BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Laurel J. Sweet
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Former priest James R. Porter, who first put a face to the horrific sexual-abuse scandal that enveloped the American Catholic church, died last night as cancer reportedly claimed his life at New England Medical Center in Boston. He was 70.
``I'm glad he's dead,'' said an even-toned Frank Fitzpatrick, one of a hundred people Porter is believed to have sexually molested during the 1960s and '70s.
``Death was the only thing that could stop him,'' said Fitzpatrick, 54, whose adulation of Porter when he was an altar boy at St. Mary's in North Attleboro in 1962 led to his abuse. ``I don't believe in hell, but now I really wish there was one.''
Porter, who had been hospitalized since Jan. 26, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., said Diane Wiffin, spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction. He was awaiting trial to determine if he should be civilly committed as a sexual deviant to the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater.