'I just hope God punishes him.' Yorktown man reveals allegations of sex abuse by Catholic school teacher
Arthur James Ralph is a married father of two who says he was sexually abused by former Catholic school teacher Edwin Gaynor while playing on the basketball team at the Church of St. Bernard in White Plains in the 1950s and 1960s.
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A Yorktown man has broken more than six decades of silence to share his stories of childhood sexual abuse allegedly committed by a trusted Catholic school teacher.
Arthur James Ralph is a married father of two who says he was sexually abused by former Catholic school teacher Edwin Gaynor while playing on the basketball team at the Church of St. Bernard in White Plains in the 1950s and 1960s.
"He calls me over and he says, 'We're getting new uniforms and I want you to try on some of the uniforms,' so I went in there I took my clothes off, and he put white liquid all over me and started massaging me. Down my legs," he says.
Ralph claims Gaynor molested him between 1958 and 1961, but he kept the alleged abuse a secret because he was afraid his parents wouldn't believe him.
"I was afraid if I said anything, I wouldn't play basketball. My life was basketball," he says.
It was a decision that Ralph says has haunted him throughout his entire life.
"I was PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. My wife's a saint. I just hope God punishes him," he says.
Gaynor has since died.
Ralph is the latest plaintiff in an explosive lawsuit that has dragged on for four years.
The suit alleges the New York Archdiocese and three local parishes, including St. Bernard, knew about Gaynors' abuse but failed to stop it for nearly four decades.
"They can only push it off so long. I blame the church 100%," he says.
In a statement to News 12, a spokesman said the archdiocese was committed to a swift and just resolution of all legitimate claims. It would not comment specifically about the allegations against Gaynor and church leadership.
