I was abuse by John H. Dericks of NJ when I was 16 & 17. He was my parish priest in Pequannock, NJ at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. In 2004, his public ministry was taken from him after I went through a RC (Really Corrupt) Church investigation. My sexual abuse went on for two years. The priest was very charismatic and my mother fell for him, knowing he prior had taken teenagers to his country home which was back in the woods in Andover, NJ. Being very neurotic and selfish, my mother intimidated me into going with her to his place after the other teenagers graduated from the catholic high school where I was still attending. She said he would not want her if I didn't come along and she said I "owed it to her for the care she had given me earlier in life). My mother was quite nuts. Mother was present when I was abused, and even though she has a mental illness (personality disorder), she was aware that what she was doing was wrong. My father was home during part of my abuse but he was very introverted and not at all a nurturer or protector. He had Major Depression and PTSD from childhood abandonment at age 6. The priest had a lot of control over me and mother and he could have told her not to have me there. He controlled mother with sex and his charisma. I actually thought he cared about me and even called him "Dad" at my mother's insistence. He bought mother and I presents, took us out to a Broadway show in New York and he had money which I think partially was stoen from the church and partially came from his family that still owns Dericks Sheet Metal company in Totowa, NJ. With my thorough, chidhood Catholic indoctrination and my parents bad marriage and mentall illnesses, I was a very obedient child and at 16 was more like 7 emotionally. Anway, Dericks paid me $25,000.00 in 1994 out of his pocket and a lawyer got a cut of it. In 1993, the Diocese of Paterson, NJ told me the "church is not responsible, go to the priest for compesation." About 9 years later, Fr. Ken Lasch (my cannon lawyer for the 2003 investigation) and I were able to read Dericks' file (those parts they had not already thrown away, that is), and in it Dericks tells Bishop Rodimer and Chancellor Tillyer that he is :willing to pay me $100,000.00. Being in the consistent and true to the nature of deep and cunning evil of the Catholic Church, the bishop told Dericks to just give me what my lawyer was asking. With the church, the same degree of immorality and deceit has not changed since then. The church won't give me any compensation now and won't even pay for counseiling because I got some in 2002 and stopped and the woman who determines who gets what, Peggy Zanello, of the Paterson Diocese told me "you're done." Many others, even parents of those abused, have gotten much more counseling than I have, but this is what the Catholic church is--a cult of clever deception and false fronts. Dericks died in 2011, and since I had the story about the church investigation and my sexual abuse put in several newspapers, he died in shame, but still denying he ever touched me. However he died admitting he had sex with mother while I was in his country house (a converted two car garage). Before he died, he "had" 42 acres of land in northern NJ on Lackawanna Dr. After he paid me the $25,000.00, he quickly put the property in relatives names with the name of Dericks. Check out my name with Dericks in several search engines and with bishopaccountability for article referrals. This abuse deeply affected my life and now in my later 60's I am still emotionally quite hampered. Signed, Cheryl Christopher, Matawan, NJ phone 973 978 4154. PS. If I can be of help, let me know. I did get a Masters in Counseling and worked as a counselor for a while but never was confident enough to have a long and fulfilling career. Never had kids or a long term relationship with a man. I am grateful that I had the church investigation and Dercks was shamed. Not many survivors get that chance. I am grateful to learn the lessons I have and to forgive my parents--== am working on forgiving myself for not having had a more fulfilling life. God be with all of us and love come to us.

Hi Barbara, I want to volunteer for snap. I think you have no need in St. Louis so I am thinkng of Chicago. My Dad died and I want to get out of NJ. Any ideas? Cheryl Christopher 973 978 4154.