‘We called her mastodon’: infamous New Orleans orphanage’s abusive history ran deeper than ever known

Survivors of child sex abuse by male and female clergy seek justice - but are answered with silence

Geo, the name he prefers, sits in a coffee shop on a rainy afternoon as streetcars clang along outside. He is 64. He arrived at Madonna Manor, the Catholic orphanage he is now suing, in August of 1967, as a ward of Louisiana, age seven.

My childhood was horrific," he says matter-of-factly. My father was an abusive alcoholic, my mother diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. Madonna Manor was a place where dysfunctional parents dumped their children. My mom was subject to electroshock therapy and thorazine. She lost a baby. She had a psychotic breakdown and was placed in a mental hospital. The state took me over."