That sounded like little compensation as my statute of limitation had long since run out, but we went after it anyway. I know this sounds strange after all my years of hiding it, but I really wanted to get some kind of public acknowledgment that I had been done wrong by him and the Catholic Church Leadership. I remember back in the early 1980’s Father Christian came home from a “retreat” in New Mexico. He invited me up to visit. He told me he had learned in New Mexico he was gay! He seemed thrilled with his little discovery. I became very angry inside, but calmly I told him that was fine for him, but I was not gay. I almost left then, but I was still under that “You have to be polite to a priest” thing. Then I asked him about celibacy. I thought that not having sex wasn’t just with the opposite sex, but was just not having sex at all. He laughed and said things were going to change about that ancient and archaic rule, that Archbishop John May was going to set up a parish that had all gay priests and nuns in a gay community here in St. Louis to serve their needs. What he meant when he said “all gay” was “all Pedophile.” To my knowledge this was never done.

But he was dead now so I had to change my focus. I was now after justice from a peace of paper. More to the point, I wanted a written letter of apology from Archbishop Burke and I wanted it read during Christmas mass at St. George’s.