October 27, 2022 • 32 mins
The 1969 murder of Cathy Cesnik involves conspiracy, cover-up, and corruption in the Catholic Church and in law enforcement in Baltimore, Maryland. Rasha and Yvette look at this troubling case, and discuss the issue of abuse in the Catholic Church as a whole.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
We are your hosts. I'm Rosha Pecquerrero.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
And I am Evet Genteel and as always we are
with our amazing producer, mister Trevor Young.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Hey, Hey, how's it going.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hello, ha Trevor Trevor.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So, I know we have a pretty interesting case coming
up today. A very important case has to do with
the existence of sexual assaults in the Catholic Church, which
I know can be a very touchy issue, and we're
going to get into a very I think powerful story
that illustrates some of those issues. But you know, in
(01:07):
that vein, I was thinking back as we were starting
research for this case about the movie Spotlight. I don't
know if y'all remember watching that. It had Michael Keaton,
but it was about some of the very real life
events involving sexual misconduct in the Catholic church in Boston
is very good movie. I think it won Best Picture
of the year it came out.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Yeah, I remember that movie very well. You know, me
myself being Catholic and you know, becoming a Catholic actually
when I got married to my husband, who was you know,
born and raised in the Catholic community. But for me,
my mom couldn't remember if she had been baptized or not.
And I just really wanted that blessing if you had
(01:50):
been baptized or not, right, yeah, if I had been
baptized or not. But yeah, I do remember that movie
and it's a very very movie. But I also want
to talk about The Keepers, and we're going to get
into that, you know, much later in the episode. But
my voice is a little hoarse because I had just
(02:11):
had laryngitis. But while I was home, I spent seven
hours watching this particular documentary called The Keepers, and it
was mind blowing. And we will talk about that later.
And Trevor, now will you take us through today's case.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I've talked to the hunter that found Kathy and he said,
since the day that he found her, the police have
never talked to him except for that day.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
They sought to do the same thing that senior church
leaders in the diocese we investigated have done for decades.
Bury the sexual abuse by priests upon children and cover
it up forever.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And I can hear Kathy saying, I told you I'd
take care of this, and I.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Said, I didn't think you meant Twenty years later.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Sister Catherine Sesenik was a young teacher at a Catholic
school in Baltimore, Maryland. Early on the evening of November seventh,
nineteen sixty nine, she disappeared while outrunning errands in her neighborhood.
The next morning, two friends found Sister Kathy's car parked
haphazardly nearby, but weeks went by with no sign of Kathy. Finally,
(03:25):
on January third, nineteen seventy, the body of Sister Catherine
Sesenik was found in a remote area south of the city.
No one was ever charged with her murder, but some
of the investigators were suspicious of the community in the
Catholic school where she taught, especially one of the priests.
In the years that followed, more and more sinister events
(03:46):
came to light. Painting a story of sexual abuse and
intimidation at the hands of a powerful diocese that controlled
everyone in its territory, including the police. And so what
happened to Kathy Sesnik, why weren't the police able to
make a determination in her case? And what does the
story reveal about the dark secrets of the Catholic Church.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Okay, you guys, this is one that we really have
to buckle up for. I mean, this case just gets
more and more crazy. You know, as you go along
the stories that we've told this season, they've touched on
some major issues, and today really is no different. But
we're looking at sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, which
(04:35):
is a huge, huge issue that is still very prevalent today.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, it's really just I think one of many. You know,
it seems like every year there's another story of how
this sort of wide scale abuse is allowed to go
on somewhere or it's just swept under the rug entirely right,
And you know, I think no matter your personal faith,
this story especially illustrates the enormous power that a religious
(05:02):
group or institution can have over an entire city, a community,
and neighborhood. And I think that's super dangerous and the
story is a huge example of that.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Trevor. It's a very dangerous issue.
I was actually doing some research.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
And the numbers don't lie.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
They show that in the United States alone, more than
eleven thousand complaints have been documented by victims of abuse
by priests.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Like that's a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, that's a lot. And you have to remember too,
that's just those that have told.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Their stories, right, right, the documented cases, right.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
There are so many other people that have not even
come out yet. So, yeah, that number is shocking, but
you know there's way.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
More, way more.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, And there are numbers like that for countries all
over the world, not just the US. So this story
of sister Catherine Seysnik just brings issue down to a
human scale.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It's just a super insane, crazy story. But sister Kathy
Ssnick was a human.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, So let's talk about Kathy Sesnick. Then. She grew
up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She had three siblings, was supposedly
very bright, and by many accounts, just had this very
sparkling personality. She was also an achiever. She was senior
class president, a member of student council, and even may
queen at her school, but she was also valedictorian of
(06:32):
her high school. And then after that she joined the
school Sisters of Notre Dame. So she then goes on
to be a teacher at Archbishop Kio High School in Baltimore, Maryland.
It was an all girls school, and she taught English
there as well as drama, and everyone said that her
students loved her. She was everybody's favorite teacher.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah. So I read this Huffington Post article and it
says that Sister Kathy Saysnick was a real life version
of Maria, like the Julie Andrews character from the Sound
of Music. I mean, she was super exuberant, she sang,
she played her guitar, and her students would even drop
by her apartment, you know, and they would sing and dance.
