Speaking up about what one learns second-hand

Some new details have been published about sexual abuse allegedly committed by composer David Haas.  It squares with what I've learned independently.

National Catholic Reporter (NCR) has published a gut-wrenching article about Catholic composer David Haas' alleged series of sexual assaults and abuse of women musicians.  We looked at an initial report of these allegations a few days ago.  Now, NCR reporter Soli Salgado has interviewed three women who report being victimized by Haas.  They relate in some detail what Haas allegedly did to them.  It's not easy to read.  Rather than my reproducing the detail here, please read the article if you are interested.

The article helps color in the portrait of how Haas allegedly operated.  The women report that Haas used a teen summer camp/school he ran for a couple of decades, called Music Ministry Alive, to identify and groom potential victims.  Haas would shower these teenage girls with attention and ply them with gifts.  It's not difficult to believe that these girls would be flattered and receptive to the great man's attentions, which were cloaked as spiritual experiences.  Salgado writes,

Haas would lead a big concert at this program once each year, with the students all eager to be front row "so that maybe they could see and know you," Megan recalled, particularly the power of him looking at you while he sang the words to his popular song "You Are Mine."

Haas would then encounter them a few years later at conventions and other events, when the girls no longer were minors - and it is then, they allege, that he would commit assault.  The women also reported that, when his advances were rejected, Haas would threaten them with professional retaliation if they reported him.

Haas has denied the allegations.

It has been enlightening for the victims to realize that they are not alone in what they experienced:

But until Ali and Megan had received Into Account's letter, they didn't know they were among many who accuse him of sexual misconduct.
Ali said, "My heart kind of dropped and I realized, oh, this wasn't just a one-off incident with me when he crossed the boundary; this is a pattern of behavior."

At the same time, they are angry that apparently Haas' behavior wasn't exactly hidden:

"My understanding is that it is an open secret in the church community — I just perhaps was never privy to that," Ali said. "But multiple people have said, we always suspected, we heard rumors, he had that reputation — something of that nature."
Now that she has learned that his inappropriate behavior with young people was an "open secret," Ali said she is "extremely disappointed" in those in church leadership who, despite the Catholic Church's scandals of sex abuse, suspected misconduct yet failed to act on it, or still hired him for events, programs and retreats despite the rumors.
"It made me really question how I view them as colleagues and mentors if they have not been able to speak out and advocate for those [harmed], because that's something that we commit to as catechists," she said.
"We owe our community better. We owe victims better."

A woman musician once confided to me that David Haas had done to her what these women allege.  I don't wish to reproduce all the details she told me, but they are very similar to what the women in the NCR article report.  I urged her to speak up about it, but she didn't want to.  I didn't press her too hard about remaining silent, but it's not hard to think of reasons for not making waves - I think it would feel like a huge risk to accuse someone of Haas' stature.

At that time, I was not aware of the organization, Into Account, which has been compiling abuse accusations against Haas.  Into Account now has reached out to the publishers and events organizers which have been providing Haas with the "platforms" he has allegedly been utilizing to abuse women.  In light of this friend's reluctance to take on, all by herself, a high-profile and much-beloved star and the industry which has been, knowingly or not, enabling him, I can definitely see the utility of an intermediary organization like Into Account which is willing to give voice to these women.

Since the Haas abuse allegations have come to light, I've been asking myself: When this woman confided in me, should I have said something to someone?  I'm a customer of GIA, and a member of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians - these are two of Haas' "platforms".   I could have reached out to either of these organizations.  But I felt that I couldn't say something without involving her in some way - otherwise, any report I made would amount to an uncorroborated accusation by a stranger.  My friend didn't want to push it, and I didn't want to make her life more difficult by pushing it without her permission.  I don't know whether I did the right thing.  It makes me ill to think about it now.

I should add: as I learn more about Haas and how he allegedly operated, his music also is making me feel ill.   After reading what Megan said about his song, "You Are Mine", which many people love, and choose for weddings and funerals, I don't ever want to sing it again.  I can't help but wonder if everything - his compositions, his public appearances, the retreats he has led -  whether all this has been an elaborate ruse to lure potential victims into his web.  If I never do another David Haas song again, I'd be okay with that.