RIVERSIDE (IA)
The Gazette
By Frank Gluck The Gazette
RIVERSIDE — A photo of Mike Rocca’s sexual abuser, a priest and close family friend, hung for years on a wall in his boyhood home in Iowa City.
Rocca, now 66 and living in Tipton, hated that picture. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell anyone a b o u t t h e abuse 57 years ago until after his mother, a deeply religious woman, died two years ago.
‘‘It would have killed my mother,’’ he said.
Though the priest is now dead, his identity and those of other accused abusers in the Diocese of Davenport should be known, said Rocca, who joined a small group of abuse victims and their supporters Tuesday outside St. Mary’s Church in Riverside.
Inside, an estimated 90 diocese priests were attending a session on sexual abuse.
The group, which was denied admission to the meeting, is demanding the diocese release the names of all ‘‘credibly accused’’ sexual abusers in its ranks, including those who are dead. They also want to take part in future such sex-abuse educational sessions.
‘‘In order to have a meaningful conversation about sex abuse in the church, it’s important to include the victims,’’ said Ann Green of De Witt, a member of Catholics for Spiritual Healing of Grand Mound.