(07:17):
And you know, when I hear that, I think of
like Sister Act. You know, the character in Sister Act,
Sister Mary Robert, who was like always smiling and you know,
happy to see her students and so giving. Like she
seemed exactly like that.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, all of those beautiful things that you've just said
about her, Vet, I think it absolutely makes what happened
next so heartbreaking. On the evening of November seventh, nineteen
sixty nine, she left her apartment, which she happened to
share with another nun. She left to go buy a
gift for her sister's engagement party. It was around seven
(07:59):
thirty at night that she left to go go on
this errand, and apparently she got into her car, stopped
at the bank to cash her paycheck, and then she
went to a local bakery and bought some bakery buns,
and that was the last time anyone ever saw her alive.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
We'll talk about what happened after we take a quick break.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So after sister Kathy Sessnik didn't return home, her roommate was,
of course frantic, and she later told reporters quote, nuns
in their order didn't stay out late, and Kathy would
have called if she needed to run an additional errand
end quote. But now it was eleven o'clock at night
and she hadn't heard from her, so she called a
(08:45):
couple of priests who wear their good friends. So these
particular priests came over immediately and they had learned what
had happened. At four point forty in the morning, the
priest decided to take a walk around the area. That's
when they found Kathy's car. It was parked carelessly across
the street from the apartment, even though she had her
(09:06):
own designated parking spot right behind the building, and it
didn't look good. They saw signs of a struggle, including
a broken umbrella in the back seat. They called the police,
who found that box of bakery buns she had purchased,
along with leaves and twigs. Branches had also been caught
(09:26):
in the cars antenna.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, so a quick sidebar that we should mention about
one of the priests who comes over to investigate. His
name was Gerard Coob, and he was apparently totally like
in love with Kathy Sessnik. And that is a whole
myriad of problems, right. You know, Yvette, you can probably
chime in here, but my understanding is that in the
(09:50):
Catholic Church, you know, you're not supposed to have any
sort of romantic relationship, certainly not nuns, but I don't
think pres either. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
That is very true, That is very true. You take
you take a vow, Yeah, so priests and nuns take
vows and nuns.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, right right, So, in fact, you know, two years
before this event happened before either of them had actually
taken said vows. Kathy and Gerard had spent I guess
a lot of time together. They had written each other letters.
He even asked her to marry him, but she turned
him down, I guess, wanting to you know, maintain her job.
And apparently, three days before she disappeared, he even called
(10:28):
her one last time to tell her that he loved her,
and he told her he would leave the priesthood to
marry her if she'd leave the nun hood to you know,
for them to be together. And I don't think she
went for it.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I'm not sure what to think, you know, like, was
it romantic or is it suspicious. I kind of always
go back to Russia, you know, when she says it's
always the boyfriend or you know, it's always the romantic,
you know, the love interest. But you know, I do
feel like this is how rumors get started.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Unrequited love leads to something. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I think it's maybe possibly romantic in you know, the
case of their not being a homicide involved, but the
fact that someone was killed, you know, I think makes
it very suspicious. You know, and even if there wasn't
a death involved, in this. You know, there's something I
think kind of creepy about it. You know. It's not
quite to the level of, you know, say a stalker,
(11:24):
which we talked about on the previous episode, but somebody
who's just kind of so obsessed that they're willing to
forego certain boundaries that someone has put up in their
life always strikes me as problematic. You know. That's that's
always a bit of a red flag for me. Asking
someone to leave the nun hood to run off with them,
you know, and they've clearly said that they are like
(11:45):
uncomfortable with this before, right, Like, I think there's probably
something there to look at that's not what it should
be for sure. And in fact, police actually brought Gerard
Coup in for questioning, but he had an alibi of
having been at the movies earlier that night, so I
guess that was that he had a solid alibi for
where he.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Was, so it wasn't the unrequited love interest got it.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So there ends up being a massive man hunt, with
thirty five Baltimore officers and residents of the area joining
in sweeping a fourteen block area of Southwest Baltimore. But
they don't find anything and more importantly, Baltimore police tell
the media they do not believe foul play was involved.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah, I mean that, and that strikes me as just
that statement alone, when you don't really know, right, that's
political agenda, I mean to me, right, because there were
sticks and branches that were found in her car and
other clear signs of a struggle. But the police say
that they don't think that there's foul play, so that
(12:54):
doesn't sit too well.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But finally, on January third, Mathie's body is found by
a father and a son out on a hunting trip
in Lansdowne, which I believe that's a remote area south
of Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yep, I've actually driven through there, have you. Anyways, the
police said it was likely that she had been either
carried or forced to walk down there, and an autopsy
found a skull fracture caused by a blow to her
head with some sort of blunt instrument, most likely a brick,
they said, and the pathologist noted that the quote disarray
of clothing suggested possible rape. But unfortunately that's about as
(13:33):
far as the police get with us. Investigators work on
the case up until nineteen seventy seven. But you know. Honestly,
they're unable to make any real breakthrough, do they say,
to the lack of any physical evidence in the case,
even though we know there's quite a bit. So in
nineteen seventy seven they closed the case.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
But that is not the end of the story. So
fast forward to nineteen ninety four, two former students of
Archbishop Keio that's the school where Sister Cathy says Nick taught,
file a lawsuit against a priest in that school whose
name is Joseph Maskell. So the suit claims he sexually
abused them repeatedly when they were students there. The women
(14:15):
filing the suit are named Gene Wayner and Teresa Lancaster.
And apparently these are not the first accusations Maskal has faced,
by the way. In fact, back in the nineteen sixties
and seventies, Maskeal was widely feared in the school because everyone,
including the students and the staff, knew he was a predator,
(14:35):
but no one spoke up about it.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Right, So, you guys know how I love documentaries, and
I talked about this earlier in the beginning of our
episode about this documentary The Keepers, and in it, Teresa
Lancaster says, when you were called over the loud speaker
to report to Father Maskell, a dead silence would come
(14:59):
over the c room and other girls would look at
you with sad eyes, and the teacher would just look down.
