ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Monday, February 28, 2005
ALBANY -- On the surface, the two men couldn't be more different.
One, a 59-year-old professional, left the area years ago for sunnier climes out West and has been gainfully employed ever since.
The other, a 47-year-old who still lives in the Capital Region, once aspired to the priesthood but hasn't been able to keep a job for very long.
What they share is the experience of having been sexually abused as boys by priests. By the time they turned 13, their innocence and faith were long gone.
The two men are among the first seven to receive monetary compensation from an independent mediation program.
The initiative, overseen by retired Court of Appeals Judge Howard Levine, was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany last year as a way to handle abuse allegations independently.