- Well, jury selection is underway in a landmark sex abuse lawsuit against Del Barton School, a prominent Catholic prep school in Morristown.

The case, filed by a former student known only as TM, accuses Benedictine monk Father Richard Lott of sexually abusing him as a child in the 1970s.

It's the first civil sex abuse case against the Catholic Church in New Jersey to go to trial, but it's not the first time the school has been in the spotlight for abuse allegations.

Del Barton and the Order of St. Benedict, which owns and operates the school, faces 39 pending lawsuits, while dozens of other cases have already been settled, including that of Billy Crane, who, along with his twin brother, sued the school in 2012, alleging abuse by two priests decades ago, and he joins me now.

Billy, first of all, thank you so much for coming on the show and for being willing to share your story, as I know you've done many times.

What made you and your brother get to that decision?

Why did you decide at that moment to come forward?

It was time to expose the culture at Del Martin.

And obviously with allocations and other students coming forward, we wanted to start advocating for the victims because the school was unwilling to do that and still unwilling to disdain the whole greater Del Barton community has not extended any charity or advocacy for any of the victims.

And we simply came forward to drive a much needed change in the culture.

- Yeah, I mean, I know you mentioned that there were others, but at what point did you realize that you weren't alone, that there was, as you called it, a culture, this culture of abuse at this school?

- When I got out of the Navy, I actually worked in the maintenance department at Del Barton and we had access to the priest's private cloisters for maintenance, such as electrical, changing the light, plumbing.

And the rooms were filled with pornography and women's lingerie.

And it stirred up emotion with me and realized that it hadn't changed.

So this is what happened to me when I was age 10 and 11 at the school, living on the grounds when my dad was a teacher there.

Yeah.

I mean, it was really like a second home for your family, no?

This was a place that you're from.

It really was.

Yeah.

And it was family there.

So that's, and we remained family until we came forward.

We dealt with them behind closed doors and asked them to do the right thing, and they were unwilling to do the right thing, even with all their investigators, their Abbey Review Board.

And that's when, with our attorney, Greg Jennifer Carro, we decided the only action recourse we had was filing our case through the judicial system.

Your case-- No, go on.

Continue.

Obviously, that brought more victims forward.

So we knew we weren't alone.

Have you connected with those victims?

Billy, I know you do a lot of advocacy work.

Your case was settled in 2018.

What have those discussions been like?

Very tough.

Lives have been shattered.

Relationships are tough.

And it's a very ugly subject to talk about.

So it takes a tremendous amount of courage.

And I'm very thankful that I have a really good support group with my family, and particularly my son, Sean.

And it's been great to connect with the victims.

It's a double-edged sword.

It's tragic, and at the same time, it's encouraging.

And I think it's also fair to share at this time, through the litigation process, all that Del Barton did was intimidate us and did everything they could to destroy us.

So my relationship, unfortunately I divorced in 2017 just because it was so overwhelming and taxing.

And I got the same feedback with other victims, including John Ruane, who also has a lawsuit filed with Robbins Kaplan.

And he said, yeah, Billy, you weren't kidding.

And John died earlier this year from a brain tumor with surgery.

So he's no longer here.

And there's several other victims at the school who resorted to alcoholism.

They all have died premature deaths as well.

And so that's, with this case coming forward with TM, it's monumental.

And finally we got somebody that we're going to be there vicariously with and see the whole culture exposed at Del Barton.

And that's really what needs to take place.

They've been very successful with their lawyers intimidating and internalizing the whole culture of abuse.

And the Abbey should be shut down altogether.

There should be no member of the clergy in Headmaster, 'cause once again, all that does is internalize and they control a small rudder steers a big ship.

And the rudder that steers the ship at Del Barton is corrupt and it needs much needed change.

- I'd love to get your take on this.

We reached out for a statement from Del Barton.

Here's what they had to say today.

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety "of the young people entrusted to our care, "and we aggressively adhere to rigorous standards "to ensure their well-being.

"Please note that both St. Mary's Abbey "and Del Barton School are accredited by Presidium, "an independent risk management organization "that audits procedures to ensure a safe environment."

Now that's from both St. Mary's Abbey and the headmaster.

How does that square with you?

It's a PR stunt is what it is.

So there's no validity behind it.

And where do they communicate that there's advocacy for the victims?

And that we're here to support you.

We have a moment of silence.

You're still a part of our brotherhood.

So that's what's lacking.

And Presidium is a joke because Bishop Elias Lorenzo is on the board at Presidium.

And you can look that up.

- He's been accused as well, yes.

- Yes, but he's actually on the board of Presidium.

So is it the rooster guarding the hen house here?

I mean, what's going on?

So there's no-- they have zero minus zero credibility with what they've done for the last 30 years, and that's all they've done is intimidate people.

And so this is a day of reckoning.

It's monumental.

The culture is going to be exposed, and much needed change is coming.

And unfortunately, the whole Del Barton greater community failed miserably in giving their fellow classmates and people that were sexually abused numerous times at the school any support.

Their lawyers have intimidated and created this culture that, once again--and it's an accepted culture among the clergy--this is a never-ending scandal which sees no end.

Today in the courtroom with the jury selection, we want to move forward with ending this scandal altogether and allow the much-needed healing and change to begin.

Billy Crane, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you for sharing your story again.

We appreciate it.

Thank you so much for giving victims and survivors a voice.

It's well appreciated.

Thank you.

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