They knew something was going on.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Wow, and then he gets accused of this.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It's so so disgustingly awful, and it's so shameful, right, Like,
it's like this abuse has been normalized, like that mom
stood up for her son, but no one was standing
up for these girls at Kio.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
It's yeah, it's heartbreaking to me, right.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So obviously these claims against Father Mascal are pretty egregious,
and Teresa Lancaster said that Father Maskal took her to
a gynecologist named Christian Richter, who prescribed douches that the
priest then administered himself in his school office, and numerous
others after this stepped forward to say that he assaulted
them frequently in his office. This is not a one
(15:53):
time occurrence. And I think it's also important to note
here that these claims are in fact corroborated by court
records as well as interviews with up to eight other
Kio students, So there's clearly a pattern here right.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Clearly, and he wasn't stopped. Oh I'm so grossed out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So basically this was an open secret and this reign
of terror by a criminal man who used his power
as a priest and his power in the church as
an authoritative figure to literally intimidate everyone. But I feel
the most for these young girls who were students at
(16:34):
this school and they were completely trapped.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
They probably felt like they had nowhere.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
To go exactly, and no one to tell, you know.
But we also know that this did not go unnoticed,
and at least one person did try to stop it
from the inside, and that person was sister Kathy, says Nick.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yes, and this gets into a big conspiracy, and we
will talk about that right after we take another quick break.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
There was at least one person who we know of
who was fighting back against Father Joseph Maskell, and that
person is the popular young teacher, Sister Kathy Sesnick. Her
students loved her, and many of them confided in her
about the abuse of Maskal and his colleagues, and she
tried to stop it by doing things like making excuses
(17:33):
for girls when he was calling them to his office,
you know, like saying things oh, they can't get there.
They couldn't get away, Sorry about that. In May of
nineteen sixty nine, sister Kathy had approached young Jeen Wayner
and just asked her straight out whether the priest had
been hurting her, and Jean admitted that yes they had,
and apparently Kathy promised her that something would be done
(17:56):
about it and basically tells her to go off and
just try to enjoy her summer because she was going
to take care of it.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And apparently this is where things start to really take
a dark turn. So as we know, Kathy Sesnick disappeared
in November of nineteen sixty nine and then was found
dead the following January. But after she went missing, Geene
Wayner says that Father Maskell took her Gene for a
car ride, which I guess was a common thing that
(18:24):
the priests would just take these young girls for trips places, right.
I guess at the time families really trusted these priests
like Joseph Maskull to do this. But when Jean and
Father Maskeal get out of the car after they've driven somewhere,
he walks her over to a field where she says
that she saw sister Kathy's body there in the field.
(18:45):
Some pretty graphic details here for anybody who's sensitive to that.
If you are, I recommend you skip ahead a few seconds.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
According to the Huffington Post quote, Sesnick was still clad
in her aqua colored coat and maggots were crawling on
her face. Yer tried to brush them off with her
bare hands. Help me get these off of her, she cried,
turning to Maskell in a panic. Instead, she says, the
priest leaned down behind her and whispered in her ear.
You see what happens when you say bad things about people.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
H shit, it makes my skin crawl, my blood boil
to think that you know a priest who you look
up to, supposedly trust, and this is going on. You
can't make this up. This is like a movie, right,
(19:35):
but this is actually happening.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, I mean this is something you would expect to see,
like in The Godfathers rights right, Like it's just absolutely insane,
like too diabolical to you know, even be real. But
when Jean Wayner finally builds up the courage to tell
the story in nineteen ninety four, she describes details about
Kathy Sestek's body that were only known to investigators at
(19:58):
the time, like the blue coat exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
And then there's Teresa Lancaster, the other woman who filed
the nineteen ninety four suit along with Gene Wayner. And
it's important to note here that both of these women
were actually anonymous at the time of the filing, and
Teresa at the time she also experienced retaliation for confiding
in sister Kathy. She claims that Maskal drove her out
(20:24):
to a wooded area where there were lots of police
milling around, and that two police officers raped her in
the back seat while Maskell stood outside of the police
car talking and laughing with the other cops.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I mean, this is just pure evil on every level possible.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So I think it's interesting here to realize that this
is now becoming a much bigger issue, right, this is
no longer just about abuse within the catholictures. Obviously that's
a huge part of it. But now all we're seeing
law enforcement get involved in a very dark way, a
very criminal way. And so what we're seeing is this
(21:09):
balloon out, this picture of abuse and cover up that
involves an entire city and all of the forces within
a city, like law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, I mean, this explains a lot obviously about why
the police never saw this case because so many of
them were a part of it. You know. It's just
it's really just corruption at every level. It's when you
talk about above the law, this is that and so
(21:41):
much more.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Right. It's different types of people, but they're all taking
advantage of authority and power in very evil ways. Right.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So this actually reminds me of the corruption that was
happening in LAPD when our great grandfather George Hodell was
a cue used of killing Elizabeth Short, also known as
the Black Dahlia. Because he had so much, so much
dirt on the police officers of the LAPD. We all
believe that's one of the reasons that he was never convicted.
(22:16):
You know, like corruption to the nth level. And that's
it feels just like that right now.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, this can take place in Baltimore, LA, you know,
nineteen forties, nineteen sixties whenever. So moving forward, other victims
also described Maskell as bringing them to places where police
officers would abuse them. So this is just keeps going on.
It turns out that Maskell's brother was a police lieutenant,
(22:42):
and it seems he really had the entire police force
in the area under his complete control. So they're like
one family that has authority over this entire region.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Feels very much like the Godfather.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So gross, and so as you said earlier, this is
probably a huge part of the reason why, again this
case wasn't solved because the police are in on this.
So other media reports on the story have pointed out
that as late as nineteen ninety four, there is still
really no justice. The court dismisses all the claims against
(23:15):
Mascal at that point because it's past the statute of limitations.
So in Maryland, victims of sexual abuse have just three
years from the time the abuse ends or from when
they discover it to file a civil suit, which is
not a long time.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
No, I mean three years. That's I mean, that's just ridiculous.
