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SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2016

READING EAGLE, READING, PA.

Clergy sex abuse

Horric stories: Silence has ended, struggle goes on

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Like many in their shoes, they havent had
the chance to see their alleged abusers convicted of a crime as the narrow window for
criminal charges as well as the window for
lawsuits had long closed by the time they
were able to come forward.
They are just a small few of those with ties
to the Berks and Tri-County areas. They are
among the slim percentage of victims who
have come forward, according to child trauma
researchers.
The lives of so many others, researchers say,
have been claimed by suicide, overdoses and
other diseases and conditions brought on by
a life of pain.
Here are their stories.

Mark Berkery
When Mark Berkery was a boy, he was raped
by a family friend, and afterward his parents
knew hed need good counseling to heal.
So they introduced
him to the man they
trusted most to help,
the Rev. Stanley Gana,
a priest at Ascension
of Our Lord Church in
Kensington.
The Berkerys were
Catholic and lived in
that north Philadelphia neighborhood,
and Gana convinced
them he could help Mark Berkery at 17.
the boy more than a
private counselor.
Ganas archdiocese
bio included youth
counseling among his
talents and interests.
He was very persuasive, said Berkery,
now 53, of Pottstown.
The rst counseling
session was in 1977,
when Berkery was 14.
When it wrapped up,
Gana forced a hug on Rev. Stanley Gana
him, even though he
knew it would make the boy uncomfortable,
Berkery said.
You have to realize that not everybody
wants to abuse you or have sex with you,
Berkery recalled Gana telling him.
More counseling meant more hugs, which
progressed to kisses on the cheek, then to
kisses on the mouth, Berkery said.
And over time, Gana began touching Berkerys genitals, then masturbating him, then
committing oral and anal sodomy on him,
said Berkery, whose account is backed up in a
2005 Philadelphia grand jury report on abuse
in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
He knew what he was doing, Berkery said
of the way Gana groomed him as a victim.
It was very slow, very measured and very
insidious.
The abuse lasted for more than four years,
and over that time Gana raped Berkery hundreds of times, according to Berkery and the
grand jury report.
Gana also sexually abused countless boys
in a succession of parishes, the grand jury
report said.
Gana, now 73, was never charged because
by the time the grand jury report was released,
the two- or ve-year windows his victims had
to bring criminal charges (depending on when
they were abused) had long expired. Church
officials, however, have publicly called abuse
allegations against Gana credible.
A Reading Eagle reporter placed a phone
call to a number connected with the Orlando,
Fla., address that public records list for Gana.
A man answered the phone. He asked who was
calling when asked by the reporter if he was
Gana. When the reporter identied himself,
the man quickly hung up.
Further calls to the same number made over
two weeks were not answered. Messages were
left indicating a reporter was seeking Ganas
comments about accusations that he molested
a child. Those messages were not returned. Last
week, the number had been disconnected.
The grand jury report states the archdiocese
had been hearing allegations about Ganas
sexual misconduct since the early 1970s. Berkery is appalled that the archdiocese allowed
Gana continued access to boys years after
being told of his abuse.
If the diocese had done its job correctly, Id
have never been abused, he said. All theyve
done is hide behind secret settlements and
nondisclosure agreements, and all thats done
is perpetuated the problem.

He was known to kiss, fondle, anally sodomize,

and impose oral sex on his victims. He took
advantage of altar boys, their trusting families,
and vulnerable teenagers with emotional
problems. He brought groups of adolescent
male parishioners on overnights and would
rotate them through his bed. He collected
nude pornographic photos of his victims. He
molested boys on a farm, in vacation houses,
in the church rectory. Some minors he abused
for years.
When Gana took Berkery on trips he often
took other boys as well and abused them, too,
the grand jury report said.
Gana would have them take turns coming
into his bed, the report said, and Gana sometimes sexually assaulted Berkery and another
boy at the same time.
He abused me at least once a week for those
four years, and usually more than once a week,
Berkery said.
Those assaults occurred most often in the
Ascension of God rectory where Gana lived,
Berkery said.
When they were alone in church, Gana fondled him almost constantly, Berkery said.
One year I missed the Christmas Mass, so
he brought me into a sacristy for a private
Mass, Berkery said. He locked the door and
raped me.
The first year that Gana was counseling
Berkery, he had the boys family spend the
summer on the more than 100-acre property he owned in Friendsville, Susquehanna
County, Berkery said.
There Gana raped him out of view of his
parents, Berkery said. He also brought him
back the next three summers without Berkerys family to assault him again and again,
Berkery said.
Gana also abused Berkery on trips to Disney
World, Niagara Falls, Notre Dame University
and the Jersey Shore, turning what should
have been special memories for an inner city
kid into a nightmare that still haunts him,
Berkery said.
Gana was good at isolating Berkery to
make him easier to prey on, telling him that
he should be seen but not heard, and that he
wasnt allowed to speak with anyone about
their time together, Berkery said.
Gana even turned the boy against his own
family, while also giving Berkerys parents
money when they needed it for things like
groceries to keep them on his side, Berkery
said.
He was not only working me, he was working them, Berkery said.

