Play about Clergy Abuse Retells Cambridge Playwright's Story

By Brock Parker
Boston Globe
March 22, 2012

http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-22/yourtown/31226043_1_clergy-boston-archdiocese-abuse

Cambridge playwright Michael Mack will perform his autobiographical play about talking to the priest who molested him as a boy next week in a local Catholic church.

Mack will perform “Conversations with My Molester: A Faith Journey,” at his church, Saint Paul Catholic Church at 29 Mount Auburn St., next Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.

The play, which premiered in the Boston Playwright’s Theatre at Boston University in January, is being performed with the blessing of the church in the Lenten spirit of reconciliation.

Barbara Thorp, a licensed independent clinical social worker who is the director of pastoral support and children protection for the Boston Archdiocese called the play “a powerful journey of healing and reconciliation,” according to a press release announcing the upcoming performance.

The play is about Mack’s childhood experiences of clergy sexual abuse and his spiritual return to the church years later. After he was abused at the age of 11, Mack wrestled with questions about spirituality and sexuality and he imagined meeting his abuser. Decades later in 2008, Mack did meet up with his former priest.

“One of the biggest surprises was my return to the Church,” Mack said in the press release. “What happened to me as a child profoundly shaped me, but life—like writing—is about discovery.”

Tickets are $15 as a suggested goodwill donation and may be purchased beforehand by calling Carol at 617-666-2855, or they can be purchased at the door.