Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A former Western New York resident now living in Florida is coming forward saying she was sexually abused by a priest in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Ann Fossler says the abuse has lifelong effects. "It affected my childhood, my adulthood, and I believe there's actually intergenerational trauma that gets caused by all of this. Because I was so young when my abuse occurred, I really didn't have a childhood. I lost my innocence quite early, and it has colored the rest of my life," says Fossler. Fossler says she was sexually abused by Monsignor John M. Ryan, then known as Fr. John M. Ryan about 20 times from about 1958 to 1961 when Ann was about 6 to 10 years old. Ryan was assigned at the time to Queen of Heaven Church in West Seneca.
Fossler says she's speaking out because not every victim is in the same position she's in. "I am a retired mental health professional. I have a supportive husband, and I'd like to speak not only for myself, but for those who are more at risk if they step forward because they don't have a support system, maybe they're worried about employment. So I feel an obligation not to just tell my story, but to speak for others," she explains.
Fossler says Ryan would abuse her in his car and in a cabin he had in Bliss. "He had been, I guess, associated with a parish there at some point in time, I think, but he had a cabin in the woods. So it was in the car and then in the cabin in the woods, and there was never anybody else present. It wasn't a situation like it was a retreat or anything. It was me as a very small child and a very large priest," describes Fossler. Ryan also visited the family home. "Frequently he would bring his slides from his vacations. It was in the day when we had turntables of slides in a screen, and he would come over and show his pictures. And then he was, he became very much the family advisor. My parents were working class people. They were they were lovely people, but they were in awe, not only of his clerical position, but also of his superior education, so he became the family advisor. Told my brothers and sisters where to go to college they were significantly older than I. Basically, really became the family head for a while, because my parents trusted him so implicitly." Because of that, she feared speaking up back then. "It was the 50s. My parents were Irish Catholics. Their very identity was being Catholic. My mother later became the church secretary. My father was involved in the Knights. They were founding members of the parish of Queen of Heaven church. I felt it would destroy them. Even later in life, when I was more aware of what had happened, I felt that I would be destroying them and their very identity. So I kept quiet. And this is again, before I knew about others," notes Fossler.
Fossler says she was re-traumatized by the way the Catholic Church handled the claims. "Like most people who have been abused, I was sure I was the only one. I stayed very involved in the church, because I thought John Ryan was a one off. This was a fluke. So I had no idea until much, much later in my life that this was a systemic problem when I was living in Wilmington, when, when the Diocese was sued, then I saw the stuff about Boston, and I was truly horrified," says Fossler. "I had no idea. None of us as survivors ever talked to each other. There was no system of support for us. It was covered up for decades when people who had the power to stop it chose not to."
Fossler says it's important for her and other victims to tell their story in open court. "I think we are seen As a number. I am something like A. B. DOE 89, but we're not numbers. We're real people with real lives that were impacted by all this and fought back and kept ourselves. I Was engaged in society, but many survivors didn't even make it," notes Fossler.
Fossler says the pain has inadvertently transferred to her offspring. "I was anxious. It's sort of once you've been abused, even when you function well, I have a master's degree. I have a lovely husband, a lovely home. There's always a cloud in the sky. You're sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I think I, unfortunately, probably imparted that kind of thinking to my daughter, certainly without intending to. So I think this, this really does affect not just the victim, but their spouses, their children. There's a circle of people around you that are all affected by this in so many ways," explains Fossler.