Signs and wonders,

Hugh O’NEILL, 1969-1973

THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER AN CAN BE PUBLISHED BY ANYONE WHO WISHES TO DO SO.

Greetings,

I’m send you a copy of this message for your information. As a child, I was inspired by your fellow Brothers and “laymen” that watched over me and about 200 other kids in Sharon Mass. 1967 -1970. I had some good moments there and some really horrorable moments. In fact, I was thinking at the time to become one of you and join your order when I was old enough. Now I’m glad that I did not. If I were part of your order and saw anything the resembled abuse especially sexual, I would have exposed it right away.

It is a shame what has come out and a double shame that it was covered up by your people and they were forced to expose something that should have been exposed a long time ago to prevent more children from being damaged. Why, to protect the church’s name, the organization? Now look at it. Wow! I’m sure it if I were sexually abused in that place everyone would have heard about it a long time ago. You can be certain about that.

How your people allow something like this to go on for such a long time. In fact, it’s at least three or four generations of abuse. I thought you guys were cool and I had a very high respect over the years in my mind and in my heart. I heard of the scandal out here in Berlin Germany, but thought nothing of it. I thought to myself: ‘Ah, it’s just priests’. I just simply ignored the stories that came out. Of course, I thought that it is a shame. But now that I know that your organization is also involved in this huge sex scandal, I am appalled and very very very disappointed.

What started it for me was I decided to look up Brother Manderville and found one thing about him and his brutality at the time. The words “Sacred Heart in Sharon Mass.” jumped out and hit in in the face like Brother Bernard did in the hall that day.

I’ve spent two days reading about what your people did. I think I would have to read for the next six months to a year to know everything or mostly everything that happen to my fellow students in the schools of your order. My mother worked hard and sent me there to be protected from being a criminal in the streets of Brooklyn New York. And to think that all this dirty sh*t was going on around me at the time. She took me out before I could graduate. I wonder if she did that because she heard of the abuse.

1294 cases! Ha! I can hardly believe my eyes and it breaks my heart to know that so many of you were or are perverted. You can fandom how deep it cut into my soul.
“The Brothers of the Sacred Heart spokesman, Brother Robert Croteau, said these allegations are particularly difficult because both of the orders’ Massachusetts boarding schools closed in the 1970s.

Were the schools closed because, the abuse was so ramped in these locations? If so, your organization recycled the perverts.

“Many of the brothers involved are dead and many of the alleged victims were very young children. The ’60s and ’70s were also a time of transition for how the state handled children in its care. There was no Department of Social Services and the state was moving away from putting kids in large institutions and orphanages into placing them in smaller homes and foster care.”

Oh! There is a sense of relief when I read between these lines “Many of the brothers…are dead.” You guys were the “Social Services” of the time. It was your responsibility to take good care of us to protect us and watch over us. That is way our parents sent us there. And your people your follow Brother just fu*k it all up and now your organization has to pay the piper.

Perhaps, you are one of the good ones like Brother Pervonchie (Check spelling) (nick name: Pudge) was or is. And if he still is, tell him I said thanks for the inspiration and guidance and I can only hope he was not aware of the filthiness as I was not aware that was all around us at the time. The rest can go direct to hell, if it exists!

I’m glad and “Thank God” that this has come out in the open and finally something is being done to expose these rotten people.

Corbett Santana
Sacred Heart School Sharon Mass. 1967 – 1970

Brother Manderville, Brother (BIG)John, Brother Louie (Nick Name: chin)and Brother Pervonchie (Check spelling) (nick name: Pudge). There are the men I remember by name. Each had their own method of punishment. I was in Sacred Heart Sharon Mass. the years were 1967 – 1970.

Getting your as kicked by the brothers was common. To the point where some of my fellow student were so used to it that when they would turn their backs on the teacher after getting their head knocked hard, I mean really hard, they would smile and make funny faces with glassy eyes from the beating on the way back to their seats. There were times where I thought some of them enjoyed it.

I would do everything to avoid get banged by these motherf**ker.

Let start with Brother Pervonchie. His saying was “You must always tink before you do.”; placing his right index finger pointing straight up and pounding the base of it on the right side of his forehead. He was a hitter but, not as bad as the others. I liked him and have nothing bad to say about him. I add him to the quartet because; I want to show that all of them were not devils.

He was cool for me.

It is true that most of us were looking for attention and needed it and I was one of them. In fact, I found my father image in a few of these guys.

Brother Louie he had white hair and lot of dandruff his shoulders were always salted with white specks and he had a moldy smell. The one thing he would do is beat the shit out of kids who did something wrong in the classroom. One day, he tried to get me on his choppin’ block and I did not want to go to the front of the class to beaten in front of everyone. We had these old time desks with cover you can open and place your books in it had an ink well whole which of course we did not us. There were four rows of desks in each of class rooms two rows together on each side. He came down the middle of the class room and reach over to try to grab me. I pulled away and stood up. Every step he took towards me to get around the rows of desk, I took one. He told me to leave the class and I sat outside on the stairs not knowing what to do and what would happen to me after the class was finished. The principal, by chance, was coming up the stairs and saw me sitting there. Now, he was a big guy more on the husky side and everyone took him really serious. You did not play with him. I forgot his name. He asked: “What I are you doing here?” And as I said I was thrown out the class, I saw very bright stars in a sea of red. He hit me so hard I almost passed out. I thought that I got away with an ass kicking and he came finished the job.

