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	Clergy Victims See Painful Parallels in Handling of Embattled CEO WFSB May 24, 2006 http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4951002&nav=menu120_2 BOSTON -- The crises were so different, yet had some disturbing similarities. The Boston Archdiocese faced severe criticism following the clergy sex abuse scandal for acting too slowly, for being too secretive, and for being too lenient in its punishments. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, brought in by the Vatican in 2003 to clean up the sex abuse crisis, was subject to the same criticisms for the way he handled allegations of sexual harassment lodged against the head of the archdiocese's health care system. "There are extraordinary and painful parallels," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Dr. Robert Haddad, president and CEO of the Caritas Christi Health Care System, resigned early Thursday amid allegations he harassed more than a dozen female employees by subjecting them to unwanted hugs and kisses. Later on the same day, O'Malley began a multiday pilgrimage of "repentance and hope" to offer special prayers and Masses at nine parishes where there has been an especially painful history of sexual abuse by priests. Outside the service at Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston, protesters said the way Haddad's case was handled was similar to the way the abuse crisis was handled. "It's just more of the same hypocrisy," said Susan Renehan of Southbridge, who said she was sexually abused by a priest over a three-year period while a child living in New Jersey. Haddad resigned after the board gave him the option of being fired or stepping down with salary plus benefits for 10 months, worth about $830,000. Haddad, a Medford native of Lebanese descent, has attributed the complaints to a cultural misunderstanding, saying that in his culture, hugs and kisses are "warmly given and received." He also said he felt he did not do anything inappropriate, which angered O'Malley, according to an archdiocesan source who asked not to be identified. O'Malley's spokesman, Terrence Donilon, said O'Malley initially sought to make a reasoned decision "based on the facts that were presented" to him when he was told of the allegations by the first four women. Donilon said O'Malley moved decisively as soon as the additional women came forward. O'Malley has been widely praised for his efforts to help victims of clergy sexual abuse. Within months of arriving in Boston, he helped negotiate an $85 million settlement for more than 550 victims. But some victims and their supporters are still critical of O'Malley. Even as O'Malley and about two dozen bishops and priests prostrated themselves on the altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Thursday to ask forgiveness from God for the damage done by the Roman Catholic church's clergy sex abuse scandal, protesters outside the cathedral called for more decisive action. "We come together in this pilgrimage overwhelmed by the sadness and pain sexual abuse has caused our church," O'Malley said during the Mass. "We are sorry that this pain was hidden and the sins were not exposed," he said. "So much suffering was caused by the actions and inactions of bishops and priests." John Harris, 48, of Norwood called O'Malley's pilgrimage a "PR ploy." "I felt it was insulting," said Harris, who said he was molested by a priest at the age of 21. A coalition of sex abuse survivors groups and their supporters sent a letter to O'Malley a week ago asking him to develop a public list of archdiocese priests and employees dismissed for sexual misconduct and to publicly support the elimination of the statute of limitations for sex crime laws. The Rev. John Connolly, a special assistant to O'Malley and rector of the cathedral, while not addressing the specific requests of the protesters, said the archdiocese has made significant and substantive efforts to address past instances of sex abuse and to prevent future cases. "Every day there is action," he said. "But, yes, there's a lot more that needs to be done." About 300 people attended the Mass, including survivors of sexual abuse and their families. Olan Horne of Lowell, who said he was abused by a priest as a boy, addressed the crowd inside the cathedral before the Mass. "We need to promote understanding," he said. "We need to promote dialogue. We need to promote love. We need to promote hope."
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