Vandal's Act Not Last Word, by Mike Kelly, Daily Record, November 28, 2011

Vandal's Act Not Last Word

By Mike Kelly
Daily Record
November 28, 2011

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/134577843_Vandal_s_act_not_last_word.html

A memorial to victims of clergy sex abuse at St. Joseph's Church in Mendham was destroyed this month.
Photo by JERRY MCCREA/THE STAR-LEDGER

As monuments go, the circular black millstone outside St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Mendham was hardly noticeable unless you happened to be looking for it.

But it's funny what a little vandalism can do.

The stone and a small adjoining garden, dedicated seven years ago to victims of sexual abuse and to call attention to the abuse of local boys by a former St. Joseph's pastor from Paterson, were destroyed recently by what police describe as a man acting alone with a sledgehammer.

The impact has been a reinvigorated focus on the memorial's meaning, especially in light of the recent sex abuse revelations at Penn State University. It also underscores how sensitive this issue can be.

The memorial, which included a plaque citing Jesus' warning in the Gospel of Matthew that anyone who harms a child should be drowned with a "great millstone fastened around your neck," was believed to be the only one of its kind on Catholic property anywhere in the world.

Among victims of sex abuse, the vandalism raised a question: How would the church respond now?

"From the first day of its conception to this present day, the memorial has encountered opposition from many who simply don't get it and don't care to get it," Bill Crane, the memorial's designer and an abuse victim himself, said after hearing that his creation had been vandalized and might be altered.

This incident, however, could turn out to be one of few involving Catholic authorities and the sex abuse scandal to have a positive ending.

The St. Joseph's pastor, Monsignor Joseph T. Anginoli, said Friday that the memorial will be replaced "as it was."

Anginoli's unequivocal promise came as a relief to Crane and other abuse victims who feared the memorial's destruction might give the church an excuse to remove it from St. Joseph's, where a former pastor, the Rev. James Hanley, sexually molested more than a dozen boys in the rectory in the 1970s.

Crane called Anginoli's pledge a "teachable moment" and "an excellent way for the church to live up to its ideals."

Another Mendham victim, Paul Steidler, agreed. "Something that could have been very trying and negative for all can now be the basis for a lot of good," he said.