Some experiences stick with you. Decades later, something triggers the memory, and the old gray cells replay the events in great detail.

Before I worked in mental health, I had been employed with a different agency in another county. I had a case referred to me, involving a 14-year old boy who had been experiencing trouble at home, in school, and in the community. He had come from what appeared to be a good, middle class home. His parents had separated and divorced a couple years earlier, and reading through the case file, I remember thinking that this may have put him "at risk."

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who suspected that his family situation put him at risk. His mother had said that in recent weeks – and those were the weeks where the problem behaviors were noticed – the only person he had a close relationship with was the local Catholic priest. In fact, he was spending more time than usual at the church, where for years he had served as an "alter boy."

Long story short: within 48 hours of my being assigned to the case, the local radio station was reporting that the priest had been arrested for sexually abusing a minor. Then, in a matter of hours, the report was dropped. Not only that, the charges had been dropped. The high-ranking cone heads in Albany had made an under-the-table deal, where the priest accepted being placed in a "retreat" for treatment and prayers. I never had the chance to talk to the mother after this, although my impression from talking to other co-workers was that she was okay with this, as she did not want her family subjected to the "humiliation" associated with the legal process.

I also remember hearing that a year later, that same priest returned for a visit to the community where this happened. Some members of the church held a picnic for him. Many of them were aware of the criminal offense this snake had committed against a minor. But they thought he was such a nice guy, that they held a picnic for him.

The central focus in my telling about this is, of course, that an adult in a position of power/authority used that position to rape a minor. Surrounding that is the strange dynamics that include the legal system, parents, and what pass for "responsible" adults who would hold a picnic in honor of a snake.

Little wonder that kids are "at risk" in our culture.