He was a celebrity pastor at one of Canada’s biggest megachurches. Inside the sexual abuse allegations that brought down Bruxy Cavey, a former pastor, the church’s leadership had chosen to shut him down. At his side were his three sons: James, Joshua and Ryan, young men who went from teenagers to men with a lifetime of experience of spiritual warfare.
For the first time in his life, Cavey was trying to come to terms with the fact that a man had molested his three sons.
“The pain was too much,” Cavey told the Star. “I just couldn’t believe in what was happening.”
The Caveys lived in a house in the small town of Houghton, about 300 kilometres northeast of Toronto. To visit the pastor, Ryan would make the 1,500-kilometre drive every week on his school shift at the age of 14.
The Caveys began the journey with Ryan in the front seat, watching television.
“I didn’t pay attention to anything else,” Ryan Cavey said.
Just before dusk, the two boys made their way into Cavey’s house, the church. When Ryan opened the bedroom door, he expected to find his father and a woman he had been staying with for about a month.
Instead, they were with another man.
“I just panicked,” he said.
He told his father something was going on; his father asked him to make a report.
Ryan did not report the incident, he says.
“I was ashamed, embarrassed, because he was my father,” he said.
“I didn’t know what to do. I’m not going to stand by and do nothing. I knew something was wrong, and I wanted answers.”
Cavey continued to meet with Ryan’s mother, who told him not to tell Ryan. Ryan’s mother said she did not believe what happened. She did not report it because she did not think the crime took place.
“I had to sit and talk to Ryan,” Cavey said. “It was a tough conversation.”
Ryan had been a good boy, his mother told her son. He was