WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, a Catholic priest from New Jersey, will lead leafleting and a small demonstration Tuesday on public property outside the main gates of the College of the Holy Cross.
He expects to be at the main gate by 9 a.m. and will pass out leaflets throughout the day. Rev. Hoatson said he also expects to be joined by representatives of Voice of the Faithful, including Daniel E. Dick and Marjorie Dick of Worcester, and George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, a clergy abuse survivor.
Rev. Hoatson said David A. Lewcon of Uxbridge, a clergy abuse survivor, may attend with his “Cross of Shame,” a large wooden cross that bears the names of area priests accused of sexual misconduct and others that Mr. Lewcon believes covered up or enabled abuse.
The issue is the college’s refusal to rename the Millard Art Center on campus; Rev. Hoatson and a Lancaster, Pa., woman say the art center is named for who they called a “serial pedophile.”
Patricia Anne Cahill, a niece of the late Rev. Daniel F. M. Millard, has said she was sexually abused repeatedly by the priest when she was a child. She received $6,000 for counseling from the Diocese of Camden, N.J., after reporting the alleged abuse. Ms. Cahill is ill and will not attend the demonstration, Rev. Hoatson said.
Members of the Millard family deny that Rev. Millard abused Ms. Cahill and they have declined to rename the art center. The college, after consultation with the Millard family, said that while the college takes allegations of sexual abuse seriously, the name will remain the same. Ellen M. Ryder, spokeswoman for the college, said yesterday they would not comment at this time on the planned demonstration.
Rev. Hoatson, who said he was sexually abused as a young man by two members of the Irish Christian Brothers, said his impetus for holding the demonstration for Ms. Cahill is that he is founder and president of Rescue & Recovery International Inc., a nonprofit organization which provides assorted direct services to survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
The intent of standing outside the gates of Holy Cross is to make returning students and their parents aware of the issue involving the art center, he said. “They should know that the building is named for a serial pedophile,” he said.
Rev. Millard, who has been dead for more than 30 years, is a Holy Cross graduate. The Millard family, including the late Charles E. F. Millard, the priest’s brother, were benefactors of the art center. Mr. Millard was at one time a Holy Cross trustee. The building contains a bronze plaque with the likeness of Rev. Millard. Ms. Cahill said the college should at least remove the plaque if it does not want to change the name.