The movie Spotlight about The Boston Globe’s reporting on the church’s cover-up drew a lot of attention. But the clergy sex abuse scandal is far from over. Just this week, we learned The Boston Archdiocese settled with seven people who said they were victims of clergy abuse going back to the 1930s.
Also this week, the names of 16 priests and other clergy members who have been named in settlements with the church since 2014 were made public. Among them, Brother Damien Chong, who died in October 2014.
One of the survivors involved in that settlement is Allan Bruce, who joined Jim on Wednesday night for his first TV interview, along with Attorney Mitchell Garabedian. Bruce decided to speak out about his abuse after his high school football coach asked him why he quit the team. He googled his abuser, Brother Damien, and found out that he was living 12 miles away in Peabody, Massachusetts. “I just came to that breaking point that he was in Peabody, and it just brought back all those feelings that I should have stopped him before,” said Bruce. He calls his abuse a “betrayal.”
Bruce said he had an “overbearing sense of guilt that he didn’t do anything in the prior 28 years.” He said calling Garabedian brought up a lot of old memories and nightmares but he is doing “a lot better.” Bruce said coming forward and saying something has to “come from within” and there are many resources available for survivors. “They’re not alone.”
