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"He knew these kids were very vulnerable," said Wall. "He knew they were hungry. He knew they were cold. He knew they had nothing. And he provided food, candy and money, and had his way with them."

In St. Michael it's not difficult to find middle-aged men who can recount experiences of abuse by "Brother Joe," as Lundowski was called. One of them is Stephan Tom, 54. Tom says he will never forget the time Lundowski asked him if he knew about oral sex, and then attacked him. "He grabbed me and threw me on the bed," says Tom. "He unbuckled my pants. I was fighting. I was crying. I told him, 'No! No!'"

Tom Cheemuk remembers Lundowski sternly telling him that he should never speak about what happened, and that no one would believe him, anyway. The boy could scarcely have spoken the truth to Lundowski's superior, Father George Endal, now deceased. The priest was also sexually abusing him, Cheemuk says.

These days Cheemuk concentrates on spending time with his wife and children, trying to heal, trying to stay sober. He still hasn't told his mother about what really happened. She is a village elder and a regular at Sunday mass. Cheemuk doesn't attend mass himself, but he sometimes longs for the church of his childhood, the one that existed before Lundowski and Endal stole his innocence.

"I miss going to church on Christmas," he said. But he cannot go back, not yet. The memories still haunt.

© 2008

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: polin2305 @ 12/15/2008 10:46:10 AM

    This case cannot be settled with money and these types of news should go far beyond this journal. International communities should learn about this and set precedent so other cases come out to light and justice can be made before other pedophiles die in peace in respected houses. They should die in prison as is the "prison-in-life" they have created for all the abused.

  • Posted By: debwylie @ 12/11/2008 9:42:23 AM

    These victims deserve so much more than money, they deserve to have their dignity and their innocence restored and honored by the whole world. The perps should be stripped bare and whipped in the town center, then summarily hanged by the neck until dead. The Church and the State colluded in massive and extensive crimes against humanity right here in Canada as well. I hope victims gain courage from this case to step forward and proclaim their human right to dignity and justice. That includes those young pregnant persons who were interned in 'church-homes' for girls only to be used in medical experimentation and human breeding for infertile christian married couples.

  • Posted By: Kenyon @ 12/10/2008 3:58:02 PM

    Religion is not necessary to happiness. Just be honst, kind, hardworking and that's enough, plus mind your own business.

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