and he broke it off when she got pregnant. He refused to help her with any child support. Both she and her daughter, now fifteen, were very unpleasant people. I learned the next day that they had left without paying the last two month's rent and did not leave a forwarding address. The bishop simply shook his head.

  I began my report on Loraine and Kathy Brassley. "My last two, Bishop, are related. Loraine Brassley, I discovered, was Joe's victim about fifteen years before Kathy. She may have been his first victim. I went to their rundown trailer home, in an equally shabby trailer park here in Belleville, to interview Kathy Brassley. As I drove into the trailer park, I thought I saw a man who looked like Jack Carroll driving out. It had to be Joe Carroll because I had left Jack with a police detective downtown. Anyway, I was talking with Kathy and she first told me that her mother was sleeping in the back of the trailer. She told me that her mom freaked out the night before when she told her that she was 'fucking' a priest by the name of Father Joe. Her mother screamed, 'You're fucking your father.' Bishop Rider shook rather violently when I used the 'f' word as if he had never heard it before. I'm sure Jerry would have advised me not to use it, but I thought, 'Hey, Bish, join the real world.' Anyway, I went on, "I believe Kathy thought her mother was saying, 'You are fucking a 'Father,' meaning a priest.

  "Kathy went to the back of the trailer to wake her mother so I could talk with her. She went behind a curtain and almost immediately screamed, 'I can't wake her.' I ran back there and her mom had a very weak pulse and there was an empty bottle of OxyContin on the night stand. I called 911 and the paramedics took her to the hospital. To give you some idea of the neediness of Joe's victims, Kathy was typical. She took my hand as we went into the hospital and later, after the doctor said her mom may not make it through the night, she asked me to pray with her. We knelt down by her mom's hospital bed." Again, to my surprise, I started crying, right there in front of the bishop. I didn't try to stop the tears and I think I saw some tears form in his eyes, too.

  "Her mom didn't make it through the night and I took Kathy home with me. As far as I know, there are no relatives. Loraine married once, to a Bob Brassley, but he had left them when Kathy was a toddler. I had a detective of the Belleville P.D., compare Joe's, Loraine's, and Kathy's DNA and they match. Joe Carroll is, or was, Kathy's father."

  Bishop Rider picked it up from there. "Then, months later, Joe escaped from jail and came looking for you and Kathy because, he thought you
two had ruined his life. And he entered your house and killed Kathy and your dog attacked Joe and knocked him down your stairs and he broke his neck and died, is that right?"

  "Yes, Bishop, that is correct. He had come to our house a few weeks earlier and hurt Kathy and sent her to the hospital. He was arrested for that and was in jail. So, of course, there is no one left to be compensated for Joe's raping two young women. An extremely sad story.'

  "So, Rebecca, thank you for all of your literally painful work and your report. You have not submitted an invoice for your work and expenses but I talked with the comptroller of the diocese and we came up with the figure of $120,000 to compensate for all you've been through. Is that okay?"

  I had given it only a little thought, but it sounded like a good figure and I said so. He surprised me by giving me a fully human hug before I left. I got in my car and looked back at the Chancery building and said goodbye as tears ran down my face. Tears? Why tears? It had been a tumultuous ten months in my life. Then I thought of a boyfriend, Sean O'Hara, with whom I had a tumultuous affair in my mid-twenties. He was funny, charming, and couldn't keep a job for more than three months, and I finally kicked him out of my life and then cried all day. That explains the tears—a roller-coaster ride that was hilarious and wonderful and dangerous all at the same time. And I was happy that it ended.

  When I stopped crying, I put the Prius in D and pulled away and headed home.

  Chapter 38

  JERRY

  Dan McGuire opened our meeting, "Thank all of you for coming early to meet with me. I talked with Jerry about me joining your group as a regular member and not just as a consultant. He suggested that I ask all of you what you think. I plan to retire from the prison next month, but I do want to continue helping to make prisons more humane places ... and I thank all of you for bolstering my resolve in that ideal. Before you answer, I'm told that there are now three other prisons who would like for you, and hopefully us, to help them reform their institutions. So, there will be work for us for years to come. Oh, and of course, Jerry said that all of you have not said anything about continuing with this reform work after completing the initial work here in Booneville.

  "So, I have two questions: One is, will you accept me as a full-time member of your team? And, second, are you, each of you, planning to continue with the team? Jerry already told me he is 'in'. So, let's start with you, Jack?"

  "Nah, I don't want you, Dan, you're just too ugly." Jack looked serious, and I knew he wasn't.

  J.J. said, "Jack, that's an awful thing to say. Dan's a widower and still single and good looking, so I think I'll drop you and ask Dan to marry me." She chuckled, and added, "That means, 'Yes', Dan, I hope to continue with the team and I would like to work with you." She winked at him and added, "Not as a husband, though."

  "Aw shucks, J.J., for a minute there I had hope. And talking about marriage, I want you all to know that Ruth Schmidt, Jerry's next door neighbor, and I are planning to get married and I have talked with J.J. and Jack, and we're making arrangements to get married on the same day. How about that?"

  J.J. immediately jumped up and gave Dan a hug. Sonia followed and announced that she wanted to continue with the team and would like for Dan to join us.

  I yelled, "Hallelujah, praise the Lord." We all laughed. I went on, "Now to get serious."

  Jack interrupted. "Hey, man, all this has been serious, you know? Ain't getting married serious?"

  "Okay, now a different serious subject. Henry and Governor Steve Adams will be joining us soon and after a brief meeting, we'll be defending ourselves before U. S. Assistant Attorney Generals Sam Broderick and Missouri Congresswoman Marie Gifford. It seems that Reverend Avery Winston, whom I'm sure you all remember, complained to these two friends of his about our ungodly program. Of course, Warden Bonhoeffer and the governor are on our side. It was the warden's idea to invite the governor to join us and vouch for us."

