Sexual Abuse

Oprah: Have you been able to release the shame?

Tony: Yes and no. Slowly I am getting to the point where I do see a positive aspect to all of the pain that going through this process caused.

Oprah: I was shameful for so many years and I realized the reason I was ashamed is because I took responsibility for [my abuse]. I blamed myself for it. So you can release the shame when you realize that it wasn't your fault.

Tony: The hardest part for me was, all along my biggest fear was that had I stood up the first time, maybe somebody wouldn't have followed. … There's five or six other guys whose families are affected in the same way that mine is.

Oprah: If it had happened to you now as an adult or if it happened to you in the mind frame that you are now, you would stand up. But you were a little boy. This was your priest.