LONG ISLAND (NY)
Oyster Bay Enterprise-Pilot
By D.F. Karppi
About 100 parishioners of St. Dominic R.C. Church held a vigil on Sunday, Feb. 27, outside the church on the corner of Anstice Street. Police cars were there to see that things were done properly, said Rich Cieciuch, a Eucharistic minister.
St. Dominic parishioners stood outside the church on Sunday, Feb. 27 in a vigil to help the church heal.
He said of the vigil, "It was a prayerful experience." He explained it was an information gathering project. "The Voice of the Faithful, a national organization, has a project called The Lost Sheep. They and SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) came to pray in the parish and to make an appeal to anyone who has experienced sexual abuse by teachers, clergy or priests, to speak out, so we can have everything come out to see the scope of the problem and to see where the church will go. We realize the damage done to those people [children who have been abused] and that it leads to breakdowns and suicide."
SNAP's healing model is that both survivors and the institution that hurt them must be healed. It focuses on helping individuals and changing the church that allowed the abuse. Monsignor Alesandro said in a printed statement, "The group of visitors who offered prayers outside of St. Dominic's Church two weekends ago hope to raise the consciousness of all people about the importance of reaching out to silent victimes of abuse. They have held similar prayer vigils in several other areas of Long Island.
Posted by kshaw at March 11, 2005 05:51 PM