Victims of Abuse Cap Meeting with South End March

By Matt Byrne
Boston Globe
January 9, 2012

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/01/09/victims-abuse-cap-meeting-with-south-end-march/voNiD1L9ZG6OL8HBpkBIcJ/story.html

Several dozen demonstrated outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross yesterday. Lifting or extending statute of limitations rules is the prime focus of some in the anti-abuse movement.

It’s a stretch of sidewalk like many others, but to Steve Lewis it remains sacred ground.

He was among several dozen who gathered yesterday outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, carrying signs and telling the stories many kept inside for decades.

“This is where it all started,’’ said Lewis, 54, who said he was abused as a child in a Lynn parish. “This is such an important, special place for the victims, the survivors.’’

The demonstration marked closure for a weekend conference that focused on the scandal. Victims and activists organized the gathering to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the news coverage that documented a widespread coverup in the Archdiocese of Boston of sexual abuse among clergy.

On Saturday, about 75 turned out for the event; nearly as many marched at the cathedral yesterday. For some, the sidewalk pulpit has endured for more than 500 Sundays. While priests have said Mass and parishioners have received communion inside the cathedral, victims of abuse and their advocates have held vigil outside Holy Cross, said Eva Montibello, a demonstration organizer.

“The folks here in Boston who were on the sidewalk in 2002 were heard around the world,’’ said Helen McGonigle, 50, who was abused in East Greenwich, R.I., in the late 1960s, and stood with a picture of herself as a child. Next to her, a woman held a sign bearing a photo that showed the face of her abuser, Brendan Smyth, who died in prison in 1997. Smyth was convicted of molesting more than 140 children in Ireland, she said.

Of a half-dozen parishioners approached by a reporter, only one would discuss the marchers and the abuse scandal.

After she left the 11:30 a.m. Mass, Nancy Foster said the recent accusations against former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky gave her reason to reconsider how widespread sexual abuse can be. She said she favored the lifting of statutes of limitations that prevent some accusers from getting their day in court. “It seems like it’s happening everywhere,’’ said Foster, 54, of Boston, who added that the church does not have a “monopoly on pedophilia.’’

Lifting or extending the statute of limitations is the prime focus of some in the anti-abuse movement, who say it is the most powerful tool to help future victims. Because most victims are children, accusations can take years to surface, Foster said.

“A lot of people who are abused block it,’’ she said.

Marci Hamilton, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and author of “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children,’’ said the fight against the statute of limitations is the new frontier for advocates against abuse.

“I don’t think people knew how many survivors were out there,’’ Hamilton said. “It really took 10 years of education.’’

Now the fight will be in state legislatures around the country to change laws, she said.

As the group walked around the cathedral’s perimeter, Robert Hatch said he still fights the anxiety and depression that followed his abuse. “This is very emotional for me,’’ said Hatch, 54.

While some said the conference was a step toward healing wounds left by years of silence, he placed the blame squarely with church hierarchy. “I tried to reconcile with the church, but I can’t,’’ Hatch said. “It was soul murder. It ruined my faith.’’

Matt Byrne can be reached at mbyrne.globe@gmail.com