A funny thing about the truth is that it requires very little. It doesn’t need a team of attorneys and lobbyists. Communication specialists who gaslight the laity, or clergy who preach and do not practice. It doesn’t need the hierarchy who dress as shepherds holding their staffs but for decades have led the laity to dangerous places.
Jay Sefton stood on a platform in a lecture hall under fluorescent lighting and for 80 minutes he told the truth. Alone, with very few props. He played all roles in his one-man play detailing the abuse perpetrated by Fr Thomas Smith of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Jay was an 8th grade student at Annunciation BVM Parish in Havertown when he was chosen to play the role of Jesus in Fr Smith’s locally famous Passion play. He masterfully captures what it was like in the spring of 1985 being a Catholic kid in Delco. With the humor and confusion of a teen he takes the audience back to that time in April 1985. The thrill of the Villanova NCAA championship. His crush on the classmate who played Mary in the play. His desire to get ahold of some Polo cologne. Taken into a closet by Fr Smith and told to strip naked. It all exists at the same time.
Being taken back to that time was a much needed reality check for me. I was a senior in high school at Archbishop Prendergast High School. Fr Thomas Smith was one of our high school chaplains. That spring of 1985, my friend group of St Andrew’s girls from Drexel Hill began hanging out with the Annunciation boys from Havertown. We were Prendie and Monsignor Bonner students, but as it goes in Delco, we still identified by our home parish. Catholicism was not just an hour spent in church on Sunday, it was a 24 hour identity. It was all of friendships, our social circles, our high school sports teams and, yes, our religion.
As Jay took us through his experience of the Passion play that Holy Week in 1985, I knew exactly where I was on Holy Thursday 1985. I was running through the woods in Havertown being chased by the cops who raided our Holy Thursday keg party. I guess we took Billy Joel’s famous line to heart that week “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than die with the saints.” So infamous was the bust that 40 years later it is still referred to as the Holy Thursday Massacre. Who knew that as the cops chased a bunch of teen partiers, the real crimes were happening just a few blocks away at Annunciation Church.
When I read the Grand Jury Reports of sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia I always imagine myself in the situation and what I would have done at the time if I had known. It’s easy to be a hero in your mind and I picture myself swooping in and saving the kids from danger, confronting the priest and calling the police. Jay taking the audience back to the spring of 1985 was my wake up call that as a 17 year old senior in high school at Prendie if I had heard rumors that our high school chaplain, Fr Smith, was abusing the boys in the Passion play, I would have done nothing. Actually I might have laughed and thought those boys will say anything to get out being in the play.
If Jay had told of the abuse anytime shortly after, he probably would have been met with confusion and disbelief. ” But you loved playing Jesus” “You were so happy about the Villanova win” “You had a crush on Lisa” “You wanted a bottle of Polo cologne” It is an education on the dynamics of abuse. It fills the holes that people can often poke when they won’t believe a victim because “you seemed so normal.”
In 2007 his father sends him an email titled “the bastard” with news articles of the “sadistic and depraved behavior” of Fr Thomas Smith and asks Jay if this happened to him. The humor that runs through the performance is evident here as he doesn’t know what to be more surprised about; that his father actually knows how to copy and paste a link to email or that Fr Smith has been exposed.
Jay takes the audience into the closet where he is ordered to strip naked, on to the cross in the Passion play, and decades later into a meeting with the administrators of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Independent Reconciliation and Reparations program. As an adult in the meeting he appears physically smaller than at any other point in the play. He sits in a chair on stage and relays what it was like to go to a face to face meeting where he was told by the attorney/administrators to tell his “version of the story.” A cell phone loudly rings and at first I thought an audience member rudely forgot to silence their phone but then we learn it is one of the very few sound effects in the play. The cell phone ringing was the administrator who did not have the decency to silence his phone as Jay told “his version” of what happened to him. The “independent” administrators are portrayed as aloof and their spiel sounds like an infomercial for the Archdiocese. No surprise there.
