Suspended and Confined

            Father Andrew was the third priest at the largest Roman congregation in the city of Boston, which had been established in 1875 and could easily seat almost two thousand people. He had been in this position of authority for approximately five years until allegations began to be made that he was interacting with young children in a manner that made many of the men in the congregation angry.

               It wasn’t until the tenth allegation was made to those in authority of all the Roman churches on the East Coast that he was removed from his role and relocated to a position of authority at an orphanage further south. He found himself both excited and disappointed that he was losing his position as a priest in Boston, for he had developed good relationships with many of the families in the congregation. His excitement came from the potential for access to many children with whom he could interact without anyone interfering in his plans for interaction.

               The orphanage had been without actual leadership for about six months, and was still operating with ten adults overseeing the facility, including nurses, teachers, janitors, and counselors. He was given four days to gather his belongings, communicate the loss of his position as third priest, and move to the orphanage to begin his role of leadership. At the beginning of the fourth day, he began his drive further south and met with those who had continued working to keep the orphanage functioning.

               They were excited to have someone with actual authority in place, they shared that the archdiocese had sent a letter announcing his arrival. They showed him to his apartment, his own private bath, gave him a tour of the facilities, and introduced him to the thirty-five children that currently lived at the orphanage. He and the thirty-five children met in the gymnasium, they all sat on the floor, he introduced himself, and he realized that the children all ranged in age from five years to eleven years.

               After speaking with the children as a group, he communicated his desire to meet with each child one at a time, to learn about them, what they enjoyed, and to understand their dreams for the future. By the end of the second day, he settled into his apartment, organized his office, and began receiving children one at a time to come to understand each one. Each child was given twenty minutes to speak with Father Andrew, as each child entered his office, he welcomed them to sit on his lap and tell him about themselves.

               Father Andrew met with his secretary to schedule visiting time with each child over a period of three days. After each child finished telling him about themselves, he took a photo with them, he watched the child leave his office, giving him ten minutes to write down what they had communicated. The third day of meetings came to an end and he spent the next week carefully reading over his notes, looking at their photos, and made the effort to eat lunch with the group of children each day. Every midday meal was a time of laughter, fun, and interaction, where he made the effort to use their names so that they would feel special and loved.

               After three weeks as the priest in charge of the orphanage, he communicated to the nurses that he would be the one who would be bathing the children every other day, because he said that he wanted them to know that he truly cared for them and wanted to hear more about each child as they moved from one day to the next. They completed their week; he led the Mass for the children and the ten adults at the orphanage. Each Sunday evening, he would hear confessions, and hand out penances for those who had particularly grievous sins and the next Monday afternoon came around, which was the time that he would take on his newly imposed responsibility.

               He had his secretary create a schedule for bath time for all of the children, allotting twenty minutes for each child. Dinner was finished on Monday evening, and he met with the first child for bath time, he took the first child, a little girl of the age of nine into the bathroom, locked the door behind them, undressed the child, turned on the shower and started with washing her hair and then began washing her little body with an abundant amount of soap. After rinsing the child clean, he wiped off the excess water with his bare hands, helped her step out of the bathtub and dried her off.

               “Okay, Maggie,” he said, “we’re going to play a game right now. I need you to lie down on your back.” The little girl looked up at him with her large eyes and obeyed his command. He lifted her knees up and spent the remaining few minutes abusing the little girl as Maggie simply laid there motionless with her eyes closed.

               “You did very well today, Maggie,” he said. “Okay, now we need to put on your pajamas so you can go to bed for the evening, I’ll walk you to your room and tuck you in. We’ll do this again in a few days. I hope you sleep well.”

               After helping Maggie climb into her bed, he kissed her on the forehead, and hurried back to the bathroom to find that the next child was waiting for him with one of the nurses. He thanked the nurse for being prompt and asked her to return in twenty minutes to return the next child to her room and then bring the third child. In the same pattern as with Maggie, the next child was an eight-year-old girl named Agatha, they entered the bathroom, he undressed the child, helped her into the bathtub, washed her hair, and then began washing down her little body with an abundant amount of soap. After rinsing the child clean, he wiped off the excess water with his bare hands, helped her step out of the bathtub and dried her off.

               He then instructed Agatha to lie down on the floor and he proceeded to abuse the little girl for the remaining few minutes. “Okay, Agatha, stand up and now it is time to put on your pajamas and the nurse will take you to your room to sleep for the evening. You did very well today, I hope you sleep well. Remember what we do in here is our secret, do not tell anyone what we did together in here.”