That has to.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Change, Yeah, especially for sexual abuse.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
So it's basically saying it's too late because your memory
may not be reliable enough. Meanwhile, all these other women
are coming together and corroborating on the same type of abuse,
right that has happened to Jane and to Teresa, And
(23:59):
what is that?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, So the idea there was statute of limitations is
that after a certain number of years, your account as
an eyewitness is just not as reliable, like you said,
because of memory or whatever. But you know, I think
if you have enough detail and you have you know,
enough of a pattern of abuse, and especially like this
kind of abuse, like I don't think this is something
(24:20):
that you forget, Like I don't think your memory is
just going to fade about being raped by two police
officers after three years, Like that's something that is going
to stay with these women for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Exactly, Trevor, Exactly, you don't forget about that. These women
fight every day to probably just walk through life because
that is a memory that is so deep embedded in
their spirit.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
True, and you know, the law is frequently unjust, and
this is why we have things like amendments to improve
upon this. But it doesn't end there. A police detective
talking anonymously to the Hfington Post said that he got
a call in nineteen ninety four from a grave digger.
The man said that Maskell had ordered him to bury
(25:08):
a bunch of boxes in the graveyard. When police went
and dug them up, one of those boxes contained a
bunch of nude photos of underage girls, but then when
all the boxes were delivered to the evidence room, those
containing the photos were inexplicably missing. Other retired detectives have
also come forward in recent years and confirmed that they
were quote pressured to back off the Catholic priests during
(25:31):
their investigations.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Gross it's obvious that this was a cover up at
the highest level possible.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, so this goes from being a conspiracy theory to
a full blown conspiracy that can be proven and corroborated
and every detail of it tracked down right. Unfortunately, none
of this really leads to a lot of consequences for
Joseph Maskell. In nineteen ninety four, he was removed from
the ministry, but he fled to Ireland until his death
(26:00):
in two thousand and one at age sixty two. He
worked as a psychologist and unfortunately supposedly continued his pattern
of abuse while working there.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
So basically nothing happened to him, There were no consequences,
and I'm sure he continued to do it over and
over and over again because he got away with it.
They let him. They let him get away with it.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Right, that was his entire life. He knew nothing else,
and he'd gotten away with it for so long. But
it's not until twenty sixteen that the Archdiocese of Baltimore
releases a list of seventy one clergymen that had been
accused of sexual abuse and then backed that up with
credible evidence.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
And Maskell is on that list.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Of course he is. And I'm sure he was at
the top of the list.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, but conveniently it was after he died, of course.
And victims of the listed clergy are off for money.
They got financial settlements by the archdiocese for that abuse,
and some victims claimed that, considering the sheer horrificness of
these crimes, that money was not enough. They wanted to
(27:16):
see legal changes, like you always tell us, Trevor, and
they wanted to see changes within the church, and they
wanted to prevent anything like this from happening again in
the future.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Yeah, I mean money, money can't buy what they've been through.
I mean, it can't take that away.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
It's just.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
I can't even tell you, guys, like just spending seven
hours of watching this documentary and I had no voice,
and I was yelling like through my spirit of what
these victims had gone through. And then to offer them,
you know, it was something like twenty five to fifty
thousand dollars, Like.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
That's not thing compared to what they've been through.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I do want to say this, you know, one good
thing we always look for, that silver lining. That school
ko was torn down. It's no longer there, and you
know the fact that these women, some of these women
were there, like when it came down was you know,
I don't want to say closure because you know, they
(28:26):
can never have closure on you know, something so evil
that happened to them. But I think there was a
part of them that just the fact that this was
no longer there helped in some way.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
That's so beautiful to hear that that school Kio was
torn down. You know, we also have some additional momentum
going in the right direction. In recent years, more and
more people have joined the fight for justice in this case.
So a school alumni group that began with with one
person asking questions on Facebook has exploded and sparked a
(29:06):
brand new murder investigation into the murder of sister Kathy Sesnik.
It's officially an open case again, and this quest for
justice has brought all of these women together and has
helped so many of those abuse survivors find healing and
find support, and that brings us to this week's IMOA.
(29:37):
This week's message of hope and healing goes out to
Gen Wayner, Teresa Lancaster and the thousands of women and
men like them who have come out about abuse they
have suffered at the hands of religious clergy.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
It is for the founders of SNAP, the Grassroots Survivors
Network of those abused by priest.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Back in nineteen ninety three, when SNAP held listening sessions
for survivors to tell their stories, not a single Catholic
bishop came out to hear them, but the group persevered
and grew. It is making noise and sparking change.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
The stories of abuse are painful to hear, but more
painful still is to have lived them and to have
your voice silenced when you try to speak your truth.
Because so many have stepped forward and refused to be ignored,
people are now listening.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
And calls for changes such as the elimination of statutes
of limitations for reporting abuse are getting louder.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
To all the victims out there, those who have come
forward and those who have not, we see you, We
wish you justice, we wished you healing, and most importantly,
we wish you peace. Onward and upward emua Ema. That's
(31:02):
our show for today. If you are a survivor of
clergy abuse, the advocacy group SNAP has resources that you
can turn to. Visit snaptwork dot org. That's SNAP Network
all one word dot org.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
We'd love to hear what you thought about today's discussion
and if there's a case you'd like for us to cover,
find us on social media or email us at facingevilpod
at tenderfoot dot tv and one favor. If you haven't
done it already, please leave us a review and a
good rating. If you like what we do, your support
(31:40):
is always cherished.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Until next time, ah Loha.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
Jo is hosted by Russia Peccuerero and Avet Gentile. Matt
Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio,
with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald albright In
Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV,
(32:16):
alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico. Original
music by makeup and vanity set. Find us on social
media or email us at Facing Evil pod at tenderfoot
dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(32:39):
to your favorite shows.