Emotional, mental toll

Berkery separated from Gana when he went

to college, but his problems didnt go away.
I didnt have the same college experience as
other people, he said. I was suicidal.
Berkery went to the student health center
on campus, which was the rst place he ever
talked about the abuse hed suffered.
After college, Berkery struggled with substance abuse.
When he got sober in 1995, he called the
archdiocese to report Ganas abuse.
The diocese arranged for him to meet Monsignor William Lynn, who at the time was
often the rst one alleged abuse victims within
the diocese talked to. Lynn was convicted in
2012 of putting a known child molester, the
Rev. Edward J. Avery, in contact with children;
Avery was convicted and remains jailed on
child abuse charges. Lynn remains in prison
while his case is on appeal.
After Berkery entered the room, he said
these were the rst words he heard from Lynn:
We dont make nancial settlements.
Berkery has since learned that wasnt true.
But more disturbing to him was that hed
never asked for money, yet that was still the
churchs focus.
What I wanted was to make sure he (Gana)
didnt have access to any more kids, Berkery
said.
Gana was ultimately defrocked in 2006
as a result of credible allegations of sexual
abuse of a minor, according to a listing of the
status of accused priests on the archdioceses
website.
The grand jury in 2005 used Ganas case to
illustrate church leaders response to abuse.
According to the report, Lynn justied not
removing Gana after learning he had abused
children by saying that Gana was not a pure
pedophile because he also had sex with adult
women, abused alcohol and stole money from
the church.
According to the grand jury report, Gana
was moved to a lower-prole role in 1997 but
continued to serve as a priest until 2002, when
he was removed from his assignment during national attention on abuse by Boston
priests.
Countless boys
Berkery told Lynn that he knew there were
The grand jury report detailed Ganas acmany other victims of Gana, but Lynn told him
tions this way:
He sexually abused countless boys in a suc- that he shouldnt try to nd other victims or
cession of Philadelphia Archdiocese parishes. speak to those alleging abuse, Berkery said.

The diocese referred Berkery to a nun for

counseling, but that therapy was mostly her
telling him any sexual contact he had with
Gana was his fault because he let it happen,
Berkery said.
Berkery said child abuse victims already
live with enough guilt and shame, but to have
a nun make him feel even worse about what
happened was unconscionable.
Kenneth A. Gavin, archdiocese spokesman,
said he couldnt comment on specic victims
cases.
But he said the archdioceses response to
reports of abuse has changed dramatically
since the 1990s. Now, he said, law enforcement is immediately notied and outreach to
victims and the investigation of the allegations
are handled separately and by former law
enforcement professionals, not clergy.
Berkery has been identied in other news
accounts as the boy described in the grand
jury report. He also testied about his alleged
abuse by Gana during Lynns trial. And he has
been involved in activism for abuse victims at
the state Capitol.

I cant trust people

Berkery remained a devout Catholic and
continued to attend Masses. But more than
once while standing in the back of the church,
he heard older women gossiping about boys
victimized by priests, not knowing he was
one of them.
Theyd say we were lying, and we just
wanted the money, that we encouraged it
(the abuse) and that we were the ones who
molested the priests, he said.
But what Berkery said ultimately crushed
his Catholicism and his faith in God was a
meeting with Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua,
whom until that moment Berkery had believed would help him get justice.
The grand jury report says Bevilacqua refused to grant Berkerys request for a meeting
in 1995. But Berkery said he eventually met
with the cardinal years later.
But basically he just told me to shut up,
Berkery said. That was it for me.
The grand jury, citing the archdioceses
own les, said Bevilacqua knew about sexual
abuse of children by archdiocean priests and
was engaged in efforts to conceal it. The 2011
grand jury that recommended charges against
Lynn said it did not recommend charging
Bevilacqua only because there wasnt enough
evidence directly linking him to the two specic cases that led to charges against Lynn.
Bevilacqua died in 2012.
Several times a day Berkery still thinks of
his abuse, the pain rushing back, along with
the feeling of being helpless.
Im 53 and Im still guring it out, still dealing with the effects of that abuse, he said.
Berkery cant work now, relying on disability payments he receives for post-traumatic
stress disorder and major depressive disorder,
he said.
He rarely leaves the house other than to pick
up groceries or for the therapy appointments
he attends four times a week, he said.
I cant be around people, he said. I cant
trust people.
He supports the bill that would extend time
limits for fellow abuse victims to bring criminal charges or le lawsuits. But he wishes a
proposal to revive already-expired lawsuits
went further.
It eliminates people who are over 50 and
were victimized, he said. I want those people
to have their day in court and their justice,
too.
Ive been seeking justice for more than 20
years, but Im always getting cut off by some
ambiguous (age) number. First the age was
raised to 30, and now theyre trying for 50,
but each time Im just outside of it.