The bishops have successfully helped to block legislation in Pennsylvania that would allow clergy abuse victims their day in court. Instead they tell the laity that victims are “healed” through the administrative plans of small financial settlements and a meeting with attorneys where the survivor can tell “their version” of the story. Just like Jesus in the Gospel when he sent out his team of attorneys….
The dynamics that happen even within a family when sexual abuse is exposed can vary differently. One of the characters that Jay portrays in the play is that of his father. The humor and Delco accent are laid thick in the scenes of his father. As is the tragedy. A father coming to terms that his Church caused harm to his son. It is both sad and endearing as Jay takes us through his father’s one man effort with phone calls and letter writing that he undertakes to somehow have someone take responsibility. Jay is matter of fact with his father that the Church does not care. He is sadly correct.
The audience at the Philadelphia performance was full of Jay’s classmates from his 8th grade Annunciation graduation class. Video footage of the actual Passion play was played for a few minutes throughout the performance. I wish that every survivor had an avenue to express their truth as Jay has done and had an audience of support from those who knew them when. Powerful, painful, and hopefully healing.
I have learned so much in the past decade from our clergy abuse survivor community. As just a mom who was trying to protect her own kids, it has been an education that the survivors and their families have graciously provided in so many ways. Jay’s play showed me that I would have done nothing at the time. I would not even have believed him. It showed me that abuse happens right along with everyday events and a kid can appear “normal'” even as depraved actions are directed at them. It reinforced what I already knew: the Archdiocese of Philadelphia continues to fail our survivors and children. Jay’s title for the play also gave me a word to describe my relationship with the Church: Unreconciled.
Thank you, Jay. Your talent and truth is something they can never take away.
For more information on Unreconciled :https://www.unreconciledtheplay.com/
Catholics4Change 
Where does the money come from that the Archdiocese of Phila uses to pay for attorneys and public relations? One needs to ask why the ‘ TRUTH ‘ is purposely being hidden.
I am never surprised to read these testimonies. My heart grieves for all who survived and all who didn’t. My heart grieves for all the moms and dads who believed the stories of their daughters and sons experience of abuse. There is an incredible sadness for all of us siblings who wished that we could do something. Our voices land on deaf ears. Why does anyone from the AD of Philadelphia dare to think they can rebuild the life of the church, when there has not been reconciliation wit the people of God?
Wow. So well written and poignant. It’s a mesmerizing read and one that, again, churns your stomach and inflames your sensibilities. The widespread horror suffered by these children at the hands of catholic clergy is hard to digest. But it happened and we need more opportunities to bring it to light. Jay Sefton’s play sounds like a unique and forceful way to reach people. Thank you to Mr. Sefton for his bravery and strength. More exposure is needed to reach even more of the uninformed public. Catholics4Change does such a good job in making this happen.
I actually had tears in my eyes reading this post.I just turned seventy six yesterday.My eyesight is not very good anymore. I lost my wife three years ago
She was sick for several years before that and I was her primary caretaker.It took so much courage to do this play.I wish I could havwseen it.Survivor. Stories still effect me
x
Love you bro. This has been some journey. Its a family of folks who don’t know each other or who’s paths would have never crossed except through this shared grief.
Jim, So sorry to hear of the loss of your beloved wife.
Thank you for being a long time commenter and sharing your story so that we learned about clergy abuse and the lifelong effects on the survivor and family.
Jay’s performance was excellent. To tell the truth it’s going to take a few days to process and understand what exactly happened to my mind and heart during this play. I believe Jay gave us, the audience the gifts of Mercy, Compassion and Love that he was denied by the institutional church. It was heartwarming to see the bus of former Prendie and Bonner students there to support him. I was reminded this week Jesus always kept company with the broken and suffering and confronted and condemned the Pharisees. Jay I hope these modern day Pharisees understand one day what they did to you and continue to do to you. We sin and commit crimes through our senses so it’s no surprise then that healing can also occur through the senses. This play does exactly that it heals through the senses and creates a sense of sacredness that is challenging to wrap your head around.
This is an extraordinarily powerful and necessary reflection. I want to offer a perspective rooted in both faith and the practical reality of how these tragic situations unfold within the structure of the Catholic Church.