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
We are your hosts. I'm Rosha Pecquerrero.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
And I am Evet Genteel and as always we are
with our amazing producer, mister Trevor Young.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Hey, Hey, how's it going.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hello, ha Trevor Trevor.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So, I know we have a pretty interesting case coming
up today. A very important case has to do with
the existence of sexual assaults in the Catholic Church, which
I know can be a very touchy issue, and we're
going to get into a very I think powerful story
that illustrates some of those issues. But you know, in
(01:07):
that vein, I was thinking back as we were starting
research for this case about the movie Spotlight. I don't
know if y'all remember watching that. It had Michael Keaton,
but it was about some of the very real life
events involving sexual misconduct in the Catholic church in Boston
is very good movie. I think it won Best Picture
of the year it came out.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Yeah, I remember that movie very well. You know, me
myself being Catholic and you know, becoming a Catholic actually
when I got married to my husband, who was you know,
born and raised in the Catholic community. But for me,
my mom couldn't remember if she had been baptized or not.
And I just really wanted that blessing if you had
(01:50):
been baptized or not, right, yeah, if I had been
baptized or not. But yeah, I do remember that movie
and it's a very very movie. But I also want
to talk about The Keepers, and we're going to get
into that, you know, much later in the episode. But
my voice is a little hoarse because I had just
(02:11):
had laryngitis. But while I was home, I spent seven
hours watching this particular documentary called The Keepers, and it
was mind blowing. And we will talk about that later.
And Trevor, now will you take us through today's case.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I've talked to the hunter that found Kathy and he said,
since the day that he found her, the police have
never talked to him except for that day.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
They sought to do the same thing that senior church
leaders in the diocese we investigated have done for decades.
Bury the sexual abuse by priests upon children and cover
it up forever.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And I can hear Kathy saying, I told you I'd
take care of this, and I.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Said, I didn't think you meant Twenty years later.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Sister Catherine Sesenik was a young teacher at a Catholic
school in Baltimore, Maryland. Early on the evening of November seventh,
nineteen sixty nine, she disappeared while outrunning errands in her neighborhood.
The next morning, two friends found Sister Kathy's car parked
haphazardly nearby, but weeks went by with no sign of Kathy. Finally,
(03:25):
on January third, nineteen seventy, the body of Sister Catherine
Sesenik was found in a remote area south of the city.
No one was ever charged with her murder, but some
of the investigators were suspicious of the community in the
Catholic school where she taught, especially one of the priests.
In the years that followed, more and more sinister events
(03:46):
came to light. Painting a story of sexual abuse and
intimidation at the hands of a powerful diocese that controlled
everyone in its territory, including the police. And so what
happened to Kathy Sesnik, why weren't the police able to
make a determination in her case? And what does the
story reveal about the dark secrets of the Catholic Church.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Okay, you guys, this is one that we really have
to buckle up for. I mean, this case just gets
more and more crazy. You know, as you go along
the stories that we've told this season, they've touched on
some major issues, and today really is no different. But
we're looking at sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, which
(04:35):
is a huge, huge issue that is still very prevalent today.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, it's really just I think one of many. You know,
it seems like every year there's another story of how
this sort of wide scale abuse is allowed to go
on somewhere or it's just swept under the rug entirely right,
And you know, I think no matter your personal faith,
this story especially illustrates the enormous power that a religious
(05:02):
group or institution can have over an entire city, a community,
and neighborhood. And I think that's super dangerous and the
story is a huge example of that.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Trevor. It's a very dangerous issue.
I was actually doing some research.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
And the numbers don't lie.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
They show that in the United States alone, more than
eleven thousand complaints have been documented by victims of abuse
by priests.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Like that's a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, that's a lot. And you have to remember too,
that's just those that have told.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Their stories, right, right, the documented cases, right.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
There are so many other people that have not even
come out yet. So, yeah, that number is shocking, but
you know there's way.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
More, way more.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, And there are numbers like that for countries all
over the world, not just the US. So this story
of sister Catherine Seysnik just brings issue down to a
human scale.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It's just a super insane, crazy story. But sister Kathy
Ssnick was a human.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, So let's talk about Kathy Sesnick. Then. She grew
up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She had three siblings, was supposedly
very bright, and by many accounts, just had this very
sparkling personality. She was also an achiever. She was senior
class president, a member of student council, and even may
queen at her school, but she was also valedictorian of
(06:32):
her high school. And then after that she joined the
school Sisters of Notre Dame. So she then goes on
to be a teacher at Archbishop Kio High School in Baltimore, Maryland.
It was an all girls school, and she taught English
there as well as drama, and everyone said that her
students loved her. She was everybody's favorite teacher.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah. So I read this Huffington Post article and it
says that Sister Kathy Saysnick was a real life version
of Maria, like the Julie Andrews character from the Sound
of Music. I mean, she was super exuberant, she sang,
she played her guitar, and her students would even drop
by her apartment, you know, and they would sing and dance.
