BishopAccountability.org
	Abuse Victims Slam Church By Vinaya Saksena The Pawtucket Times October 20, 2007 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18938520&BRD=1713&PAG=461&dept_id=24491&rfi=6 Providence - Several survivors of alleged sexual abuse by clergymen gathered to raise awareness of those abuses on Friday, citing a court document filed by the Diocese of Providence as suggesting that sexual abuse has been more common in the church than the diocese has revealed in the past. The group gathered in Jackson Gardner Park, with some members holding signs bearing pictures of victims and accused Catholic church officials, even as rain began to fall at the end of the event. Survivors of alleged abuse by priests spoke, as did Anne Barrette Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an organization spreading word of abuses discovered or alleged in the church via the Internet. In an introductory speech marked by clear, strong emotions, Doyle began by encouraging victims not necessarily to sue, but to speak out, pointing to information in a court document suggesting that more than twice as many victims had been reported in Rhode Island as previously believed. "The (details) that the diocese are hiding are hurting children," Doyle said. "Do not let the diocese spin this. The diocese has too much control in this state." Doyle recited figures allegedly coming from a document submitted in court earlier this year by the Diocese of Providence that appeared to contradict information previously disclosed by the diocese in a public report. According to Doyle's data, the 2004 report from the diocese said 56 priests in its jurisdiction had been accused of sexually abusing young people since 1950. The court document filed this year allegedly stated that 125 had been accused since 1971. Doyle said that those seeking prosecution of priests for sexual misconduct involving children had had better luck in Massachusetts than in Rhode Island so far, saying that authorities there had done a "wonderful" job of investigating these matters. One of the survivors who spoke Friday was Frank Fitzpatrick of Cranston, who said he was abused by Father James Porter while attending a church in Attleboro, before Porter's name became widely associated with such cases. Fitzpatrick found it curious that the document submitted by the diocese this year only covered incidents going back to 1971, while its 2004 report went as far back as 1950. This suggested to him there were more survivors out there, and he encouraged them to come forward despite the consequences. "It's not too late," he said. "I don't care if you're 90 years old or were abused in 1925. Survivors are the ones that are making things happen." Helen McGonicle, a former Warwick resident who is now an attorney in Brookfield, Conn., said she was abused as early as first grade while attending the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic school in East Greenwich. She said her abuser had not only "molested me in every imaginable way," but also threatened her and other girls in order to discourage them from informing anyone of the abuse. She said her abuser had specifically threatened that she could "end up like the body in the woods," a reference to one of several young girls who had been found dead in the town. "They remain suspicious but unsolved deaths," McGonicle said. "While I am here to tell my story, there are many who did not survive to speak out about these unspeakable crimes." Robert Hoatson, who also spoke briefly on Friday, had a unique perspective on the issue, having allegedly been abused by four priests, yet having since become a priest himself. He said he had recently been put on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey after filing a lawsuit against Archbishop John J. Myers. Hoatson added that he had been propositioned in a seminary at the age of 42. This put him in a unique position that he said he did not relish, adding that he would like to see a stop to both the abuses and the silencing of victims. "It's very hard to stay in the institution and put up with the nonsense," Hoatson said. "This is what we go through on a daily basis, and it has to stop." Attorney General Patrick Lynch issued a statement in response to the gathering on Friday, pledging to investigate the newly disclosed information thoroughly. He pointed out that the Diocese of Providence had been cooperative in providing information and that the information had proven accurate when checked. "If, however, through the information released today by BishopAccountability.org, we find that the Diocese has withheld names and/or has not been fully candid in the many conversations we've had over time, this will be very troubling news," Lynch wrote. "Nothing is as repugnant to me as adults who abuse their positions of respect and authority and molest children."
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