Open letter about child abuse in Cap-Haitien : "A sick feeling in my stomach"

COPY   October 26, 2010   Jeffrey von Arx, S.J. President Fairfield University Fairfield, Connecticut   Dear President von Arx,   I came away from our brief meeting on Saturday with a sick feeling in my stomach. It's the same feeling I got in late 1999 after I spent time at the courthouse in Portland, Maine looking through documents in the legal case, Doherty v. Rev. James Talbot, S.J. and Cheverus High School.    In the mid-eighties, Michael Doherty was a student at Cheverus High School in Portland when he was sexually abused by his Jesuit teacher and coach, Rev. James Talbot, S.J. As I perused the case file, I could not believe that the attorneys representing Cheverus, my Jesuit alma mater, while never once denying Talbot's guilt, were asking manipulative and harassing questions to members of the Doherty family in an effort to disparage and berate them. They even asked Michael Doherty, who was sexually abused by Talbot when he was 15 years old, if it "felt good;" i.e. when he was raped by Talbot.    The sick feeling I got that day was as a result of the full realization that the Jesuits, my former teachers and spiritual directors, had zero interest in the "promotion of justice" for this child sex abuse victim and his family and, instead, were only concerned with reducing or eliminating financial reparations for the harms and injuries inflicted upon Michael Doherty as a result of his abuse.    During the meeting between you and me, President von Arx, I pleaded with you to make available temporary funds to pay the costs of school and food for the abuse victims in Haiti who are back on the streets due to the closing of Project Pierre Toussaint. Back and forth we went, you telling me that you were working with Order of Malta officials to reopen the school and me telling you that the kids are hungry as we speak and need to pay for school now. You assured me that, within two weeks, you and Malta officials would be announcing a partnership with an already established organization in Cap Haitian. I reminded you that you've been saying the very same thing for two years. In addition, I cautioned you about the importance of including members of the Cap Haitian community in any plans you are developing. What you think the community wants and needs may very well not be what they want and need.   As I walked away from our meeting, though, the sick feeling I first got back in 1999 returned. It wasn't so much what you said as what you didn't say.   It's been two years since the boys were forced back on the streets because the school closed, yet you didn't ask for any information about their current physical and emotional well being.   You didn't ask if the small amounts of food we have been able to obtain are sufficient to keep the boys from not being hungry all the time.   You didn't ask if the boys have a safe place to sleep at night, or if any of them have been assaulted or harmed as a result of being back on the streets.    You didn't ask if they have blankets for the cold nights.   You didn't ask for the number of boys who are back in school and how much more money is still owed for tuition.   You didn't ask me to thank Cyrus Sibert for his 24/7 assistance to the boys. It is Cyrus who convinced school administrators to admit the boys with a small down payment. It is Cyrus who distributes the weekly ration of beans and spaghetti. It is Cyrus who finds a doctor when a boy needs medical treatment. It is Cyrus who made arrangements for the boys to have shoes for school. It is Cyrus who provides emotional comfort to the boys.   No, President von Arx, not once did you, a Jesuit priest, lean over your desk and say to me, "How are the boys really doing? How do they survive each day? What's it like for them?"   If you really cared, you would have asked. And, that's why I have a sick feeling in my stomach.    Sincerely, Paul Kendrick  Fairfield University '72 ____________________ "La vraie reconstruction d'Haïti passe par des réformes en profondeur des structures de l'État pour restaurer la confiance, encourager les investisseurs et mettre le peuple au travail. Il faut finir avec cette approche d'un État paternaliste qui tout en refusant de créer le cadre approprié pour le développement des entreprises mendie des millions sur la scène internationale en exhibant la misère du peuple." Cyrus Sibert Reconstruction d'Haïti : A quand les Réformes structurelles? Haïti : La continuité du système colonial d'exploitation  prend la forme de monopole au 21e Siècle. WITHOUT REFORM, NO RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN HAITI (U.S. Senate report.)