A Vanishing Priest, a Wall of Secrecy and a 25-Year-Old Abuse Case
Religious orders have their own hierarchies, so they have their own ways of handling abuse allegations.
Timothy Schlenz has used a New York State law to file a case against a Dominican priest. Close to one-third of Child Victims Act cases against priests involve religious orders.Credit.Matt Eich for The New York Times
By Jenn Morson
Jan. 30, 2021
Thirty-odd years ago, 8-year-old Timothy Schlenz spent every Saturday being tutored on the sacraments at a Manhattan church. It was there, he said, that he was regularly abused.
Every weekend, his family would drive into the city from New Jersey so that Timothy, who is now 39, could study at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, on the Upper East Side. The priest who tutored him, the Rev. Carleton P. Jones, slowly groomed the boy and eventually molested him, telling him it was a way to check for cancer, according to Mr. Schlenz.