(07:17):
And you know, when I hear that, I think of
like Sister Act. You know, the character in Sister Act,
Sister Mary Robert, who was like always smiling and you know,
happy to see her students and so giving. Like she
seemed exactly like that.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, all of those beautiful things that you've just said
about her, Vet, I think it absolutely makes what happened
next so heartbreaking. On the evening of November seventh, nineteen
sixty nine, she left her apartment, which she happened to
share with another nun. She left to go buy a
gift for her sister's engagement party. It was around seven
(07:59):
thirty at night that she left to go go on
this errand, and apparently she got into her car, stopped
at the bank to cash her paycheck, and then she
went to a local bakery and bought some bakery buns,
and that was the last time anyone ever saw her alive.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
We'll talk about what happened after we take a quick break.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So after sister Kathy Sessnik didn't return home, her roommate was,
of course frantic, and she later told reporters quote, nuns
in their order didn't stay out late, and Kathy would
have called if she needed to run an additional errand
end quote. But now it was eleven o'clock at night
and she hadn't heard from her, so she called a
(08:45):
couple of priests who wear their good friends. So these
particular priests came over immediately and they had learned what
had happened. At four point forty in the morning, the
priest decided to take a walk around the area. That's
when they found Kathy's car. It was parked carelessly across
the street from the apartment, even though she had her
(09:06):
own designated parking spot right behind the building, and it
didn't look good. They saw signs of a struggle, including
a broken umbrella in the back seat. They called the police,
who found that box of bakery buns she had purchased,
along with leaves and twigs. Branches had also been caught
(09:26):
in the cars antenna.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, so a quick sidebar that we should mention about
one of the priests who comes over to investigate. His
name was Gerard Coob, and he was apparently totally like
in love with Kathy Sessnik. And that is a whole
myriad of problems, right. You know, Yvette, you can probably
chime in here, but my understanding is that in the
(09:50):
Catholic Church, you know, you're not supposed to have any
sort of romantic relationship, certainly not nuns, but I don't
think pres either. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
That is very true, That is very true. You take
you take a vow, Yeah, so priests and nuns take
vows and nuns.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, right right, So, in fact, you know, two years
before this event happened before either of them had actually
taken said vows. Kathy and Gerard had spent I guess
a lot of time together. They had written each other letters.
He even asked her to marry him, but she turned
him down, I guess, wanting to you know, maintain her job.
And apparently, three days before she disappeared, he even called
(10:28):
her one last time to tell her that he loved her,
and he told her he would leave the priesthood to
marry her if she'd leave the nun hood to you know,
for them to be together. And I don't think she
went for it.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I'm not sure what to think, you know, like, was
it romantic or is it suspicious. I kind of always
go back to Russia, you know, when she says it's
always the boyfriend or you know, it's always the romantic,
you know, the love interest. But you know, I do
feel like this is how rumors get started.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Unrequited love leads to something. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I think it's maybe possibly romantic in you know, the
case of their not being a homicide involved, but the
fact that someone was killed, you know, I think makes
it very suspicious. You know, and even if there wasn't
a death involved, in this. You know, there's something I
think kind of creepy about it. You know. It's not
quite to the level of, you know, say a stalker,
(11:24):
which we talked about on the previous episode, but somebody
who's just kind of so obsessed that they're willing to
forego certain boundaries that someone has put up in their
life always strikes me as problematic. You know. That's that's
always a bit of a red flag for me. Asking
someone to leave the nun hood to run off with them,
you know, and they've clearly said that they are like
(11:45):
uncomfortable with this before, right, Like, I think there's probably
something there to look at that's not what it should
be for sure. And in fact, police actually brought Gerard
Coup in for questioning, but he had an alibi of
having been at the movies earlier that night, so I
guess that was that he had a solid alibi for
where he.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Was, so it wasn't the unrequited love interest got it.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So there ends up being a massive man hunt, with
thirty five Baltimore officers and residents of the area joining
in sweeping a fourteen block area of Southwest Baltimore. But
they don't find anything and more importantly, Baltimore police tell
the media they do not believe foul play was involved.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah, I mean that, and that strikes me as just
that statement alone, when you don't really know, right, that's
political agenda, I mean to me, right, because there were
sticks and branches that were found in her car and
other clear signs of a struggle. But the police say
that they don't think that there's foul play, so that
(12:54):
doesn't sit too well.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But finally, on January third, Mathie's body is found by
a father and a son out on a hunting trip
in Lansdowne, which I believe that's a remote area south
of Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yep, I've actually driven through there, have you. Anyways, the
police said it was likely that she had been either
carried or forced to walk down there, and an autopsy
found a skull fracture caused by a blow to her
head with some sort of blunt instrument, most likely a brick,
they said, and the pathologist noted that the quote disarray
of clothing suggested possible rape. But unfortunately that's about as
(13:33):
far as the police get with us. Investigators work on
the case up until nineteen seventy seven. But you know. Honestly,
they're unable to make any real breakthrough, do they say,
to the lack of any physical evidence in the case,
even though we know there's quite a bit. So in
nineteen seventy seven they closed the case.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
But that is not the end of the story. So
fast forward to nineteen ninety four, two former students of
Archbishop Keio that's the school where Sister Cathy says Nick taught,
file a lawsuit against a priest in that school whose
name is Joseph Maskell. So the suit claims he sexually
abused them repeatedly when they were students there. The women
(14:15):
filing the suit are named Gene Wayner and Teresa Lancaster.
And apparently these are not the first accusations Maskal has faced,
by the way. In fact, back in the nineteen sixties
and seventies, Maskeal was widely feared in the school because everyone,
including the students and the staff, knew he was a predator,
(14:35):
but no one spoke up about it.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Right, So, you guys know how I love documentaries, and
I talked about this earlier in the beginning of our
episode about this documentary The Keepers, and in it, Teresa
Lancaster says, when you were called over the loud speaker
to report to Father Maskell, a dead silence would come
(14:59):
over the c room and other girls would look at
you with sad eyes, and the teacher would just look down.
