Can You Help 2 Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse?
On Wednesday, 7.16.2008, I received an email from Father Bob Hoatson, the President/Founder of Road to Recovery, Inc. (formerly Rescue & Recovery International, Inc.), about two survivors of clergy sexual abuse who are well on their way to recovery and are looking for “pre-owned” cars that will get them around town. One man needs a car to get him about three miles per day to and from the rail station. Another needs a car simply to get around town where he can shop and get to the doctor. One man lives in the Albany, NY, area, and the other lives in northern New Jersey.
If you live anywhere near the NY/NJ area and have an old car that you can donate, call Bob Hoatson directly at 862-368-2800 or email Bob at Rmhoatson1@msn.com.
Here is background information about Road to Recovery (formerly Rescue & Recovery International, Inc.), taken from its website. Click here to read more about this survivor support organization that provides counseling and direct financial support to the neediest of the survivors of clerical sexual abuse.
In response to the emergence of the clergy abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church in 2002, one priest advocate and another priest survivor/advocate collaborated in the development of a “first-stage service” called Road to Recovery, Inc. (formerly Rescue & Recovery International, Inc.) Formally established in 2005, as a New Jersey non-profit 501 (c) (3) charity, it has provided emotional, psychological, financial, and spiritual assistance to survivors as they attempt to recover from the effects of having been sexually abused by members of the clergy. In 2007, a group of Catholics from northwestern New Jersey “adopted” the work of Road to Recovery, organized a business plan for its present and future success, and supported the plan through contributed and financial services.
The two priests involved in Road to Recovery are Fr. Robert M. Hoatson, its President/Founder, and Fr. Kenneth E. Lasch, who has been an advocate for survivors of abuse since 1985. Bob Hoatson is a survivor of sexual abuse while a member of the Christian Brothers and as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Newark. He earned a doctor of philosophy degree from Fordham University in 1987. Ken Lasch is retired from the parish in Mendham, NJ where at least two dozen boys were sexually abused by a former pastor. Fr. Ken has continued his advocacy, unabated, for over twenty years. Both priests are available for assistance to survivors.