NJ Priest Looks Back on an Unexpected Career

MENDHAM – Monsignor Kenneth E. Lasch still remembers the day 21 years ago when he walked through the back door of St. Joseph’s parish rectory on June 15 at 9:15 a.m. to become the new pastor.

He was excited about getting back into parish life again after serving in administrative roles in the Paterson Diocese for several years.

Mendham was a smaller town then and there were only about half as many people filling the pews as the 1,700 families who today call St. Joseph’s their parish church.

“I grew up in Morristown,” Lasch said, “so coming here was like returning to my own backyard.”

Arriving at the same time was the Rev. Michael J. Drury, who served beside Lasch as associate pastor for 12 years before moving on to shepherd his own flock at St. Luke’s in Long Valley.

Lasch, who had done his doctoral dissertation on pastoral ministry, said he and Drury had a vision of working with the congregation in a collaborative way, establishing a robust lay ministry with active volunteers and paid lay staff.

To a great extent, that vision has been realized. But in the process, their partnership led them in an unexpected direction, playing pivotal roles in an unfolding drama within the Roman Catholic Church.

Deep Secret

In May 1985, just three years after the two priests arrived, a young college student came to Drury with a long-kept secret that would ultimately place the parish in the eye of a gathering storm of shock, outrage and church reform.

The young man, Mark Serrano, confided to Drury, and later to Lasch, that he had been sexually molested as an altar boy by a previous pastor, James T. Hanley.

Lasch helped Serrano get counseling and supported him in reporting the abuse to the Diocese of Paterson. He also backed Serrano in taking his case to the Morris County Prosecutor’s office in 1993, but the statute of limitations had already expired.

Two years later, Lasch decided that people in the parish needed to know about the former pastor’s dirty little secret.

“It became clear in 1995 that it was time to go public,” Lasch said. “We felt people here had to know; we thought that there might be others.”

Lasch wrote a letter to 100 parish families whose children might have been around during Hanley’s time as pastor. He invited them to a confidential meeting, and almost 80 people showed up. But Lasch said he had a feeling in his gut that there were still more victims out there.

The pastor continued working with Serrano and his family to encourage victims to come forward and receive support. Together they started Healing Our Survivors Together (HOST), a Mendham-based support group for those who had been abused by priests. A broader based victims’ organization called Survivors Network of people Abused by Priests (SNAP) followed.

Meanwhile, a confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement kept Serrano from revealing his identity to the press for 12 years. But the time came when he could no longer remain anonymous, and he contacted the press.

“The picture changed forever on March 18, 2002, when the New York Times broke a front page story on me,” Serrano said.

The story unleashed a media firestorm that has contributed to unprecedented self-examination and reforms within the church.

“Many victims have sought him (Lasch) out since 1995,” said Serrano. “It finally reached a point where he stopped going to the church first and started going to the police first. That was a powerful statement about his views on the failures of power in church leadership.”

Hanley was eventually accused of abusing at least 12 children. In June 2002, he agreed to be removed from the priesthood, becoming the first priest defrocked in New Jersey in connection with the abuse scandal.

Lasch has raised thousands of dollars to help victims, Serrano said, and this year, a marker in the shape of a millstone was dedicated in St. Joseph’s church yard to acknowledge both the violation and the healing of abuse victims.

“I think it indicates the feeling of people in this parish that they have been generous contributors to the healing process,” Lasch said.

“We’ve been able to literally save lives with the help of Ken Lasch,” Serrano said. “He’s welcomed us to meet there, he’s offered support to individual victims, and he has traveled long distances to meet with them personally.’’

Serrano said he and Lasch have not always been in agreement, but their partnership and friendship have grown, and the experiences they have shared have transformed them both as people.

Serrano said Lasch’s activism on behalf of abuse victims has prevented him from rising in the church hierarchy.

“He has distinguished himself in the church across America as an outspoken advocate,” said Serrano. “Few can say that. Most, out of fear for their careers, do not speak out.”

Lasch said he believes some parishioners would like to move on and put the abuse scandal behind them.

“My being here slows that process,” he said. “Every time I’m quoted in the press, we go through the whole thing again.”

The priest said he wishes it were not an issue, but he cannot walk away from his advocacy for victims.

“I can’t withdraw from that. I hear from victims from all over the country,” Lasch said.

Lasch said he could never have imagined his present situation, even 10 years ago.

“We don’t know what challenges face us in life, but I’m glad I was here with my background and experience,” he said. “It needed a person who was assertive and who would hold us accountable as a church.”

Lasch said he would like to be remembered as “someone who tried to the best of his ability to be a shepherd, who, along with the parish, created an environment where people could experience God in a personal way. Where they could be challenged, but not hassled, by the word of God. Where they would see themselves as change agents, responsible to change society.”

Drury described Lasch as a mentor, a friend, and a “very, very humble man, who does not like any of this attention.

“But I told him you have a long time to get over it,” Drury said. “He’s created a model of a parish that I think is future-oriented and extremely inviting. It’s a blessed parish because of his leadership.”

Serrano described Lasch as a cautious man of high intellect, methodical but also very resolute.

“He’s a man of great conviction,” Serrano said.

St. Joseph’s Director of Religious Education Jim Jungels said he has been impressed with how welcoming Lasch has been to people “and how much he’s tried to be part of people’s lives in helping them on their faith journey.

“He has the ability to make people feel included and special,” Jungels said.

Lasch said he plans to live in Morristown in an apartment that was formerly his father’s.

After taking a six-month sabbatical, he hopes to continue his work with abuse victims and others who “need to be liberated in spirit, people who may feel alienated by the church, who feel abandoned.

“I want to be a door opener for those who want to find their way back,” he said.