Honoring Frank L. Fitzpatrick

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Honoring Frank L. Fitzpatrick

By day Frank Fitzpatrick has been an insurance adjuster, private investigator, high school band director, composer and performer, forklift operator, grade school music teacher and a choir teacher for mentally challenged children.  Yet in his free-time Frank does what he can to help other survivors of clergy abuse heal.  

Frank was sexually abuse by Father James R. Porter starting in the early 1960s.  As part of his own personal healing process, Frank armed with a tape recorder confronted his offender back in 1989 and had a telephone conversation with his offender.  He then went on to track down other survivors of the same offender.  To date he has been in contact with over 200 individuals who were also molested by Fr. Porter.

Back in 1993, Frank and his wife, Sara, founded one of the first organizations that dealt with clergy sexual abuse called "Survivors Connection, Inc" and complied the very first database (sex offender registry) of both alleged and convicted sex offenders, which included perpetrators of various forms of sex crimes including incest.  

Over the years they have communicated with over 10,000 survivors from all over the United States.