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	A Priest and a Secret Decades after Alleged Rape, James Moran Speaks out By Bella English Boston Globe May 24, 2006 http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/05/24/a_priest_and_a_secret/ It was 1970 when James Moran took to the Yellow Pages and began calling rape crisis centers asking for help. No one would talk to him. Men were seen as the perpetrators, women as the victims. Moran, 25 at the time, was a deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston, and his alleged attacker was an older priest at Sacred Heart in Roslindale, where Moran had just been assigned. On a day off, he accepted an invitation from the Rev. Anthony Laurano to a puppeteer's convention in Connecticut. A teenager from the parish would also be going. According to Moran, the trio stayed at the home of Laurano's relative. Sometime during the night, he says, Laurano entered his room, held him down, and raped him. The next day, Laurano approached Moran. "He informed me that he had no remorse, that I had asked for it. He said he used to come into my bedroom at the rectory and watch me sleep," said Moran. "I was shocked. I was frozen." More than 35 years later, Moran sparked a controversy in the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., with a homily he gave last month detailing his abuse and criticizing church leaders. Because of his remarks, Moran was relieved of his priestly duties six weeks before his early retirement on a medical disability. Back in 1970, Moran was too ashamed to tell anyone what happened. He did tell his supervisor that Laurano was gay, hoping that the monsignor would make the connection, but nothing happened. When Moran left the parish for another assignment, he recommended that he not be replaced by another young intern, but he was. He told one other priest of his ordeal, under the seal of confession. With his ordination looming, he had to decide: Could he still become a priest? "The idea of being a virgin and offering myself to the church was blown out of the water," said Moran, who is now 60. He had entered St. John's Seminary after graduating from Marion High School in Framingham . His father had died when he was 5, and his mother was thrilled that her only child was entering the priesthood. Ultimately, Moran decided that all the good works he could perform as a priest would counter the bad he had experienced. And so for 35 years he served as a parish priest, a Navy chaplain, and finally a hospital chaplain in Washington, D.C. It was at the Washington Hospital Center , during Holy Week last month, that he decided to give the homily on the rape. He was set to retire May 31 on a medical disability from the Boston archdiocese for post-traumatic stress syndrome and chronic depression stemming from the alleged rape. To approve the disability, the archdiocese demanded a letter from his therapist and doctor. "My doctor wrote that working for the church was bad for my health," he said. "I had gained over 100 pounds, my cholesterol was up 75 points, my blood pressure had shot up, and I had sleep apnea." In the small hospital chapel, he took a deep breath and detailed his abuse at another priest's hands. "For nearly 35 years I've rationalized that the little good that I can do would offset the evil done to me." But, he said, he had been appalled at the coverups by the church hierarchy, as they moved abusers from parish to parish. "They are more concerned with the things of this world than they are in simple Christian justice," he said. "It is difficult to leave -- I have loved serving the church, but I cannot go against my conscience in standing up to the bishops in calling for them to take responsibility." Throughout his years as a priest, Moran says he kept people -- particularly fellow priests -- at a distance. "I never felt the so-called fraternity of the priesthood. I didn't trust priests, because the ones I went to did nothing." In January 2002, Moran called Cardinal Bernard F. Law and sent him a seven-page letter detailing his charges against Laurano. It took five months to get an appointment. When he finally saw Law, it seemed that the cardinal had not read the letter. "He did not have the foggiest idea of what had happened," Moran said. "When I finished talking, he said, `We'll have to talk to Tony [Laurano], and we'll pay for your counseling.' That was it. There was no warmth." Moran was so angry that he filed a lawsuit and settled with the archdiocese for $90,000 -- money he says he gave away. "To me it was dirty money," he said. "I was more concerned with justice. I was concerned that others would be hurt. I was assured there were no other accusers." In fact, there were other cases in Laurano's file, and later that year he was placed on administrative leave by the archdiocese: He could no longer perform priestly duties. Laurano, who retired in 1995, is due in Hingham District Court Friday for a pretrial hearing on rape charges involving an 8-year-old boy. The rapes allegedly occurred 15 years ago, when he was pastor at St. Mary's Church in Plymouth. Today he is to appear in Brockton Superior Court on four counts of indecent assault and battery on a mentally retarded person over the past four years, described as an acquaintance who lives nearby. Laurano, 81, posted $5,000 bail and is free pending his trials. He did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story. In Washington, Moran's Holy Week remarks did not go unnoticed. The next day the Washington archdiocese called and told him that his credentials were being pulled immediately. "I got the same punishment that Laurano did, and he's a rapist," said Moran. "It tore my heart out." A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington said Moran in effect took his own credentials away. For one thing, the hospital staff, after learning of his comments, was concerned that Moran needed pastoral care and therefore was in no shape to provide it for others. "Without a ministry, he can't have faculties," said Susan Gibbs of the Washington archdiocese. Gibbs also notes that in his homily, Moran renounced his own faculties by saying that he's leaving active ministry. "A priest not in active ministry is not in good standing," said Gibbs. "The feeling was, he may not have intended to do that, but if a priest says I can't be a priest, he's renouncing it." Moran takes serious um-brage at such statements. "I have never renounced my faculties," he said. Last week Moran, who lives in Alexandria, Va., was in Boston to visit an aunt and uncle. He saw friends and spoke of his ordeal before a crowd at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Newton . During the question-and-answer period, another man stood up and said that he, too, had been abused by Laurano. Moran's plans are uncertain. He'll spend the summer "chilling out" and riding his red Honda Gold Wing motorcycle. He is certified in reiki , a Japanese healing technique, and would like to volunteer those skills. He also says he'd like to work part-time at a crisis center, answering phones and directing people to services, the same sort of services he wishes had been available in 1970.
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