More Former Students Join Lawsuit

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Two more former students at a prominent New Jersey Catholic school have come forward to claim that they were sexually abused by clerics in the 1970s and ’80s.

Washington, D.C. resident Steve Badt and an unidentified plaintiff have joined a lawsuit against the Delbarton School in Morristown and St. Mary’s Abbey filed in March by brothers Bill and Tom Crane.

The unidentified plaintiff said he was abused by Father Benedict Worry.

Now 44 years old, Badt said he was abused by his seventh grade English teacher, Father Timothy Brennan.

When he heard about the lawsuit filed in March, he said he knew it was time to come forward.

“You know, I was trying to move forward, whether in a stereotypical guy way, I just said ‘It happened.’ I blamed myself,” Badt told Silverman. “Some of the same leaders who were running the school back then when I was in school are still there today.”

That includes Giles Hayes, the then school headmaster and current the head of the abbey. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

In a statement, the school said that Brennan is still a monk but lives at a secure facility and has no contact with the general public.

It said Worry resides at St. Mary’s Abbey, but has had no contact with minors since January because of a complaint alleging misconduct in the 1990s.

“If I had gone to Father Giles then, what would’ve happened?” Badt said. “I’m fairly convinced now [the answer would have been] nothing.”

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More Former Students Join Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Delbarton School
CBSNewYork/AP
June 5, 2012