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	Cardinal to Pilgrimage to Churches Hurt in Sex Abuse Scandal O'Malley Plans to Begin Novena This Month TheBostonChannel.com May 12, 2006 http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/9203860/detail.html BOSTON -- Cardinal Sean O'Malley plans to make a pilgrimage of "repentance and hope" to nine parishes where there has been an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests. In a letter sent this week to victims of clergy sexual abuse, O'Malley said he plans to begin a Novena to the Holy Spirit later this month, visiting nine churches across the five regions of the Boston archdiocese to offer special prayers for victims and to apologize for the priests and church officials who hurt children. In Roman Catholicism, a novena is a nine-day prayer. "The Novena services will acknowledge in a particular way the sins of clergy sexual abuse that violated the innocence of children and are an offense against God," O'Malley said in his letter. O'Malley urged victims and their families and friends to consider attending one or more of the prayer services, but acknowledged that many victims find it difficult to be present in a Catholic Church. "Our hope is that these services will bring together survivors, their families and friends, as well as clergy, parishioners, and members of the broader community," O'Malley said in a statement released Thursday. David Carney, who said he was molested by a priest in the early 1980s at age 14, praised O'Malley for offering the special prayer services and for "trying to fix things that he didn't break." O'Malley was named to lead the archdiocese in July 2003, seven months after Cardinal Bernard Law resigned amid widespread criticism of his handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis. The archdiocese spent $85 million that year to settle claims from more than 550 people who were sexually abused by priests. "Did he have to do this? Absolutely not, but he singled out a group of people that were harmed by the Catholic Church, and he is trying to help," said Carney, now 40. Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented more than 200 victims of clergy abuse, said he has received mixed reactions from his clients on O'Malley's plans for the prayer services. "They are a step in the right direction for many victims but unfortunately for many victims, it's too little, too late," Garabedian said. O'Malley has repeatedly offered public and private apologies to the victims of clergy abuse. He has also offered special prayers for victims at Masses. But aides said this is the most extensive series of Masses and special prayer services he has offered for victims since he was installed in July 2003. Barbara Thorp, director of the archdiocese's Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach, said O'Malley decided to visit the churches after numerous talks with victims and their families. "I think he felt that there was a need for this, to really go out in a very personal way ... this is an effort to reach out to the whole community," Thorp said. The novena will begin on May 25, Ascension Thursday, 40 days after Easter when Catholics believe Jesus ascended into heaven, and conclude June 3, the Pentecost, the end of the 50-day Easter season. O'Malley will celebrate Mass during some of his visits; during others, he will offer a prayer service. O'Malley said the prayer services will include "an act of reparation" that will allow priests to join him in "an expression of repentance for priests and bishops whose actions and inactions gravely harmed the lives on children entrusted to their care." Thorp said plans have not been finalized yet as to how the act of reparation will be expressed. "Publicly acknowledging the church's faults and failures is an important element of asking forgiveness of those who have been harmed by the church," O'Malley said in his statement. "The sexual abuse crisis has caused intense suffering for survivors and their families and has been a source of shame and sorrow for our entire church community."
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