ALBANY (NY)
Times-Union
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
First published: Monday, September 12, 2005
ALBANY -- Half-a-dozen Albany police officers ensured that protesters abided by a 6-day-old restraining order Sunday, keeping them no closer than 100 feet of Holy Cross Church, where a priest they claim is guilty of abuse was celebrating Mass.
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It was the 17th week that demonstrators from the local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have picketed outside the Western Avenue church, but it was the first time that a court order forced them across the street -- where at least one homeowner turned on his sprinklers.
"We're peaceful people," said protester Timothy Sawicki, 46, who says he was abused by a different priest in Schenectady in 1976. That priest, the Rev. Alan Jupin, has since been cleared by the church, but Sawicki questions the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese's ability to fairly investigate the claims of abuse, which he says church officials tried to cover up.
"If they want us back 100 feet," Sawicki said, holding several large cardboard signs, "that means they're afraid of the truth."