They knew something was going on.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Wow, and then he gets accused of this.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It's so so disgustingly awful, and it's so shameful, right, Like,
it's like this abuse has been normalized, like that mom
stood up for her son, but no one was standing
up for these girls at Kio.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
It's yeah, it's heartbreaking to me, right.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So obviously these claims against Father Mascal are pretty egregious,
and Teresa Lancaster said that Father Maskal took her to
a gynecologist named Christian Richter, who prescribed douches that the
priest then administered himself in his school office, and numerous
others after this stepped forward to say that he assaulted
them frequently in his office. This is not a one
(15:53):
time occurrence. And I think it's also important to note
here that these claims are in fact corroborated by court
records as well as interviews with up to eight other
Kio students, So there's clearly a pattern here right.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Clearly, and he wasn't stopped. Oh I'm so grossed out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So basically this was an open secret and this reign
of terror by a criminal man who used his power
as a priest and his power in the church as
an authoritative figure to literally intimidate everyone. But I feel
the most for these young girls who were students at
(16:34):
this school and they were completely trapped.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
They probably felt like they had nowhere.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
To go exactly, and no one to tell, you know.
But we also know that this did not go unnoticed,
and at least one person did try to stop it
from the inside, and that person was sister Kathy, says Nick.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yes, and this gets into a big conspiracy, and we
will talk about that right after we take another quick break.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
There was at least one person who we know of
who was fighting back against Father Joseph Maskell, and that
person is the popular young teacher, Sister Kathy Sesnick. Her
students loved her, and many of them confided in her
about the abuse of Maskal and his colleagues, and she
tried to stop it by doing things like making excuses
(17:33):
for girls when he was calling them to his office,
you know, like saying things oh, they can't get there.
They couldn't get away, Sorry about that. In May of
nineteen sixty nine, sister Kathy had approached young Jeen Wayner
and just asked her straight out whether the priest had
been hurting her, and Jean admitted that yes they had,
and apparently Kathy promised her that something would be done
(17:56):
about it and basically tells her to go off and
just try to enjoy her summer because she was going
to take care of it.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And apparently this is where things start to really take
a dark turn. So as we know, Kathy Sesnick disappeared
in November of nineteen sixty nine and then was found
dead the following January. But after she went missing, Geene
Wayner says that Father Maskell took her Gene for a
car ride, which I guess was a common thing that
(18:24):
the priests would just take these young girls for trips places, right.
I guess at the time families really trusted these priests
like Joseph Maskull to do this. But when Jean and
Father Maskeal get out of the car after they've driven somewhere,
he walks her over to a field where she says
that she saw sister Kathy's body there in the field.
(18:45):
Some pretty graphic details here for anybody who's sensitive to that.
If you are, I recommend you skip ahead a few seconds.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
According to the Huffington Post quote, Sesnick was still clad
in her aqua colored coat and maggots were crawling on
her face. Yer tried to brush them off with her
bare hands. Help me get these off of her, she cried,
turning to Maskell in a panic. Instead, she says, the
priest leaned down behind her and whispered in her ear.
You see what happens when you say bad things about people.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
H shit, it makes my skin crawl, my blood boil
to think that you know a priest who you look
up to, supposedly trust, and this is going on. You
can't make this up. This is like a movie, right,
(19:35):
but this is actually happening.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, I mean this is something you would expect to see,
like in The Godfathers rights right, Like it's just absolutely insane,
like too diabolical to you know, even be real. But
when Jean Wayner finally builds up the courage to tell
the story in nineteen ninety four, she describes details about
Kathy Sestek's body that were only known to investigators at
(19:58):
the time, like the blue coat exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
And then there's Teresa Lancaster, the other woman who filed
the nineteen ninety four suit along with Gene Wayner. And
it's important to note here that both of these women
were actually anonymous at the time of the filing, and
Teresa at the time she also experienced retaliation for confiding
in sister Kathy. She claims that Maskal drove her out
(20:24):
to a wooded area where there were lots of police
milling around, and that two police officers raped her in
the back seat while Maskell stood outside of the police
car talking and laughing with the other cops.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I mean, this is just pure evil on every level possible.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So I think it's interesting here to realize that this
is now becoming a much bigger issue, right, this is
no longer just about abuse within the catholictures. Obviously that's
a huge part of it. But now all we're seeing
law enforcement get involved in a very dark way, a
very criminal way. And so what we're seeing is this
(21:09):
balloon out, this picture of abuse and cover up that
involves an entire city and all of the forces within
a city, like law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, I mean, this explains a lot obviously about why
the police never saw this case because so many of
them were a part of it. You know. It's just
it's really just corruption at every level. It's when you
talk about above the law, this is that and so
(21:41):
much more.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Right. It's different types of people, but they're all taking
advantage of authority and power in very evil ways. Right.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So this actually reminds me of the corruption that was
happening in LAPD when our great grandfather George Hodell was
a cue used of killing Elizabeth Short, also known as
the Black Dahlia. Because he had so much, so much
dirt on the police officers of the LAPD. We all
believe that's one of the reasons that he was never convicted.
(22:16):
You know, like corruption to the nth level. And that's
it feels just like that right now.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, this can take place in Baltimore, LA, you know,
nineteen forties, nineteen sixties whenever. So moving forward, other victims
also described Maskell as bringing them to places where police
officers would abuse them. So this is just keeps going on.
It turns out that Maskell's brother was a police lieutenant,
(22:42):
and it seems he really had the entire police force
in the area under his complete control. So they're like
one family that has authority over this entire region.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Feels very much like the Godfather.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So gross, and so as you said earlier, this is
probably a huge part of the reason why, again this
case wasn't solved because the police are in on this.
So other media reports on the story have pointed out
that as late as nineteen ninety four, there is still
really no justice. The court dismisses all the claims against
(23:15):
Mascal at that point because it's past the statute of limitations.
So in Maryland, victims of sexual abuse have just three
years from the time the abuse ends or from when
they discover it to file a civil suit, which is
not a long time.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
No, I mean three years. That's I mean, that's just ridiculous.
