My Sexual Abuse By A Priest The Beginning: Part One

Part Two of this story can be found by clicking this link

Part One is a misnomer as sexual abuse has a beginning but never has an end. But as in most accounts, all abuse starts with grooming the victim: 

I met with Bishop LaValley in his office at 3:15 on March 8, 2018.

My reason for our meeting was to explain that when I originally reported the sexual abuse at the hand of Fr. Paul Worczak I had only described its physical/sexual aspects. At the time, then Bishop Barbarito and Monsignor Lawler never asked about emotional, mental, or spiritual abuse. I never thought to address it because the focus then was on it's physical or sexual aspects. I feel that these were considered to be more “tangible”. Furthermore, in those early days I do not believe the church really cared what emotional scars I was experiencing throughout my life because of my abuser Worczak.

I started by telling Bishop LaValley about Worczak's introduction as a new priest during a mass at Holy Family Church in February 1970. Worczak spoke about ultra- brite tooth paste and it's sex appeal and other then taboo topics that were sure to shock the adults but catch the attention of the younger parishioners. At the end of mass Worczak was standing at the church entrance doing a meet and greet with parishioners. Instead of wearing the traditional chasuble and stole, he was wearing a full length mink coat. He greeted the adults but asked us younger parishioners to stay. He then made it a point to meet us all one by one. He was very gregarious and charismatic, something we had never seen in a priest before. I was 10 years old at the time.

As time went on, small groups of us were treated to ice cream, and trips to MacDonalds and other similar outings. The grouping of kids always seemed to fluctuate. But I soon realized that he had his favorites and I was among them. He invited us up to his room which was in the newer addition towards the back of the rectory. He had 5 foot column speakers and a huge stereo amp that would blow the windows out. It was there he introduced us to artists like Janis Joplin and T. Rex We were all mesmerized by this new breed of priest. Our church took on a new life as Worczak took control.

Worczak would at times get us to ignore certain kids because they had done “something” to make him mad or violated his trust. And we were all very happy to do his bidding. I would later find out what that “something” was.

Kids were not his only followers There was a core group of adults that “loved” Fr. Paul. Among them: The XXXXX'S, BBBBBB'S, MMMMM'S, MAMAMA'S, BBBBB'S, to name a few. He loved to play tennis and downhill ski and these were the adults that he would socialize with. All of them had children about my age. {On a side note, Mr MMMMM was a long time family court judge and prominent lawyer.} {As I noted in the March 15^th 2003 document to the Diocese Of Ogdensburg. It was Mrs. EMMMMM and Mrs MMMM that I was speaking to on April 5^th 2002 at a restaurant when Worczaks name came up and Mrs EMMMMM told me that years ago she had told Worczak to stay away from her son. Mrs MMMMM nodded in agreement.}

Worczak would always schedule me and a few others to be “his” altar boys at weekly masses. This would continue through 1970 into 1971. He would include “us” into all sorts of kid friendly social events including the creation of a Coffee House located in the basement of Holy family Church. It had a juke box and all sorts of vending games. This appealed to the older “teen” parishioners.

Worczak could do a perfect impersonation of our Bishop Brzana. He would entertain us with his Bishop swearing and making sexual innuendos. It would have us all laughing hysterically. Warping us. Worczak disliked one of the other priests at the Parish. He would always refer to Fr. Shulkin as “Buckets”. Buckets said this or did that. One day, one of us asked him where the nick name came from. Worczak was happy to tell us...... Buckets because he is full of shit. Worczak had a cohort who was assigned to our parish, his name was Fr. Ray Wertman [now retired]. They both tormented Shulkin, to the point that he left and pursued a career elsewhere.{I phoned Wertman in 2002 to talk to him about Worczak. Wertman stated that he did not remember much from those days as he was drinking heavily. Wertman later stopped drinking and started a substance abuse treatment center CREDO}

In the fall of 1970 going into the winter and spring of 1971, Worczak “hired” me to clean his living quarters on a weekly basis. His quarters were littered with dirty cloths wadded papers etc and money, bills and coins all over the floor. The deal was, any money on the floor was mine. Sometimes I collected as much a $20 a week. {as I look back at my payment, I think I may have been baited}.

I lived on Winthrop St, the same street as Holy Family Church. I used to shoot hoops outside. Worczak would always toot the horn as he drove by in his Mercedes Benz. More often than not, he would pull over to say hi and talk. Sometimes he would say, hop in and lets go get and ice cream or want to go to the movies later....? He was always adamant about me getting permission from my dad first. My dad would always say yes, after all I was going to be in the best of company.

Other than a few other trivial events, this leads up to the description of the sexual abuse I endured from Worczak that is outlined in the March 15^th 2003 document to the Diocese Of Ogdensburg. Immediately after my mother went to the rectory [after she found my soiled underware]. I discovered that I was now ostracized from Worczak and the other kids [that were still in his favor]. Never understanding fully, the why? That is, until I grew older.

The gap between this and the second instance lasted approximately until the Fall of 1971, probably late September or early October. During this time, Worczak would go out of his way to shun me. Making a point to take others out to do something fun while excluding me. The others went along with this, because they [used to be we] had done it to other kids so many times. With the mentality of an 11 year old, I was distraught, confused, hurt.... No more toots of the horn as he drove by my house. His car seemed to be always filled to capacity with kids, more so than before when I still “belonged”. This happened several times during the week and more frequently on the weekends. To me, the 11 year old, this was killing me. I never felt so alone in my life. I was an emotional wreck. During this time, my mother moved out of our house and I stayed with my dad. [They would later divorce]

Then one evening in the fall of '71 I was out playing hoops and Worczak drove by. It was dusk and I could see his brake lights as he stopped the car and backed up and stopped in front of my house. Tooted the horn, rolled down the passenger window and waved for me to come see him. I leaned against the passenger door. He greeted me and seemed to be his old self again. We talked for a little bit.... then he said, you are shivering, its cold out, get in [his car]. I did, he started to say that he missed me. I can not remember exactly what he said but the implication was that I had been punished enough and it was time for me to come back to him. I started to shake and cry, he then put his arm around me and drew me close. He whispered into my ear, you know I still love you don't you? It was then he placed his lips on mine and kissed me, then again but this time his tongue entered my mouth. I froze, panicked, I then pulled away from his arm toward the passenger door. When I grabbed the door handle he became very angry and said if you open that door, you will be out of my life forever. His change in mood from comforting to rage scared me and I flung the door open and ran to the house. I could hear the car wheels squeal and the passenger door slam shut as he sped away. I would see him occasionally but I avoided him as much as he avoided me.

Most but not all of this accounting was shared with Bishop LaValley. At the time of our meeting I found it difficult to keep my thoughts in order as the recounting of these events cause me stress and anxiety. I am sharing this documentation with the Bishop via e-mail. There are other topics that I shared with him but I will include them in a separate document.

Sincerely,

James Cummings