NEWTON (MA)
Newton Tab
By Amanda McGregor/ Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Now that defrocked Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley has been convicted of child rape, a local woman who tried to blow the whistle early on says she is finally "at peace."
"I feel such a sense of gratitude to the hero who prosecuted him, for this victim's courage to stand," said Jackie Gauvreau, whose allegations of Shanley's sexual terror at the former St. Jean's Church in Nonantum fell on deaf ears for two decades.
"We're at peace, knowing that Paul Shanley, a very sick individual, will not be allowed to hold control over anyone else's life anymore. He is now being controlled, and hopefully for the rest of his life," she added.
A Middlesex County jury convicted the 74-year-old ex-priest on Monday of child rape and indecent assault against a child, bringing an end to a case that came to embody the abuse crisis that shook the Archdiocese of Boston.