BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By O’Ryan Johnson
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Eight men whose tarnished careers in the Boston clergy date as far back as 1957 have been defrocked over allegations of child sexual abuse in a vast house-cleaning by the Vatican, the Archdiocese of Boston said yesterday.
“The violations of childhood innocence, under the guise of priestly care, are a source of profound shame,” said Boston Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley. “I pray and hope that the emotional, physical and spiritual wounds carried by survivors will be healed and their trust renewed.”
The highest-ranking priest to lose his collar yesterday, Msgr. Frederick Ryan, was suspended four years ago from his job as vice chancellor, third from the archbiship in control of the archdiocese, when two former Catholic Memorial High School athletes alleged he plied them with alcohol then performed sexual acts on them more than two decades ago.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s a fight, but it’s worth the fight,” said Dave Carney, one of Ryan’s alleged victims. “He’ll die as a regular joe, like the rest of us. Not that he was anything above us as a priest, but that’s how society saw him. Now he’s just a sex offender.”