Pat Marker was one of the first victims to make public his story of sexual abuse at the hands of a St. John’s Abbey priest. Marker’s allegations against the Rev. Dunstan Moorse led to a lawsuit and a settlement, but that wasn’t enough for Marker, who attended St. John’s Preparatory School from 1981 to 1983. He doesn’t want his or other victims’ abuse covered up, minimized or ignored. He wants all of the abuse – each instance involving each abusive monk or priest at St. John’s Abbey – made public so the record can be set straight once and for all.
To that end, Marker, an Internet consultant who lives in the Seattle area, has started a Web site dedicated to abuse victims and their stories. “Ten years ago I started a project that I didn’t finish,” said Marker, who has created the Abuse Disclosure Project. “It’s time to finish it.” He’s spent parts of the last dozen or so years uncovering stories of abuse from victims around the country. He’s also heard how those victims have struggled to get help, sometimes just to get people to believe they’re victims of clergy.
Although Marker settled his lawsuit with the abbey years ago, he continues to work for victims. He also has approached Abbot John Klassen in the hopes that Klassen will lend a hand in Marker’s quest to contact every prep school alum from the 1970s and 1980s to hear what they experienced at St. John’s. “I want to provide a place where victims can tell their stories and hear other stories of abuse so they know they’re not alone,” Marker said. He no longer considers himself a victim, but an advocate, he said. His quest won’t be easy, he said, but it’s a task he won’t soon abandon. “It’s going to be painful to dig it up, but we need to dig it up and bury it the proper way,” Marker said.
Sex abuse victim dedicates Web site to others stories
Dave Unze
St. Cloud Times
June 8, 2002
