PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 23, 2019
By Jeremy Roebuck
As a boy raised Catholic in Erie, Pa., Jim VanSickle never imagined that his first trip to Rome would be to talk about the priest who tried to sexually assault him in a rundown hotel room just days before his high school graduation.
But by the time VanSickle arrived in the Eternal City last week for Pope Francis’ historic summit on the issue, that once unimaginable prospect had morphed into an ambitious — some might say quixotic — goal.
“I want to have a private sit-down with the pope,” he said. “I want him to know who I am. I want to tell him what happened to me.”
VanSickle, 55, now of Pittsburgh, is among the handful of Pennsylvanians who have joined scores of abuse victims and reform advocates in crowding St. Peter’s Square as Francis gathered top Catholic leaders here to consider a global response to the crisis that has plagued their church for decades.
Some are victims raging against a hierarchy that enabled their abuses. Others came just to show their support, pressing against barricades and demanding the attention of cardinals with bright yellow T-shirts plastered with mottoes like “Speaking Truth to Power.”
Regardless of their motivation, they have quickly became the darlings of the worldwide media.
“I’ve done interviews with media from about six or seven countries,” VanSickle said Friday from his perch in St. Peter’s Square, where he attracted one camera crew after another. “Poland, Spain, South Africa — I’m still surprised they all want to hear from us.”
Some have even the attention of the conference organizers. Shaun Dougherty, abused as a Catholic grade-schooler in Johnstown in the 1980s, was among a dozen victims invited to share his story with top cardinals Wednesday, the eve of the summit.
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