By John Rather
New York Times
September 12, 2004

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre is inviting Catholics who were sexually assaulted by Long Island priests or church employees to join a victims' support group that will be run by a diocesan employee. Critics are expressing doubts about the church's motives.

The diocese, which is facing lawsuits by more than 40 people who say they were victims of abuse within the diocese, said it was offering the group sessions at the request of victims themselves -- though not necessarily those bringing the lawsuits -- as a way to heal their spiritual wounds and bring them back into the church fold.

''This is the diocese reaching out to people who have asked for this,'' said Eileen F. Puglisi, the director of the diocese's Office for the Protection of Children and Young People and the church official in charge of the support group. Mrs. Puglisi said the first meeting would be Sept. 20; she would not say where it would be but confirmed that it would be on church property.

Mrs. Puglisi said she expected about 10 people at the confidential sessions, which are open only to victims and their families. She said that more groups in several different locations in the diocese might be formed later, depending on the success of the first group.

Critics of Bishop William F. Murphy, the leader of the deeply divided diocese, expressed skepticism about the diocese's stated reasons for holding the sessions and questioned why victims would attend.

''There is something odd about it,'' said Patricia Zirkel of Babylon, the co-chairwoman of Long Island Voice of the Faithful, a group of parishioners that has asked Bishop Murphy to resign for the good of the diocese. ''Any reaching out to survivors is a good thing, but every survivor I have heard speak has a profound distrust of church personnel. Why they would then approach the diocese to get up a support group is beyond me.''

Another critic said that victims who attended the sessions faced further victimization. ''It's going to be very traumatizing for victims to come back to get help from the very institution that victimized them in the first place,'' said Laura Ahearn, the executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, a nonprofit group in Stony Brook concerned with preventing sexual abuse of children.

Ms. Ahearn, a parishioner of St. James Roman Catholic Church in Setauket, said she felt revulsion when she heard about plans for the support group. ''Bishop Murphy was a lieutenant of Cardinal Law,'' she said, referring to Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the archbishop of Boston who resigned in 2002. ''Together, they orchestrated the largest cover-up of sexual abuse of children in the history of our nation. And he is suggesting that victims come to him for help? It makes my skin crawl.''

Sean P. Dolan, a spokesman for the Rockville Centre diocese, said that Bishop Murphy was not available for comment. In public statements Bishop Murphy, who moved from Boston to his current post in 2001, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing involving abusive priests in Boston. But he has also declined to be interviewed on the subject.

Mr. Dolan said the support group was part of what he called a multifaceted approach that included paying for individual counseling for victims, beginning three years ago. ''The perception may be that this is the first outreach to the victims of sexual abuse, and really we have been working on this since 2001,'' he said.

Mr. Dolan reiterated that victims suggested the support group. ''It's assumed that since they asked for it, they will participate in it,'' he said. ''We're not forcing anyone into it.''

Melanie L. Little, a lawyer in Garden City representing about 25 plaintiffs in sexual abuse cases against the diocese, and Michael Dowd, a lawyer in Manhattan for another group of some 30 plaintiffs, said they knew of no clients who had requested the support group. ''A lot of my clients would be hesitant to go back to the place of their abuse,'' Ms. Little said. ''They don't trust the diocese.''

Mr. Dowd said the diocese, rather than beginning its own support group, should have thrown its support to a national victims' group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, which announced on July 20 that it was starting a Long Island chapter. ''Why reinvent the wheel?'' Mr. Dowd said.

David Cerulli of Manhattan, the head of the group's New York State office, said the diocese had refused to print the group's meeting notices in church bulletins. He also noted that the diocese had announced its own support group within weeks of the formation of the Long Island chapter. ''It just strikes me as being another one of Bishop Murphy's public-relations schemes,'' he said.

Mr. Cerulli said the Long Island chapter, which has met twice and has a mailing list of about 25 members, had declined an offer from a Protestant church for a free meeting room and was paying for meeting space. ''It's very hard for victims to go into a church, much less to a support group,'' he said. ''It's kind of like asking rape victims to return to the scene of the crime in the hopes it will lead to healing. It doesn't make sense to me.''

Mrs. Puglisi said that such a view was in error. ''I have found that there is not one size that fits all,'' she said. ''There are people who don't want to go into the church, but there are also people who are looking to the church for healing.'' She said this was especially true for people who had been in counseling for abuse and were now ready to try to forgive the church for what had happened to them.

Representative Peter T. King, a parishioner at St. William the Abbot Roman Catholic Church in Seaford, said the diocese's efforts should be given a chance. ''I don't blame people at all for being skeptical in view of the diocese's miserable record,'' he said. ''On the other hand, I don't want to write this off. I'm willing to wait and see how it works.''

But David McGuire of Los Angeles, one of Ms. Little's clients who is suing the diocese in the sexual abuse cases, said of the support group: ''This may cause more damage than good. Bishop Murphy doesn't actually admit any wrongdoing or any cover-up, and he is saying you can trust him. But reconciliation can't really begin until there is an admission of wrongdoing.''