PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – John Doe number 172 was 13 years old and an altar boy at Resurrection of Our Lord in Northeast Philadelphia when his attorneys say the abuse began at the hands of Father Robert Brennan.
“He would take the kids, build their trust, groom the parents,” said Jeff Anderson, Doe’s attorney, “have them sit on his lap, use their bodies for his own sexual purpose.”
Anderson and his team of attorneys say Father Brennan abused John Doe over the course of a year and a half between 1993 and 1994. But according to the 2005 grand jury report, Brennan abused many more children before the Archdiocese of Philadelphia removed him from ministry in September of 2005.
“Brennan abused child after child after child, and the rule was secrecy,” said Marci Hamilton, one of the attorneys for John Doe 172.