November 28, 2005

From anger comes art ; Priest abuse victim staging show in N.Y

Kathleen A. Shaw, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF  

UXBRIDGE - George "Skip" Shea will be taking his one-man multimedia show - "Catholic (Surviving Abuse and Other Dead End Roads)" - to New York City this weekend.

Mr. Shea, who settled a suit against the Catholic Diocese of Worcester in which he alleged that he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar and the Rev. Robert Shauris during the 1970s at St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge, will debut his production at the Bowery Poetry Club at 9 p.m. Saturday.

His intent is to reach out to a general audience to "change the way we look at the clergy abuse scandal that has rocked the country and the world." He recently presented the performance at the center for peaceful living in Uxbridge. The local production was a profound personal experience because for the first time, he told his story to people in his own town. It is now time to move to a wider audience, he said.

Mr. Shea wants to take what he calls "an unprecedented look" into the mind and soul of a survivor. He will include his original artwork, poetry and a rant about what it was like growing up Irish and Catholic in a small mill town while keeping the dark secret of his sexual abuse by priests. He no longer is a member of the Catholic Church.

His artwork has been exhibited in a number of places, including the center for peaceful living gallery in Uxbridge, the Culture of Peace touring exhibit with a group of national and international artists and poets; and in "Miraculous: Contemporary Exvotos Paintings," exhibited at ChezTGN in Brooklyn, N.Y.

He has used his poetry to cope with the abuse he has experienced.

An excerpt from "1971" -

My right hand extended finger tips just out of reach of the door

my left hand trying to pull his left arm from around my waist

his right hand over my mouth whispering

with liquor on his breath

with tobacco on his breath

God doesn't want to see you cry

God doesn't want to see you cry

and the collar he wore made it true

Mr. Shea said he was abused by the priests starting in 1971.

"I think it is important to point out - which is something I think gets lost - it's not only the horror of the physical abuse, but the horror of the mental abuse," he said.

"God and the guilt that the Catholic Church already ascribes to a kid is magnified by these priests," he said. The effect of both God and the guilt eventually created the path his life would take, he said.

Because he believed he could tell no one about the abuse, he carried the secret.

"The absolutely terrifying moment when it began, eventually turned to acceptance that this was my role with these members of the church. This secret was what I was here for. They had me believing that. Somewhere in me I knew that was completely wrong. But these men were priests and had a direct line to God. It was impossible for me to reconcile as a kid," he said.

Mr. Shea said he was 11 when he was first abused by Rev. Teczar at St. Mary Church, and it continued until Rev. Teczar was reassigned in 1972. The next priest into the parish was Rev. Shauris. This priest continued the abuse until about 1977, or shortly after Mr. Shea received the sacrament of Confirmation, he said.

Rev. Teczar, who currently faces criminal charges alleging he sexually abused a boy in Texas, and Rev. Shauris were placed on leave several years ago by the diocese after allegations of sexual abuse of minors were made.

Mr. Shea said he also did yardwork at the House of Affirmation in Whitinsville, where he described further abuse but could not name the abusers. "It was years later that I discovered that there was some sort of networking happening. I often wondered why I was targeted and not others," he said. The House of Affirmation's executive director was the Rev. Thomas A. Kane, who was assigned to St. Mary before Rev. Teczar.

The diocese settled Mr. Shea's suit for $10,000 about a year ago. He said the diocese has clung to the state's charitable immunity law to avoid paying more to victims. "I thought this was so little until I found out other victims in this diocese got even less," he said.

The abuse took its toll on Mr. Shea. He turned to drugs and alcohol. "I've been sober now for seven years. It has strained my relationships. It has had a profound effect on my ex-wife and present wife and all of the children involved because they had an active alcoholic in their lives. I've attempted suicide. I've been put in a daily outpatient mental health program. I could go on and on," he said.