That has to.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Change, Yeah, especially for sexual abuse.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
So it's basically saying it's too late because your memory
may not be reliable enough. Meanwhile, all these other women
are coming together and corroborating on the same type of abuse,
right that has happened to Jane and to Teresa, And
(23:59):
what is that?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, So the idea there was statute of limitations is
that after a certain number of years, your account as
an eyewitness is just not as reliable, like you said,
because of memory or whatever. But you know, I think
if you have enough detail and you have you know,
enough of a pattern of abuse, and especially like this
kind of abuse, like I don't think this is something
(24:20):
that you forget, Like I don't think your memory is
just going to fade about being raped by two police
officers after three years, Like that's something that is going
to stay with these women for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Exactly, Trevor, Exactly, you don't forget about that. These women
fight every day to probably just walk through life because
that is a memory that is so deep embedded in
their spirit.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
True, and you know, the law is frequently unjust, and
this is why we have things like amendments to improve
upon this. But it doesn't end there. A police detective
talking anonymously to the Hfington Post said that he got
a call in nineteen ninety four from a grave digger.
The man said that Maskell had ordered him to bury
(25:08):
a bunch of boxes in the graveyard. When police went
and dug them up, one of those boxes contained a
bunch of nude photos of underage girls, but then when
all the boxes were delivered to the evidence room, those
containing the photos were inexplicably missing. Other retired detectives have
also come forward in recent years and confirmed that they
were quote pressured to back off the Catholic priests during
(25:31):
their investigations.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Gross it's obvious that this was a cover up at
the highest level possible.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, so this goes from being a conspiracy theory to
a full blown conspiracy that can be proven and corroborated
and every detail of it tracked down right. Unfortunately, none
of this really leads to a lot of consequences for
Joseph Maskell. In nineteen ninety four, he was removed from
the ministry, but he fled to Ireland until his death
(26:00):
in two thousand and one at age sixty two. He
worked as a psychologist and unfortunately supposedly continued his pattern
of abuse while working there.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
So basically nothing happened to him, There were no consequences,
and I'm sure he continued to do it over and
over and over again because he got away with it.
They let him. They let him get away with it.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Right, that was his entire life. He knew nothing else,
and he'd gotten away with it for so long. But
it's not until twenty sixteen that the Archdiocese of Baltimore
releases a list of seventy one clergymen that had been
accused of sexual abuse and then backed that up with
credible evidence.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
And Maskell is on that list.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Of course he is. And I'm sure he was at
the top of the list.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, but conveniently it was after he died, of course.
And victims of the listed clergy are off for money.
They got financial settlements by the archdiocese for that abuse,
and some victims claimed that, considering the sheer horrificness of
these crimes, that money was not enough. They wanted to
(27:16):
see legal changes, like you always tell us, Trevor, and
they wanted to see changes within the church, and they
wanted to prevent anything like this from happening again in
the future.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Yeah, I mean money, money can't buy what they've been through.
I mean, it can't take that away.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
It's just.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
I can't even tell you, guys, like just spending seven
hours of watching this documentary and I had no voice,
and I was yelling like through my spirit of what
these victims had gone through. And then to offer them,
you know, it was something like twenty five to fifty
thousand dollars, Like.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
That's not thing compared to what they've been through.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I do want to say this, you know, one good
thing we always look for, that silver lining. That school
ko was torn down. It's no longer there, and you
know the fact that these women, some of these women
were there, like when it came down was you know,
I don't want to say closure because you know, they
(28:26):
can never have closure on you know, something so evil
that happened to them. But I think there was a
part of them that just the fact that this was
no longer there helped in some way.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
That's so beautiful to hear that that school Kio was
torn down. You know, we also have some additional momentum
going in the right direction. In recent years, more and
more people have joined the fight for justice in this case.
So a school alumni group that began with with one
person asking questions on Facebook has exploded and sparked a
(29:06):
brand new murder investigation into the murder of sister Kathy Sesnik.
It's officially an open case again, and this quest for
justice has brought all of these women together and has
helped so many of those abuse survivors find healing and
find support, and that brings us to this week's IMOA.
(29:37):
This week's message of hope and healing goes out to
Gen Wayner, Teresa Lancaster and the thousands of women and
men like them who have come out about abuse they
have suffered at the hands of religious clergy.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
It is for the founders of SNAP, the Grassroots Survivors
Network of those abused by priest.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Back in nineteen ninety three, when SNAP held listening sessions
for survivors to tell their stories, not a single Catholic
bishop came out to hear them, but the group persevered
and grew. It is making noise and sparking change.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
The stories of abuse are painful to hear, but more
painful still is to have lived them and to have
your voice silenced when you try to speak your truth.
Because so many have stepped forward and refused to be ignored,
people are now listening.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
And calls for changes such as the elimination of statutes
of limitations for reporting abuse are getting louder.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
To all the victims out there, those who have come
forward and those who have not, we see you, We
wish you justice, we wished you healing, and most importantly,
we wish you peace. Onward and upward emua Ema. That's
(31:02):
our show for today. If you are a survivor of
clergy abuse, the advocacy group SNAP has resources that you
can turn to. Visit snaptwork dot org. That's SNAP Network
all one word dot org.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
We'd love to hear what you thought about today's discussion
and if there's a case you'd like for us to cover,
find us on social media or email us at facingevilpod
at tenderfoot dot tv and one favor. If you haven't
done it already, please leave us a review and a
good rating. If you like what we do, your support
(31:40):
is always cherished.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Until next time, ah Loha.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
Jo is hosted by Russia Peccuerero and Avet Gentile. Matt
Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio,
with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald albright In
Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV,
(32:16):
alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico. Original
music by makeup and vanity set. Find us on social
media or email us at Facing Evil pod at tenderfoot
dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(32:39):
to your favorite shows.
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