Michael Brandt and his family would not only go to mass every Sunday, they would invite the priests over to their house for dinner. They were a devoted Catholic family, so they never imagined that Michael and his brother were molested for years by their parish priest in Corona, California.

“I was angry, but mostly ashamed when that happened to me,” Brandt said. “I thought ‘why didn’t I stop it at that age?’”

The siblings were altar boys at the church their family helped build. With time, one of the priests gained Brandt’s grandparents trust. They had no idea that casual fishing trips were in fact trips to endless nights of abuse.

“That was the whole point, to have access to both us at different times,” he said.

Those excursions required the boys to sleep at the rectory. In the middle of the night, the priest would call the boys one a time.

“He wanted us to touch him, he’d fondle us and after that he would go to the bathroom for a while,” he said.

At first they accepted the invitations because there were excited about exploring new places. Plus there was a game room with “a pool table, pinball machine, a pool in the back, a jacuzzi,” Brandt recalled. “I think it was pretty right for grooming,”

The abuse started when Brandt was 10 years old in the late 70’s. Later in life, they found out that their abuser had been moved from one parish to another in multiple occasions. Both brothers kept the secret for years.

“Back then we were told that the church had all authority, and you don’t do anything to disagree with the church,” he said.

Brandt told his family when he was 25 years old after his brother had been facing serious personal issues. When the family found out, their life was never the same. They felt betrayed, and the sense of guilt invaded his mother’s and sister’s soul.

“I think my brother is permanently broken,” he said. “I don’t think he’ll ever be 100% the person he was.”

Paulina Ospina is a local family therapist, and she said that for victims the first step is to understand that any kind of abuse is never his or her fault.

“As adults. they end up with very distorted view of their sexuality, of ourselves of our worth,” she said. “This leads to drug abuse and substances to numb the pain to anxiety to post traumatic stress disorder symptoms.”

Brandt said he tries to refocus his thoughts and just avoids those dark memories to keep moving forward.

“My son has always been the catalyst for what keeps me in life happy,” Brandt said.

Monsignor Lincoln from Sacred Heart Catholic Church said that much has changed in the past 15 years. The church seems to be more open to finding a solution.

“We want the public to know the truth, that we are not concealing everything, that we want it out in the open and we want it fixed,” Monsignor Lincoln said.

Brandt’s sister, Jennifer Wortham, wrote a book titled a “Letter to the Pope: My Journey of Forgiveness, Faith & Love.” It all started with a letter to Pope Francis, which led to a meeting with the supreme pontiff. The two went on that trip together, and they hope that things with the church will change under Pope Francis’ tenure.

“I think the healing will happen with him ,” Brandt said. “Hopefully those people go away and get fresh, new people in.”

Brandt said he still goes to church occasionally or on certain holidays. That was not the case for years, though.

“I’m more apt to forgive the church then the person that did it,” he said.

Brandt believes giving children access to counselors could help, allowing priests to get married or deacons to offer mass. Regarding victims, he thinks they should go to therapy, talk to someone and that they should be compensated in some way.

“Let it be known, and hopefully it’ll break the cycle,” Brandt said.

Church abuse victim finds healing decades later