Last month, CAI's Gilda Geist reported on a religious commune in Orleans that has been accused of abuse by former residents. Two women who lived there told us they were sexually abused by the group's doctor as children.
Now, the Provincetown Independent is reporting that even more women say it happened to them, too.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke to the Provincetown Independent's Jack Styler to learn more.
Gilda Geist Let's start by talking about what the Community of Jesus is, and how its religious beliefs influence its attitudes towards sexuality.
Jack Styler The Community of Jesus is a self-described Christian community in the Rock Harbor neighborhood of Orleans. It describes itself as being in the Benedictine monastic tradition, though it is not affiliated with the Catholic Church. Members at the Community of Jesus follow a "Rule of Life," which is publicly available on the group's website and draws on Christian monasticism. But 31 former members that I've interviewed have said the Community of Jesus is a coercive, high-control group. According to five accounts from women who say that they grew up at the Community of Jesus, they grew up in a tightly controlled environment where adults obsessed over sexuality, and that manifested [as] adults asking questions to teenagers about their sexual fantasies. Women and girls wore long dresses for modesty, and they say that there was a culture of fear and shame related to sexuality at the Community of Jesus.
GG Five women you spoke to said they were assaulted by the community's doctor, Dr. William Velie, who died in 2021. What did these women tell you about their experiences with him?
JS Well, these five women described going to Dr. Velie's office, and in the examination room under the guise of medical practices, Dr. Velie sexually assaulting them. Some of them were minors when this happened. Three of the five women described to me what they say were so-called virginity checks. And this was done, they say, without much, if any, explanation, and certainly without their consent, and [they] were extremely invasive exams that have scarred them for life. Two women also said that they were assaulted by Dr. Velie under the guise of a Pap smear when they were 18 and 19 years old. One of the women said that while Velie conducted this Pap smear, she was in pain and that she had asked him to stop during the examination, but he did not.
GG What happens next for these women? Are they able to pursue justice even now that Dr. Velie is no longer alive? And what about the statute of limitations?
JS Because these women have told their stories after a fair bit of time has passed from these alleged assaults, some of their options have been limited. First of all, as you noted, Dr. Velie is no longer alive, so he is not able to answer for these alleged assaults. Two of the women I spoke to said that they have been pursuing the possibility of bringing a civil claim against the Community of Jesus related to these assaults, but because of statute of limitations issues, as well as the cap for charities at $20,000 in Massachusetts, they have not brought a suit yet. That could be changing, however, if the legislature acts. There is a bill currently in conference that would remove the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases and would get rid of the charitable immunities cap at $20,000. The legislature, however, has not yet passed this.
GG In both of our reporting on the sex abuse claims against Dr. Velie, we asked the Community of Jesus's longtime lawyer, Jeffrey Robbins, to respond to the allegations. So, Robbins wrote to me last month, "I don't think I have ever heard of Dr. Velie." But his response to you was a little different. Why don't you tell us about it?
JS When I reached out to Robbins, he told me that the allegations against Dr. Velie and the Community of Jesus amounted to what he called a "blend of character assassination and guilt by association." He noted that Velie ran an independent medical practice separate from the Community of Jesus, and that there were not any reports of these assaults to a court or medical board when Velie was alive.