He is still haunted by the death of his daughter Shawna, a twin who died in a car accident a few years ago. "She was 16. I had only been sober for 13 months. That is all she ever had of a sober Dad. I don't know how to reconcile that. The drinking served its purpose in burying the history of my abuse, but look at everything else that was lost with it. I don't lay all of the blame of that on the church. I figured it out. I got sober. But not soon enough," he said. He credits his therapist at Riverside in Upton with saving his life and helping him get on a healthier path.

The show also has helped in his healing, he said. "I have been an artist my entire life. As I looked back on a lot of it, I could see that it was a tremendous and healthy way of coping," he said. But it took a long time for him to explain to others why he was doing the poetry and art and what it was really all about. "I wanted them to know, and was simultaneously terrified they would find out. Doing the show, I am giving my voice a chance to be heard and to eliminate the secret," he said. The show is a way of "deconstructing" the entire episode in his early life. "Then I can rebuild it the way I want it to be."

Mr. Shea, who has become active in helping other clergy abuse victims in the diocese, has been a regular at the demonstrations being held at the College of the Holy Cross, organized by the Rev. Robert L. Hoatson of the Newark, N.J., Diocese, to get the name of the Millard Art Center changed. Rev. Hoatson is acting on behalf of Patricia A. Cahill of Lancaster, Pa., who said she was sexually abused by the priest for whom the center is named. Mr. Shea also worked with Daniel E. Dick of Worcester, the victim support coordinator for Worcester Voice of the Faithful.

Mr. Shea said he has met twice with Bishop Robert J. McManus. "We have had some good moments and some bad. But in speaking from my experience, he has been good to me. I have tried not to be an adversary, and he has tried the same," Mr. Shea said. While the bishop has responded to him on a personal level, Mr. Shea said he does not understand what is happening at an institutional level in the church.

"I still don't see the kind of outreach that could truly help heal. They may have to deal with some angry people, but they should understand that. I think a genuine public display of concern is still warranted. We were talking about a program like this, but that seems to be going nowhere presently," he said.

Mr. Shea said he believes the bishop still "has to toe a party line."

"That's his job. It seems to be the same everywhere, so I won't lay all of the blame at his feet. I believe he is doing what he is told to do," he said.

Art and poetry for Mr. Shea were his ways of coping. "It has saved my life," he said.

During the showing of his work in Uxbridge, he met Marshall and Judy Cohan, who helped him bring the show to New York. They were at Martha's Vineyard at the time, and he knew their daughter, he said. "They thought the message was so powerful that they became patrons. I am incredibly grateful to them. Their faith in me and this project means the world to me."

While Mr. Shea's own healing will continue and he will continue his work on behalf of other victims, he hopes his show will give them hope to move on. His advice to victims of sexual abuse is to not wait as long as he did to get help. He didn't go public about the abuse suffered until this year. "The path ain't easy, and it is a lot of difficult work, but it is worth it. I am not a good example of being the healthiest survivor. Part of why I am doing this is because we have lost some folks," he said.

"The only way they could cope was by checking out," he said. He will not judge badly those who commit suicide because he understands the pain, but he said he hopes by "showing my messed-up, angry art and reading my messed-up, angry poetry, others will say, `Well if he can find a way to work with this path, so can I,'" Mr. Shea said.

There are many ways of coping, he said. For some it might be growing a beautiful garden. Others help to organize survivors meetings. "It can come from just taking a walk. Whatever. My message is to try to learn to live again. Try is the most important word in the sentence," he said.

Tickets for "Catholic (Surviving Abuse and Other Dead End Roads)" are $10 and available online at www.virtuous.com and at the Bowery Poetry Club on the night of the event. The Bowery Poetry Club (www.bowerypoetry.com) is at 308 Bowery St. in New York City.

March  27, 2002

Man accuses teacher-priest of molestation ; Fitchburg house was hangout;

Kathleen A. Shaw, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Jim Kane, 34, of Derry, N.H., said yesterday he was sexually molested by the Rev. Robert A. Shauris when he was a student at St. Bernard's Central Catholic High School in Fitchburg.