               This pattern of bathing and abusive interaction continued every day for the next six months, leaving Father Andrew thrilled and excited at this wonderful opportunity that had been given to him now that he was no longer connected to the congregation in Boston. It was on the following Wednesday that a letter from the East Coast Roman archdiocese arrived, communicating that he was being removed from his role of leadership at the orphanage. Two hours later, three unmarked black Suburban’s pulled into the orphanage parking lot, accompanied by two police cars. The facility was surrounded by at least twelve men in black suits with drawn weapons and within ten minutes of their arrival, Father Andrew was led out of the building in handcuffs with multiple charges of sexual assault upon minors named against him.

               Two weeks later after spending time in the local police station lockup, he found himself sitting in court, facing a judge, to hear that he was now suspended from all religious activity and leadership and would be spending the next forty years in prison for his crimes against children. The judge placed a one-million-dollar bail upon him, knowing that a dollar amount of that size would be impossible to pay. The next day, Andrew found himself in the nearest prison surrounded by very angry fellow inmates.

               Every day he received a beating from three fellow inmates shortly after the midday meal. With each punch and with each kick, he was reminded that there is no mercy for anyone who abuses a child. After three months of daily beatings, he wrote a letter to the warden of the prison, begging to be placed in solitary confinement, and explaining that he was being beaten every day for his crimes.

               Three days later, he received a letter from the warden explaining that he would not be allowed to escape into solitary confinement, because everyone involved believed that he needed to suffer for his crimes against innocent children. He could feel himself growing older, weaker, and falling deeper into pain every day. By this time most of his teeth had been knocked out of his mouth, several ribs had been broken, and his testicles were being kicked at least six times every day.

               Two days later he received a notice that he had a visitor and needed to report to the first available interrogation room. Confused and curious, he climbed from his bed walked the distance to the main exit and was led to interrogation room number three. He walked in to meet an elderly man wearing clerical garb. The man introduced himself as the bishop of the Roman churches on the East coast. “Andrew, when we transferred you away from the congregation in Boston, we hoped that you would do the right thing,” he said, “our hope was that you would learn from your previous mistakes and sins. Needless to say, we were greatly disappointed when you choose to continue your practice of taking advantage of children and now here you are.”

               “Oh, my goodness,” Andrew said, “I was surprised when you transferred me into a situation like that, I suspected that this was some sort of test upon me, the temptation was far too great.”

               “We placed hidden surveillance cameras inside the orphanage and we have spoken to many of the children that you were abusing,” the bishop said, “you need to understand that your actions have serious damaging effects upon the hearts and minds of children, your level of selfishness and love for pleasure are absolutely reprehensible. There is something else you need to know and understand Andrew, the twelve little girls that you abused during your time at the orphanage all committed suicide when they reached their later teen years and they all left similar notes explaining their hopeless situations. To summarize their message, all of them basically said the same thing. They said that ‘in the time that Father Andrew was leading the orphanage, he abused me during bath time, he took my joy and my innocence, and left me feeling like a mere object to be used for his pleasure.’ Alright, our short visit is now over, go back to your cell.”

               The lunch alarm sounded as Andrew lay on his cot, far too weak to rise to his feet and make the journey to the lunch room. He sat up on the edge of his thin mattress and began coughing up blood with blurry vision and pain through every inch of his body. In less than an hour, his cellmate returned to their cell, gave him an apple, a handful of carrots, and carton of milk.

               “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I am doing this because I like you,” he said, “you are a sick, foolish, corrupt old man and you need to have some food so you don’t die. Remember, everyone here hates you, hates what you have done to innocent children and everyone will be thrilled when you finally expire. I hope you understand the feeling of helplessness right now. This is how these children felt when you were taking advantage of them.”

               Andrew’s cellmate woke up the next morning to find an immobile and silent cellmate after hopping down from his top bunk, the man checked for Andrew’s pulse to find that there was no sign of life. The breakfast alarm was sounded, prompting his cellmate to leave the cell and find the nearest guard to inform him that his cellmate Andrew appeared to be dead when he woke up this morning.

Sitting down with four of his closest friends, he informed them that Andrew had expired during the night, and was ultimately pleased that the sick bastard was finally gone. “Someone who will commit crimes like that does not deserve to live after inflicting that kind of abuse on innocent children,” he said, “the good news is that I’ll have a different cellmate now.” Everyone finished their morning meal and watched as the EMT’s wheeled Andrew’s lifeless corpse out of the building.

“You can know that his victims and their relatives will be glad to know that he finally expired,” someone said, “this is the ultimate justice and a happy ending.” Because Andrew had no one in his life to gather his few belongings, everything that remained in his cell was dispersed among the other inmates. “From what I’ve been told, when someone dies without any known relatives, the state will incinerate the body and scatter the ashes into the ocean,” another inmate said, “thankfully now, his victims and their relatives will be consoled knowing that he is gone without the opportunity to be released to commit further crimes.”