One of the strange things he would do is hold your head against him when he had you in the front of the class. He would do that when a student made some kind of disturbance. He would grab you close and look over your head. I think it was his way of getting cheap thrills.

He is guilty of physical and psychological abuse of many children, including me, during my stay in the place.

Brother John was a very tall man black hair and very big hands. No body messed with him. His form of punishment was the wooden stick. I never saw him use it but, heard what he would do with it and it was enough for me to be cool in his classes. Beside the wooden stick, he has a very special and effective way of achieving control over us. That was his index finger up side you head. He would come to you and ask you to come closer. And then bang! He pop you in the head by holding his index finger with his thumb and letting it loose on the side of your head; Got it one time and it really hurt.

He is guilty minor and justified physical abuse but, in the end he was a good man.

Brother Manderville black hair also and I guess a handsome man. Funny I don’t really remember his face but, I remember his dirty deeds. He is the reason why I take the time to share what happened to me. I never had the chance to share this with anyone. I finished the year (1970) and my mother took me out of that place; probably, in good time.

He had a parachute strap about 3 inched wide and 10 to 12 inches long. And he used it on a regular basis.

There was an episode where 13 guys/kids ran away at the same time. They picked them all up with in three days and had trouble finding one of them. He returned about a week later. I remember the dorms were about 100 kids would sleep. They had two floors like this. And yes before dimming the lights (9:30pm) he would say “good night” and all of us would say in return “Good night, Brother”. And yes he would prowl. I guess at about 22:00/10pm he would turn the light completely out and all you could see was the light from the bathroom doors. That’s the setting.

All the kids who ran away were told to stay standing that night and with the light dimmed lower than usual, he went to all 12 of them and wacked them more than three time each with that dammed parachute strap of his. It was a horror for me. Wack! Wack! WACK! WACK! And the crys after. He hit them and made sure that they would cry out before he stopped. When I think about this stuff now, I realize that this man (if you want to call him that) was such a fu*king sadistic bastard and did not deserve to wear that robe, tassels and cross that hung on the end it.

Another time a kid named Ernesto was trying to be slick. He placed a book in his pajamas. I remember that the wack did sound strange. It was quite for a moment and then I think he hit him at least 10 times maybe more and you could hear the slap of the belt on his ass. It was beyond crying. He made him whimper. I mean almost moaning. Not Bulsh*t!

He’s what happened to me:

I had asked him to give us a 15 minute warning before he blew the whistle which was the signal for everyone to come in and line up for study hall after playing outside. He agreed to it. You see we were into flying kites and need time to bring them down. Keep in mind he said he would give us an early warning so we can bring down our kites. The whistle blows and of course, everyone heads towards the building for line-up. I was there with two or three other kids and all of were surprised that we did not give an early warning. I was the last to get my kite down and headed towards the building. As I got closer to the door, I realized he was taking the kites away from the other and he was not careful about it. He was breaking them as he grabbed them for the others. I decided that he was not going to take mine without a fight. I tried to get in thru the window to go around him somehow and managed to get on the other side of the pool table from him. Sort of like what happen with Brother Louie. He took a step and I took a step away from him. So, in frustration he asked two of the other kids to catch me. I did I gave up immediately, because these guys were my friends and handed over my kite. I heard the crunch of the wooden sticks as Manderrville grabbed it from me.

I started to yell at him in front of everyone and followed him to his usual standing place where he would watch us while we played inside. He threw the kite into the room behind him as I was continually, at that point, screaming at him telling him ‘it was not fair’. ‘You said you would give us a warning’ etc. He just stood there. I expected him to destroy me on the spot but, nothing happen. He just stood there. When I finished, I asked him: “Do you have anything to say.” No answer and continued ignoring me. I walked away with my back to him. Since, then I never walk away from anyone who I’m arguing with my back towards them. I took a few steps and heard my name being screamed out by a couple of the other kids. He attacked me from behind by running up to me and pushing me with a force that sent me flying/sailing then slamming into the floor and then sliding several feet.

As I got up, he was back in his position. I challenged him to attack me from the front like a man. He continued to ignore me. Blew his whistle for the line-up and we all lined up including me.

He made an announcement that I should stay where I was until he returned. Everyone left and I was there alone. I guess he expected me to run away, but I didn’t. In fact, I believe to this day he wanted me to run and he was surprised that I was still there waiting and knowing I was gonna get my ass kicked by him in private.

He told me to follow him and we went to his room which was connected to the dorm room and there we were looking at each other. He started to explain stuff to me and I was not interested at all. In fact, I knew the routine and had decided that I was not going to let him to that to me. He was wrong in my mind and that’s it! “I’m not pulling down my pants for you to beat me with your parachute belt. Call my mother!” is what I said. In the end, he convinced me that this cannot go unpunished. I agreed to three lashes on each hand.

C. Santana
August 12, 2010

There was one kid in the dorm that night after night would end up in Brother Manderville’s room and come out crying after a period of time. He was sexually abused.

Neil