Delbarton, an elite all-boys Catholic prep school in northern New Jersey where several former students have come forward to allege abuse at the hands of the Benedictine order’s monks, could soon find itself under a harsh spotlight.
A trial resulting from a lawsuit by a former Delbarton student who says he was 15 when he was sexually abused by a monk is scheduled to begin Sept. 2 in Morris County Superior Court in what would be the first civil trial involving the Catholic church in the Garden State.
Identified by the initials T.M., the ex-student alleges he was assaulted by a former Delbarton teacher, the Rev. Richard Lott, and he’s accused the Benedictine order of “enabling that abuse,” according to court records.
The lawsuit names Delbarton School and its connected monastery, St. Mary’s Abbey as defendants. Lawyers from both sides have been barred by the judge from discussing the case, according to a letter the school sent to the greater school community, including students, their families, alumni and faculty on Aug. 15.
T.M.’s case is one of dozens that have been filed against Delbarton, a college prep school in Morristown where the tuition is $48,725-a-year and that boasts well-known alumni like New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage, and the sons of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In the lawsuit he alleges that in 1975 Lott plied him with liquor before assaulting him in a barn on campus where the priest lived, and he also alleges in his lawsuit that Lott would invite other underaged students over for frequent illicit parties.
T.M. said he reported the alleged assault to Abbott Brian Clarke in a letter after he graduated in 1977, court records show.
Clarke, however, said he did not discipline Lott or notify the police, and admitted, when he was deposed on Sept. 13, 2018, that he destroyed the letter “Because it’s bad for the reputation of a school when there is sexual abuse associated with it,” according to a transcript of Clarke’s testimony.
Clarke, who was the abbot of St. Mary’s Abbey from 1975 to 1995, died in 2019. Lott, who is 89 and no longer lives on campus, could not be located for comment. Lott’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a joint statement, Abbot Jonathan Licari, St. Mary’s Abbey administrator, and the Rev. Michael Tidd, the Order of St. Benedict and Delbarton School headmaster, said they “cannot comment on any current litigation.”
In 2018, the school publicly acknowledged that at least 30 men had come forward with allegations that over the course of three decades they had been victimized by 13 past or current priests and monks at the school — and by a lay faculty member who is now retired.
Then-Abbot Richard Cronin and Tidd, in a letter dated July 20, 2018, said that eight civil actions against the school and St. Mary’s Abbey, which is the monastery on the campus, had been settled and seven remained. In the letter, the school said it had notified the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office of each allegation and continue to work closely with the office through its investigation.
“In every single case that was settled, there was no admission of liability by the order,” said Greg Gianforcaro, a lawyer who represented some of the accusers.
After the initial lawsuits in 2018, more than 30 more people have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the school’s monks and have either filed their own lawsuits or joined existing cases, he said. In 2019 to 2021, New Jersey’s Child Victim’s Act went into effect, allowing people to file civil claims of sexual abuse even when that abuse fell outside of the statute of limitations. It is unclear how many cases are still pending against the school; a spokesperson for the school said they could not provide those numbers.
Billy Crane, who along with his twin brother, Tom, sued Delbarton in 2012 alleging sex abuse by two priests in the 1970s, had his case settled in 2018. He said the school did not have to admit liability as part of the settlement. The brothers did not attend the school but were on campus regularly because their father was a teacher there.
In an interview with NBC News, Crane said that some of the monks had coined a name for the dozens of former students who have come forward with allegation of sexual abuse at the hand of the school’s clergymen — "termites."
“I’ve heard that from other survivors going through the legal system now,” Crane told NBC News. “It shows what they really think of us.”
The “termites” reference appears in a 2011 interview conducted by Steve Ordway of the mediation firm Little Voices, with the Rev. Donal Fox, one of the Delbarton monks accused of sexual misconduct. That interview could be entered into evidence for T.M.’s trial.
In the interview, Ordway asked Fox, who is now deceased, whether there were “any more termites out there” and Fox replied there were seven other “incidents of concern.”
The firm was put in place to make sure the accused monks were complying with their “safety plan,” which includes enforcing restrictions that would bar them from having contact with the children, according to court records and Ordway’s wife, Ann Ordway, who also worked with Little Voices.
“That doesn’t sound like the kind of language he would use,” Ann Ordway, said of her husband, an ailing Vietnam vet, in an interview. “But he could have been repeating language he heard from the monks.”
The court record that includes the quote does not make clear the origins of the term and does not indicate whether Ordway was repeating a word someone else used first.
In reference to accusers being referred to as “termites,” the school said that “derogatory remarks made by either a monk or a layperson are neither condoned nor tolerated at St. Mary’s Abbey or Delbarton School.”
Among the monks who’ve been accused in lawsuits of preying on students decades ago are the Revs. Benedict Worry, 73, and Jude Salus, 79, both of whom still live in the monastery on the 187-acre campus that is only a short stroll from the classrooms and athletic facilities used by the students, the school confirmed.
Licari and Tidd said that the two monks are “overseen by Abbey leadership and the Abbey’s Safe Environment policies.”
“These monks have no contact with our students and are not permitted in or near any school facilities,” they said.
Of the two cases involving Worry, one has been settled and the other is pending. The lawsuit filed against Salus is ongoing, Gianforcaro said.
Crane said he found it "very disturbing" that Worry and Salus were still living on campus, "that they could potentially have contact with students.”
“They’re like unsupervised predators," he said.
Crane went on to say, “There’s really nothing besides their consciences to stop them from walking out. … And their consciences have been corrupted.”
The school, however, made clear that the monks are heavily supervised.
“As required by the Abbey’s Safe Environment protocols, each monk’s activities and movements are monitored under a Safety Plan that is annually reviewed by Abbey leadership and independent, third-party oversight from the Abbey Review Board," Licari and Tidd said in a statement. "Both men are disabled, have limited mobility, and must be accompanied by an adult informed about their Safety Plan’s requirements on the infrequent occasions that they leave campus, typically for a doctor’s appointment."
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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