Who else more than the religious community would you expect - in total disregard of politics - to be willing to go out on a limb to protect the safety and well-being of children? Here's what I found in my limited attempts to garner support from this segment of our community.

I first spoke with a with a young Catholic priest with whom I had been impressed with in the past. He listened attentively for almost an hour as I painfully described the years of abuse both the children I have continued to endure - perpetrated by the children's mother, and in affect, condoned by our local judicial system, law enforcement agencies and child protection services. He (no doubt) sincerely expressed his concern and sympathy for me and my children, but defined the current situation, as I described it to him, as a clearly "political" one, and that he, as a young priest, had no political influence and was therefore unable to help in any way that he could think of. I informed him of the fact that I was facing going to prison in the very near future unless I came up with another $160,000 in cash to reward the children's abuser. He declined my suggestion that he so much as take an hour of his time to stand with me in support during the upcoming court hearing regarding the matter.

By now, I could not, of course, be surprised by the total lack of support from any government or private organization - but from the Catholic Church? As I not so respectfully pointed out to the priest in my frustration: I didn't know what I expected him to be able to do, but if these were some nameless, faceless, central American orphans we were talking about, would the Catholic Church hesitate to spend millions of dollars and fly clergy and other aid workers into the middle of a civil war to help them? But since they're my two sons, right here in town, with only the ignorance of one man (the judge) the key to their suffering, there's NOTHING that can be done!?!

Shortly thereafter, I sought the help of another Catholic priest - the pastor of what I believe is the largest Catholic parish in the second largest city in Illinois. This time I was given what I took as a very disinterested 15 minutes to tell my story, and was then told I was like the proverbial medical patient constantly complaining of innumerable ailments to the doctor: No one would (nor should they be expected to) believe my accusations of child abuse BECAUSE I have been trying so hard for so long to make their abuse known and to protect them from it. According to this priest, if I expected anyone to ever believe that my children are neglected and abused my their mother, I would have to stop saying that they are...then, and only then, people might believe me(!) (In all due respect, this is also precisely the opinion expressed to me by more than one of my former attorneys.)

His advice to me was that I keep silent about my children's suffering - their constant psychological torture, neglect, physical abuse, alienation from their father, exposure to drug use and alcohol addiction, etc. I should immediately cease my "butting heads" with her by continuing to pay for all of the children's expenses while quietly paying her all the hundreds of thousands of dollars more the court had ordered me to pay her, and by ending my protests over her failure to spend this money on behalf of the children, or her refusal to allow my court ordered visitation times or even communicate with my children. He even suggested that I might just go away from my children until they turned 18 and allow her to raise them throughout the remainder of their childhood in this their terrible environment as a means of defusing the situation! He then expressed his concern for meeting dinner companions on time, suggested I pray ("It's the only thing you can do."), and left - also declining my request for accompaniment at the next court hearing.

Upon hearing of my frustrating conversations with the priests, the two court ordered evaluators decided to try to schedule a meeting with the latter priest themselves. They eventually spoke with him in person for approximately two hours. (I was present for about the last 20 minutes.) After the priest left, the L.C.S.W. and Ph.D. expressed to me that they had thoroughly explained the nature and depth of their investigation of the case, and explained in no uncertain terms the seriousness and frequency of the abuse of the children at the hands of their mother. They also claimed to have repeatedly expressed to the priest that (in their opinion) the Catholic Church practically runs DCFS, and that in his position within the Church, one phone call from him to one of two priests particularly involved with the department would get the ball rolling on an investigation, and go along way towards the protection of my children. He refused to make any suggestion that he would make such a call.

One of the two evaluators - both of whom are Jewish - stated out of frustration that throughout the conversation with this priest, he kept thinking about the Catholic Church's silence during the Holocaust, and how this experience with this priest gave him a whole new appreciation and insight into the phenomena. They also both communicated that in 40 some years of collective experience, they had never seen a case where clearly abused children had such an array overwhelmingly powerful potential advocates that inexplicably chose to do nothing to help.

After this episode, I gave up on ever getting any help for my children from the church I had attended for the last 37 years and my family has been a part of for the last 150 or more. I sought the help of the leader of what could be comparatively described as a more left-wing, Pentecostal congregation. I had attended several of his services years ago, and been impressed by the enthusiasm, faith, and can-do attitude of both he and his church's congregation. I hoped he would have more of a "practice what you preach" attitude than I found in the Catholic Church. I didn't expect him to know exactly what to do, but I hoped with the active leadership and commitment he exhibited during his services, he would do SOMETHING to help my children.

I eventually met with this man at length. He seemed genuinely concerned for me and my children (infinitely more so than  the latter two clergymen). He was familiar with the children's mother. He stated that three local policemen were members of his congregation, and that he would arrange within a few days to discuss the situation with them at length. After doing so, he would  get back with me on how he might be able to help the situation. At the time of this writing, that was about 2 1/2 months ago. I have never heard back from the man, and am quite certain I never will.