Rev. Shauris, who has been on leave from the Diocese of Worcester for several years, was a music teacher at the school. He lives in Worcester where he is listed on the faculty roster of Curry College's Worcester campus.

"They need to be held accountable," Mr. Kane said, meaning clergy who abuse young people. Mr. Kane said he had an obligation to come forward because he believes there are other abuse victims and because Rev. Shauris may still have access to young people.

"I really have nothing to say," Rev. Shauris said yesterday in response to the allegation.

Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the diocese, said Rev. Shauris was placed on leave in 1991 so he could take an assignment at Anna Maria College, Paxton. "He has been on administrative leave since that time," Mr. Delisle said.

"Consistent with the bishop's announcement earlier this month, we will cooperate fully with the district attorney's investigation of this allegation. While that investigation is occurring, we ask prayers and support for the person making the allegation and his family and for all of our diocesan family during these difficult times," Mr. Delisle said.

Mr. Kane said he has attempted to contact the office of District Attorney John J. Conte, but is still waiting for a call back. He said he will file a report on the incidents with Mr. Conte's office. He has also contacted representatives of the Survivors Network Against Priest Abuse, also known as SNAP, a self-help group for men and women who have been abused by priests.

Mr. Kane alleges the incidents occurred at a residence used by several priests at a location off South Street in Fitchburg. Rev. Shauris was partial to providing him with mixed drinks called Black Russians. "I can't drink those even today," he said. He was also shown pornographic films in Rev. Shauris' residence, he said. The sexual abuse involved fondling and other sexual acts, he said.

Rev. Shauris also had a hobby of trying to hypnotize people, he said. "He tried it on me, but I kept telling him I could not be hypnotized, and I wasn't," Mr. Kane said.

Mr. Kane said he was introduced to Rev. Shauris at a tumultuous time in his teen-age years by another school friend. "Let's just say I was pretty vulnerable at the time," he said. The sexual misconduct occurred when he was 14 and 15 years old, from 1983 to 1985, he said.

"I believe there are more men out there who have not come forward," he said. Mr. Kane said he observed a number of teen-age boys at the residence, which had become a kind of hangout for boys. He knew other priests lived there, but he did not know who they were. He said he was told that it was not uncommon for young men to be in the residence with priests.

Mr. Kane, who is now married and has his own manufacturers' representative business in New Hampshire, said he was a regular visitor to Rev. Shauris' quarters, although each visit did not include sexual molestation.

Rev. Shauris was named along with a group of priests in a confidential settlement agreement of a 1993 lawsuit brought by Mark D. Barry, who accused the Rev. Thomas A. Kane (no relation to Jim Kane) of molesting him for several years, beginning when he was 9.

The confidential agreement, obtained recently by the Telegram & Gazette, absolved Rev. Shauris, the Rev. Thomas Teczar, who is the subject of other legal action involving sexual misconduct with a minor, and Monsignor Brendon Riordon of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., from future liability.

Rev. Kane, former director of the House of Affirmation in Whitinvsille, recently surfaced as head of a teacher training institute in Mexico. Delisle, spokesman for the diocese, said those names were included because they came up during the discovery process of the lawsuit and no guilt was implied in their names being in the settlement.

Rev. Shauris, a Worcester native, studied for the priesthood at St. John's Seminary, Brighton, and was ordained in 1974 by Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan at Our Lady of Czechochowa Church, Worcester. He was then assigned to St. Mary parish, Uxbridge, where he served until being appointed to the faculty of St. Bernard's Central Catholic High School, Fitchburg, in 1978. He served there until moving to the faculty of St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic High School, Worcester, in 1990. He was appointed to the Anna Maria College faculty in 1991.

Kathleen A. Shaw can be reached via e-mail at kshaw@telegram.com.