Haines v. Hodges

A civil case was brought in 1994 by T. Jeffrey Haines’ in response to recovered memory of sexual abuse by Rev. J. Faulton Hodge of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina. Haines also named the current and former bishops of the discese and the diocese itself. “Haines, 35, claimed that Hodge repeatedly molested him and gave him drugs, alcohol and pornography for 12 years starting in 1969 when Haines was only 8, and offered assurances that ‘God will forgive you.’” Haines contended in his lawsuit, filed in August 1994, “that he repressed memories of the sexual abuse until they were brought out in therapy in 1993.” The case was corroborated by the successful claim of Jesse D. Hickan, who was molested by the priest in 1989 and 1990 and filed a similar suit to Haines' in the months preceeding Haines' case. Both men had evidence “that church officials—including Johnson, the bishop of the diocese, and Weinhaurer, the former bishop—knew about child sex abuse by Hodges, but conspired to hide it" (Morrison). See also Rosenthal 1994.