TOLEDO (OH)
New York Newsday
By Associated Press
March 14, 2005, 2:49 PM EST
TOLEDO, Ohio -- A bishop apologized to clergy sexual abuse victims during a Mass at a church where one alleged abuser once worked.
Bishop Leonard Blair of the Toledo Roman Catholic Diocese read a seven-minute statement Sunday before the congregation at St. Pius X Church in the northern Ohio city.
Part of Blair's statement was required under a court settlement between the diocese and Teresa Bombrys, who has said she was abused as a child by Chet Warren, a former priest at St. Pius.
Blair apologized directly to Bombrys.
He also acknowledged all victims' suffering, praised their courage and encouraged others to come forward.
"By exposing an evil that festered for decades, they make it possible for the healing to begin," Blair said. "And my apology goes to anyone who has been abused whether at this parish or anywhere in the diocese of Toledo."