Doesnt want money

Berkery said he still has no interest in money from the church, but very much wants
Gana to receive his just punishment in a
courtroom.
Society says thats where these things
should be settled (nowadays), he said. Ive
been seeking true justice for years, but Ive
come up against roadblock after roadblock
after roadblock.
Berkery not only received no monetary
compensation from the church, but no direct
apology or admission of guilt, he said.
The archdiocese pays for his counseling,
sending the payments directly to his therapist,
and for his medication. He used to receive letters from the archdiocese telling him they were
paying his counseling bills out of charitable
or compassionate concern, but the letters
now just indicate his bills are being paid.
Gavin said the archdiocese, as its support
services for victims evolved, stopped using
the language about charitable concern in correspondence to victims.
Berkery said the letters dont acknowledge
the impact of the abuse.

They dont mention its because they ruined

my life, he said.

Thomas Humma
The day is seared into Thomas Hummas
memory.
It was the moment,
he said, that he nally
broke free of the priest
who snaked into a
central role in his life
only to sexually molest
him.
Though Humma
hasnt told his story
publicly until now,
parts of it have been
recounted in media Thomas Humma at 12.
reports, at press conferences, even during
state legislative sessions.
His story is intertwined with that of his
childhood friend Mark
Rozzi, whos since become a state lawmaker
representing part of
Berks County and an
advocate for abuse
victims.
Their alleged abuser, Edward R. Graff
Edward R. Graff, died
in 2002 while awaiting trial in Texas on charges he abused a 15-year-old boy there.
Humma, who grew up in Reading and now
lives on the West Coast, gures Graff pushed
his luck the day he took both boys together
into the rectory at Holy Guardian Angels in
Muhlenberg Township. At the time, Humma
was 12, and Rozzi was 13.
To Humma, Graff s transition from surrogate uncle to sexual predator had been seamless and subtle. It wasnt until that day that
he was suddenly hit with the reality of what
was happening.
He remembers lying naked and half-drunk
on Graff s bed with pornography playing on
the television as Rozzi darted out of the shower, picked up his clothes and motioned that it
was time to leave.
Im in the room and Rozzi comes running,
Humma said. And I saw pure fear in his eyes.
And a switch went on.
Humma said he would later learn Graff had
raped Rozzi in the shower, the act that pushed
the abuse over the edge and cost Graff both
boys trust. But then in the room, Humma saw
Rozzi, the alpha male in his group of friends,
broken and frightened like a little boy.
He didnt say anything to me, Humma said.
He just looked at me. It was the scariest thing
that I have ever dealt with.
Rozzi conrmed the events of that day.
The boys made a pact never to speak about
what had happened. The secret drove a wedge
between them, Humma said, and the onceclose friends became distant acquaintances.
It wasnt until both were in their late 30s
and ready to talk about their abuse that they
began to repair their friendship.
Humma promised his parents when he
eventually told them about the abuse that
he wouldnt go public with his story until
after his grandmothers death. She was a devout Catholic and he said he has no doubt the
heartbreak would have killed her.

Master manipulator
Humma was a seventh-grader at Holy
Guardian Angels school when Graff arrived
at the school and parish.
Graff would pay Humma and other boys to
rake leaves and do other chores around the
campus. Graff and Humma would talk about
football and horses. Soon, Graff was a regular
guest at Hummas family cookouts. The family
trusted him.
He was a master, there was no doubt, Humma said. He was a master manipulator.
It wasnt long, Humma said, before he and
Graff were taking trips together.
They would go to Penn National Race Course
near Harrisburg where Graff would bet on the
horses and give Humma money to do the same.
Graff gave Humma a snap-brim newsboy cap to
wear, saying it made the boy look older. Humma
said the sight of such a cap still triggers painful
ashbacks. So does the smell of cigar smoke,
which permeated Graff s car and rectory.
Humma said Graff started to sneak him into
the rectory, telling him that he wasnt supposed to be there and it must be kept secret.
They would drink wine and talk about sports.
Humma said he was honored and attered
that Graff treated him like an adult. He felt
special.
The transition happened slowly.
First, he said, Graff would show him pornography and talk with him about sex, telling
him he needed a teacher. That led to Graff
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masturbating him while touching