Archdiocese of St. Louis abuse victim speaks out after settling with church for $1M

It was 1993, and Jonathan Dean was 10 years old when his world was no longer fulfilled by the things that make childhood carefree.

He was a fourth grader at the Ascension Catholic Church in Chesterfield when he said he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of now ex-priest Gary Paul Wolken.

Now an attorney based out of Chicago, Dean, 41, decided to speak out and unveil his identity that was concealed in 2018 as “John Doe,” when he first sued Wolten and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

He shared his story for the first time publicly at the University Club Tower in Richmond Heights on Thursday afternoon. His wife, Emily, stood a few feet away in support.

“I was traumatized,” Dean said Thursday. “And from that point forward, the trauma forever changed the course and trajectory of my life.” His child brain immediately repressed the painful memories, so it was years before he understood the deep wounding within him, he said.

He resorted to abusing drugs and alcohol, sex addiction and other behaviors to numb his pain as a teen, he said. Casual drinking turned excessive and life threatening, he added.

Dean also contemplated suicide into adulthood, though he didn’t understand why. His memory returned to him in summer 2013, and he remembered that Wolten raped him four times.

The abuse that began in the early ’90s continued for two years, Dean said.