There is a vital distinction that is often lost in these discussions — and understanding it changes everything.
The Church — in the true sense — refers to the Vatican and its universal teaching authority. It is a sovereign state, not a church headquartered in Rome, Italy. It provides moral and doctrinal guidance to Catholics around the world but does not directly manage the day-to-day legal, financial, or personnel operations of a local diocese.
A diocese, on the other hand, operates as a registered legal entity within civil society. It owns property. It hires clergy. It pays taxes. And when allegations of abuse arise, it responds not as a purely spiritual body — but as a corporation with legal obligations, risk management protocols, insurance protocols, and lawyers representing its interests within the regional court system.
That is the painful truth for victims to understand — and for faithful Catholics to confront.
The victim seeks mercy. Truth. Accountability rooted in the moral teaching of the faith they trusted. But what they often encounter is a legal machine — slow, procedural, and cold — because it has been shaped by civil law, not the Gospel.
This is not to excuse diocesan failures. Far from it. It is to recognize that victims and their legal representatives must approach these situations with a clear-eyed strategy.
Recent abuse should be reported to the police — not solely to the diocese.
Victims should retain legal counsel experienced in clergy abuse cases — and allow them to handle all diocesan communication.
And dioceses should be judged not by their words — but by their transparency, their willingness to act independently of their own defense lawyers, and their care for the souls harmed by their failure.
There are dioceses that have handled this tragedy with courage and compassion — but sadly, they remain the exception rather than the rule.
The greatest tragedy is not only the original abuse — it is that victims are often left standing alone, holding their faith in one hand and a legal summons in the other.
And that should never have happened.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some dioceses have responded better than others when it comes to handling abuse cases — both legally and pastorally. These are often the ones that embraced transparency early and set up independent review processes.
Examples of dioceses that have demonstrated best practices:
These aren’t perfect solutions — but they show it is possible for dioceses to navigate both legal obligations and provide compassionate, transparent support for victims.
It should be the standard, not the exception.
This whole comment is exactly right! I am taking screenshots as I continue to try to find a way, a process, anything to help me address the Archdiocese of Kansas Ciity, KS so that they may see how the actions of a priest contributed to my son’s death by suicide at the age of 14. They had the “priest” retire, but he still celebrates mass and has faced to repercussions. Thank you for your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments!
Hi Jim, Sorry to hear about your wife. Sending my condolences. You are a good man to have taken care of her.
Fred do you think it’s been formed more by cannon law rather than civil law? Pope Benedict tried to fix some of the cannon laws.The handling of the abuse scandals blew my mind til I understood cannon law was the filter through which the dioceses handled everything. I understand the “deposit of faith” but the Vatican does meddle in the dioceses look at Bishop Strickland. The first time I ever met him he was outside the Bishop’s Conference in Baltimore shaking hands with survivors. He was the only bishop out there. I thought he was a priest because the bishops I saw in Philly walked right passed the survivors and their families. Then unfortunately I got to hear the drunken bishops of Philly mock seminarians and employees that handled survivors of clergy abuse in the archdiocese of Philly. I started praying the rosary cause it was downright demonic and disturbing. Like Jay said to his dad in the play “they just don’t care”.
The Philly bishops, Senior ,McIntyre, Perez, and Thomas drinking and gossiping in the bar at the USCCB conference was something that I wish every single lay person in the Archdiocese could have witnessed. https://catholics4change.com/2019/06/19/on-the-rocks-bishops-conference-cocktails-belies-church-suffering/
“Canon law”
Seeing all this evil at the bishop’s conference and in the stories of survivors sent me running to find Jesus and after meeting more than a few people that have had physical and spiritual healing and having had amazing experiences at Calvary in Israel and Fatima I still believe Jesus exists and loves us all dearly even in our suffering. So please don’t lose hope. After the play Jay was part of a panel talking questions.. He said his anger turned into joy by doing this play even as he continues to seek justice. You could see it in his face. “Where evil abounds grace abounds even more”.