May 24, 2006

A priest and a secret

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Bella English, Globe Staff | May 24, 2006

It was 1970 when James Moran took to the Yellow Pages and began calling rape crisis centers asking for help. No one would talk to him. Men were seen as the perpetrators, women as the victims.

Moran, 25 at the time, was a deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston, and his alleged attacker was an older priest at Sacred Heart in Roslindale, where Moran had just been assigned. On a day off, he accepted an invitation from the Rev. Anthony Laurano to a puppeteer's convention in Connecticut. A teenager from the parish would also be going.

According to Moran, the trio stayed at the home of Laurano's relative. Sometime during the night, he says, Laurano entered his room, held him down, and raped him. The next day, Laurano approached Moran. ``He informed me that he had no remorse, that I had asked for it. He said he used to come into my bedroom at the rectory and watch me sleep," said Moran. ``I was shocked. I was frozen."

More than 35 years later, Moran sparked a controversy in the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., with a homily he gave last month detailing his abuse and criticizing church leaders. Because of his remarks, Moran was relieved of his priestly duties six weeks before his early retirement on a medical disability.

Posted by kshaw at May 24, 2006 07:44 AM