The Kansas City Star has reported that parents of a boy that took his own life 28 years ago have recently learned that he had been sexually abused by a priest, and have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the priest and the diocese.
B.T. was 14 when he fatally shot himself in the family's Independence home on November 1, 1983. His parents, D.T. and R.T., never discovered a reason as to why their son committed suicide.
The family, of Missouri, is suing the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese and the now-retired priest, Monsignor T.J.O. The couple has alleged that T.J.O. is guilty of the repeated sexual abuse of their son.
This is possibly the first wrongful death lawsuit that involves alleged priest abuse in Jackson County Circuit Court. The damages sought have yet to be specified.
The couple, surrounded by dozens of friends and family members, announced the lawsuit publicly on September 6.
D.T. and R.T. had no inkling as to their son's abuse until two months ago - when a former classmate, and another alleged victim of T.J.O., telephoned them with the news.
D.T. said, "We went through this 28 years ago, and I think it's worse now, knowing what our son went through. When you put your trust in someone like a priest, when you drop your kids off in the morning to go into that school, as a parent you think you're doing the best thing in the world for your kids.
Then to find out that all you did was drop them off and the devil took over."
The diocese is also named in the suit as they allegedly knew of T.J.O.'s proclivity for sexually abusing boys and kept the information to themselves.
The diocese, unable to comment on the current lawsuit as they have yet to receive it, admitted to a complaint received in September of 1983 lodged at T.J.O. for sexual misconduct with a teenaged boy. Though T.J.O. denied the allegations he was removed from his position as pastor at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Independence.
T.J.O. was sent to New Mexico and Washington, D.C., for psychological evaluation and treatment. Once he completed treatment T.J.O. returned to the diocese in 1984 - and was allowed to serve part-time as a hospital chaplain.
T.J.O. served the hospital from 1984 until April 2002. Then-Bishop Raymond J. Boland told T.J.O. in 2002 that he could no longer present himself as a priest or celebrate Mass.
The lawsuit contends that the diocese knew of T.J.O.'s sexual abuse earlier - as early as 1972. In 2004 a sexual abuse lawsuit was filed, and today, T.J.O. faces over two dozen similar suits.
The lawsuit spells out that B.T., along with three other boys, were forced to perform sexual acts in the sacristy before preparing communion and serving at Mass. B.T. was 11 when the abuse began and it ended when he graduated from 8
th grade.
The lawsuit says that all of the boys were threatened "by telling them that they would be kicked out of the Catholic Church, go directly to hell and their parents would disown them" if they told anyone what was happening.
J.D.C. was one of the three other boys that were abused alongside B.T. He telephoned B.T.'s parents and "told us exactly what happened to (B.T.), himself and two other classmates."
J.D.C. said, "That was the worst phone call of my life, people need to know it's okay to speak."
B.T.'s parents filed the lawsuit because of their earnest desire to "help protect all young children in all schools and churches from any kinds of acts of molestation like (B.T.) endured and to help support all the victims who have come forward and the ones who haven't."
The pain of a loved one's death is unendurable. Coupled with that pain could be the idea that it may have been preventable.
Contact a personal injury lawyer if you believe that you have lost a loved one in a wrongful death scenario.