THE SEAN P. MCILMAIL HERO AWARD

The Honorable Mark Rozzi

been working with his colleagues in the Pennsylvania legislature to enact a statute of limitations window so childhood sexual abuse victims get justice. Since joining the House, he has spoken out to let victims know they are not alone and that what they have suffered does not define them!

A first generation American of Italian heritage, Rozzi grew up in a neighborhood where the Church and a Catholic education were simply part of life’s fabric. “Up until the age of 13, I’d say I had a glorious childhood,” he says. “Dad worked, my mother was at home and picked us up from school every day, baseball fields and parks were close-by, and friends and family members were neighbors and playmates. I was truly cared-for at home.” At 13, though, he was sexually assaulted by local priest Fr. Graff — and everything changed.

The Sean P. McIlmail Hero Award was established in the memory of Sean, who was coming out of a difficult time in his life, doing everything he could to bring Father Robert L. Brennan to justice, and who passed away before the prosecution could go forward. Sean’s parents, Deborah and Michael, generously made the CHILD USA SOL Research Institute possible and join CHILD USA at every event for justice for child sex abuse victims. They are family to us.

In March, 2009 one of Mark Rozzi’s very close childhood friends took his own life. Rozzi found himself staring at the firearm that was always in his nightstand, realizing he had two choices after trying to deal with the aftereffects of years of sexual abuse at the hands of Father Edward Graff, a priest whose known victims number over 200 children: He could take his own life to end the suffering, or he could fight!

He chose to fight, and this year’s recipient of the Sean P. McIlmail Hero Award, Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Rozzi, has made it his mission to change laws to protect children and give a voice to victims. Since his election in 2013, he has

He was not the only child present at the time of the rape, and he recalls that as he and his best friend fled, they also told each other they must not say a word, and that they would see each other at school on Monday. However, his mother noticed something clearly was wrong and tried to get him to talk about it. Finally, to get her to stop, Rozzi told her the priest had exposed himself to him, but he refused to divulge anything more despite her questions. That day marked the beginning of keeping a traumatic secret that would cause many years of devastating struggle with guilt, shame, fear and the host of emotions suffered by the sexually abused.

“My mother spoke her mind, and she took action,” Rozzi recalls. “She spoke with the principal of the school, who said he would check into it. Of course, he never did, and he also knew a child had been ripped from school a year earlier due to rape and abuse. However, the principal covered up for the diocese.” After that, Rozzi never again left the school grounds to serve in the rectory, never served as an altar boy.

“Part of the reason I didn’t tell was that I was afraid it would all blow up, that my life as a child would be over,” Rozzi says. “The feelings – you feel your heart is black, that you’re a piece of trash. It kills your soul. You feel guilty that you don’t have the courage to come forward. Many boys at my school were sexually abused, and many adults knew about it. But when something is so institutionalized, many people become silent.” Despite failed attempts to compartmentalize the trauma, keeping that secret became more and more difficult as the years passed.

Following the abuse, Rozzi pulled away from his family a bit, yet still had to attend Catholic high school. He stayed away from home, he says, because he was trying to get away from his own thoughts. Halfway through his freshman year, he started drinking to “blur the memories” and using marijuana to sleep at night. “For many victims,” he says, “these behaviors are an attempt to erase the memories you live with every day. But the feelings are always there.” These feelings also, he says, can cause many missed opportunities, such as an invitation to try out for Cleveland Indians scouts. “I had a bad night and couldn’t get myself to the tryout,” he recalls.

Even more important, like so many victims, Rozzi is devastated the trauma prevented him from growing into “a different man, the man I should have been – a loving friend, the kind of person who would do anything for you, someone connected to people.” It wasn’t until his second year of college that Rozzi reached out for help and began therapy.

“I carried a lot of guilt for many years,” Rozzi says. “If I’d had the courage to come forward, I could have saved my childhood friends’ lives. Sexual predators never stop, and it’s going to take a whole community to make the legal changes that give victims a voice.” On March 29, 2009, Rozzi determined he would fight to make those changes.

He contacted his legislator, Rep. Dante Santoni, to tell his story and ask why Pennsylvania was not passing laws to victims access to justice. He was told that the Catholic Conference of Bishops and the Insurance Federation were powerful institutions that were working to block the bills. In 2010 Santoni arranged what turned out to be a pivotal meeting with Rep. Tom Caltagirone, then head of the Judiciary Committee, to whom Rozzi repeated his story. To his fury, Caltagirone asked him how he could even remember something that happened to him when he was 13 years-old.

“I was never so infuriated in my entire life! How dare he tell me I don’t remember being raped in the shower, memories I’ve lived with every single day,” Rozzi says, noting that one of a victim’s biggest fears – not being believed – had come to pass. He recalls saying “I will be back, we will be seeing each other again,” as he left the meeting. This incident is ultimately what pushed Rozzi into politics. “I 100% ran for office to change the laws for victims,” he says. “Certainly, we do other things in the legislature, but this has been my focus since being seated in 2013.”

On the campaign trail, Rozzi faced all those fears and told his story. He was astonished at how many people broke down to tell him their own stories of abuse that they’d never revealed before.

“When I look back and remember how afraid I was, scared of what people would think of me if I came forward, lacking in self-confidence, suffering PTSD and nightmare as so many victims do, I realize that I needed a shot in the arm. The death of my childhood friend who was also a victim – I’ve lost four of them by their own hands – and that meeting with Caltagirone lit my fire to do everything I had to do to get in the game.

“The laws on the books at the time I ran were not protecting the children, they were protecting the pedophiles and institutions,” he adds. “I would do everything to my last breath to make them pay, and pay dearly for what they have done. Because politicians failed to do their job, I had to do it for them.”

Although Rozzi has experienced some legislative success, there are still battles to win. For example, he is still fighting to create the 2-year window for justice that will allow victims additional time to come forward to sue their abusers, when statutes of limitation typically expire. He points out that many grand juries have recommended this window, and that as of July this year, 26 states had passed some form of revival window for old claims of sexual abuse to be addressed. In Pennsylvania, he experienced nearly 20 years of error, intrigue and bias.

Rozzi credits CHILD USA with helping to continue pushing for the truth and facts, giving victims hope. “CHILD USA has the real information,” he says, “and that’s why I support them and ask others to join in that support. I won’t stop until we finish the job, and CHILD USA is out there, protecting your children and grandchildren,” he continues. “Without them, maybe we wouldn’t have come this far. Marci Hamilton’s extensive knowledge and expertise on constitutionality is critical as we push forward to give thousands of victims their day in court and the ability to hold people accountable.

“CHILD USA knows the devastation that’s the result of child sexual abuse and stands for victims,” he adds. “Despite the many hurdles that have been placed before us, we need to stand with them, fight with them, to change the laws in every state in the union.” n