Alum’s 2002 Letter to Abbot Confroy
Obviously, both Fr. Timothy and Br. Malachy’s sexual abuse of adolescents are well documented and are well accepted by the community. Fr. Elias has not yet been exposed in the public eye of scrutiny, but I am sure he is next.
Alum’s 2002 Letter to Abbot Confroy
November 7, 2002
Abbot Thomas Confroy, OSB
St. Mary’s Abbey
Delbarton School
Mendham Rd.
Morristown, NJ 07960
Dear Abbot Thomas,
As a Delbarton alumnus, class of 198X, I feel compelled to write to you regarding the recent press coverage involving sexual abuse claims against members of your monastic community.
I am specifically writing to relay to you that I was a victim of sexual misconduct by several monks while I attended Delbarton.
Although I was never physically violated, the mental abuse, now looking back as an adult, was totally inappropriate and totally unacceptable behavior by men in positions of trust and power, let alone men of the cloth. I am disgusted that these individuals were/are men that you and your order had a moral obligation to control, yet did nothing to temper their corrupt desires.
My parents entrusted your men with my life, and instead I have endured a lifetime of mental anguish over my faith and trust in all holy figures.
Not only does this type of publicity sicken me, but also your responses to dealing with these claims are nothing short of non-accountability, indifference and cowardice.
My claims of sexual misconduct are against Fr. Timothy Brennan, Br. Malachy (Robert Flavin) and Fr. Elias Lorenzo.
Obviously, both Fr. Timothy and Br. Malachy’s sexual abuse of adolescents are well documented and are well accepted by the community. Fr. Elias has not yet been exposed in the public eye of scrutiny, but I am sure he is next.
Let me start with Fr. Tim. Fr. Tim was my freshman guidance counselor. While in counseling, it was not uncommon for him to rub himself vigorously under his robe and proceed to ask me specific questions about what I would do with my freshman girlfriend with “the big tits”. In fact, as a sophomore, prior to a school dance on the campus, Fr. Tim recommended that I use his office to fool around with my girlfriend at the time. His only stipulation was that I would leave the blinds open at an angle so he could look in and observe. Needless to say, I refused his genuine offer.
Moving on to Br. Malachy, there are not enough bad things that I can tell in this short letter regarding his demented, bizarre and twisted behavior around young men. He was clearly up to no good with his insistence of buying and consuming alcoholic beverages with my friends and me on numerous occasions. He totally encouraged this type of behavior, and while drinking with him, his conversations would generally range from masturbation, to the size of his penis and what he would do with his life if he were not a monk. I guess he got his wish after he left “voluntarily” in 1987 after getting caught with a student in the monk’s cafeteria.
Fr. Elias, on the other hand, is very clever. Fr. Elias specifically asked me a “post retreat” question and he posed it as, “What are your thoughts on masturbation?” What did this question have to do with my spiritual guidance to becoming a Christian? Why would an adult authority figure be interested in knowing what a sixteen-year old boy thinks about masturbation? They don’t even ask these questions in public school health classes.
And Fr. Elias is the school’s spokesperson? What’s next… Fr. Elias as the next headmaster?
I do hope the Abbey takes the proper measures in preventing this type of abuse from happening to other students/children in the future. I am not the least bit interested in bringing these allegations any further, but I do hope that my claims are at least documented and that they add to the credibility of the others that I am sure your office has been receiving.
Sincerely,
[Name Redacted]
Class of 198X
View Original Letter as a PDF… Here