  Sonia asked, "Will the reverend be with them?"

  "Good question. I don't know. I hope not."

  Sonia made a suggestion: "Why don't you invite three or four of the inmates to join us about mid-way through the discussions. I can think of one or two I would invite."

  "Good idea."

  J.J. added, "How about one from each of our groups?"

  I said, "Great. Each of you write down the name of someone you would like to invite. Kenny Clark, our guard at the door this morning, is one of our people, and I'll invite him, too. I'll ask him to go round up the others and tell them what we need and ask him to bring them up here. We'll invite them in when we think it's a good time."

  I wrote Jake Salman from my group and gave the papers to Clark and explained our plan.

  While I was talking to Clark, Warden Bonhoeffer arrived with the governor. I immediately liked Governor Adams because of his soft, warm eyes, as Rebecca would say. I told them of our plan and the warden nodded. He also mentioned that the Missouri women's prison warden wanted us to help her with a reform program and he had a request from Farmington and St. Joseph's. "Now, you all be your stellar best selves when these two eminent dignitaries arrive, okay?"

  Simultaneously, J.J., Sonia, and Jack sang, "Yes, Sir!" The warden, as well as the governor, laughed. They were still chuckling when the elevator door opened and a formally dressed woman who looked to be in her late forties, I presumed to be Marie Gifford, and Sam Broderick, the Assistant A.G. who reminded me of Avery Winston—more than a bit stuffy and haughty—headed our way.

  I would like to say I was as calm and confident as I hoped I looked, but I couldn't remember being so nervous. Warden Bonhoeffer introduced Steve, Dan, and me and we shook hands with them and I then introduced them to our trio. We sat down in our circle in the middle of the room.

  Warden Bonhoeffer began by explaining why he had invited me to inaugurate this program and asked them if he had read Rebecca Brady's article he had sent to them. He didn't say anything about her relationship with me. All three had read it. He then asked me to tell our guests the goals of the program. I boiled it down to helping the inmates and guards to develop their God-given strengths and powers and to become better and more cooperative in their lives.

  Sam Broderick began, "I understand that you plan to do this without our Gawd the Father's assistance? Is that correct?"

  As calmly as I could, I responded, "Mr. Broderick, I can't breathe, walk, or utter a word without God's help. I hope you are aware of that."

  "My friend and fellow Christian, the Reverend Avery Winston, tells me that you never mention that we all must believe that Jesus Christ is our personal savior if we are to be saved and live a full life."

  Dan McGuire said, "Mr. Broderick, I'm sure you work with many other attorneys, secretaries, and others at your offices in Washington. Do you tell all of these folks you work with, that they must believe in Jesus if they wish to be good citizens and government officials, and to go to heaven?"

  Looking and sounding extremely agitated, Sam responded, "No, of course not, but I am not in the role of their teacher or advisor. You all are in that role and are obliged to give them as much information as possible for them to reform themselves and to be good citizens."

  Jack said, "Mr. Broderick, are you familiar with St. Francis of Assissi?"

  Broderick answered, "I have heard of him, yes. I understand that he was a very holy man and a devoted Christian. Why do you ask?"

  "Well, I very much like something Francis said about Jesus and proclaiming his message to the world. He said, "We must teach the world about the wonderful life and message ofJesus ... and sometimes we will need words."

  Marie Gifford, seemingly very attentive to this volley of words, volunteered, "Are you saying, Jack, that the way to teach Jesus is by example—by the way we live and treat others?"

  Sonia surprised me by saying, "That's exactly what Jack is saying and what St. Francis was saying. If you were part of our training groups, you would experience some of the most accepting and loving people in the world.
You will get to experience some of our trainees in a few minutes. Before they come in, is there any other questions you have for us?" I was very proud of Sonia's taking the initiative.

  Marie Gifford responded, "Well, Sonia, thank you. I was afraid that I would be the only woman present when I was invited to attend this meeting. So, Sonia, and J.J., is it?" J.J. nodded. "I am glad to see you here. How would you evaluate the team and your experience with all these men?"

  J.J. spoke, as if it was her turn, or her obligation. "First, I commend Jerry Haloran for insisting that we have two women on our team because he has the wisdom to know that women have an understanding of people and an intuitive way of knowing and connecting with others that men do not. I am forty-two and I have had many jobs and I have never experienced the respect and acceptance any other place that I have experienced here. The inmates will sometimes make kind of a suggestive comment or two, but always in a respectful way. I think that is because Jerry, Jack, Dan, and Warden Bonhoeffer reflect that kind of love and respect toward us. And I definitely agree with Sonia that Jesus wants all people to love and respect one another and create a world of peace and justice. I honestly believe we are doing this."

  I was extremely impressed with both of our female team members. I stood and told the guests that I would like for them to meet four of our inmates. As I got up, I noticed that they all stiffened up nervously as if I was about to unleash a bunch of wild animals on them. I asked Kenny Clark to join us before telling him to invite the inmates in.

  Jack and Dan had opened the circle of chairs to accommodate the guard and our four inmates. I introduced my man, Jake Salman. As he walked in I whispered to him to sit beside the portly Sam Broderick. I could tell that Sam had to work to keep from cowering away from the nearly seven-foot-tall black man. Jake smiled, said his name, and offered his hand to Sam and the other two guests. J.J.'s man, Jesus Gomez, followed Jake's lead and sat down. I'm sure J.J. invited Jesus partially because of his name as well as his ability to speak easily and clearly. Sonia's inmate, Spencer Stuart, a proper Englishman, and Jack's man, Raul Lopez, a well-tattooed fellow, introduced themselves and sat down.