BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman
May 24, 2018
By Ruth Brown
[See also the article as it appeared on the front page of the Idaho Statesman.]
For two decades, Mark Holden kept the secret of the man who abused him: a man he believed was next to God, a man he thought was untouchable.
Holden met the Rev. James McSorley in 1971 at Boise’s Sacred Heart parish. In public, Holden served McSorley as an altar boy. In private, Holden said, the 50-year-old priest soon became exploitive, using secluded time with the children to fondle Holden — and possibly others — on multiple occasions over the course of a year.
McSorley bought Holden’s silence with beer, cigars and money. Holden knew the priest’s behavior was wrong — he just wasn’t sure how to end it.
The 12-year-old couldn’t tell his parents, he thought at the time, in part because he’d been drinking beer. Calling police didn’t even occur to him. Only some of the other altar boys knew of the priest’s actions, including his older brother.
“They robbed my faith — and everyone’s faith,” said Holden, now 58. “…That person was supposed to be the person I could turn to when I feel in trouble. Yet, he was causing my trouble.”
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