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	Cardinal to Pray at Three Churches O'Malley Hopes to Heal Wounds of Clergy Abuse By Missy Ryan Boston Globe [Massachusetts] May 25, 2006 http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/25/ cardinal_to_pray_at_three_churches/ Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley will lead prayers at three churches in Boston's western suburbs next week as part of a pilgrimage he hopes will help ease the pain caused by the clergy sex abuse scandal. O'Malley will travel to St. Joseph Parish in Needham on Tuesday, St. Julia Parish in Weston on Wednesday, and St. Blaise Church in Bellingham on Friday. O'Malley has invited survivors of abuse, their families, and other Catholics to the special services, which will take place during his novena, a nine-day period of prayer. The cardinal will also go to six other churches in Eastern Massachusetts on his pilgrimage, beginning with a service today at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End. All the churches O'Malley plans to visit were particularly hard hit by the abuse, church officials said. The 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 wrote in a recent letter to area Catholics, adding that he hoped to "restore the bonds of faith and trust" with parishioners. Barbara Thorp , who directs the Boston Archdiocese's office that offers support and therapy to abuse survivors, said O'Malley's visits were the next step in the archdiocese's response to the abuse, seeking to repair the spiritual damages not only among victims but in parishes as a whole. "Everyone has been shamed by this and has suffered as a result of this, and so it's a very broad invitation to the Catholic community, to the victims and families, and to the community at large," she said. Thorp said the cardinal will speak about the abuse during the services and will greet churchgoers as they leave. He will not engage in individual conversations about the abuse, she said. Thorp said the pilgrimage will not mark the end, however, of the church's actions of penance. "This is a long-term healing process, whether it's the spiritual wounds or the emotional wounds," she said. The clergy sex abuse crisis, which first hit the headlines in Boston in 2002, has involved hundreds of victims with allegations lodged against about 160 priests. By the middle of last year, the archdiocese had paid $127 million in nearly 900 settlements related to the scandals, the archdiocese reported last month. Priests who served at churches in Boston's western suburbs who were accused of abusing children included Paul Mahan at St. Joseph , the late John Geoghan at St. Julia , and Paul Desilets at Bellingham's Assumption Church, which has been closed. Many of its parishioners now attend St. Blaise. Mitchell Garabedian , a Boston lawyer who has represented more than 250 clergy abuse victims in lawsuits against the archdiocese, said many of the victims who were invited to the upcoming religious services will not attend. "They feel as though the church abandoned them a long while ago . . . and the issues are just too painful to revisit," he said. Ann Hagan Webb , who coordinates a regional support network for clergy sex abuse victims, said that many abuse victims she knew were upset by the tour. "It's the cardinal asking us to come to him in a religious ceremony, when most of us don't want to step foot in a church. It's like going to the places where we were abused," said Webb, a Wellesley psychologist who says she was abused by a priest when she was a girl in Rhode Island. "It certainly is a step to take responsibility and to say yes, we're guilty," Webb said. "But to me, in the real sense of Catholicism, if you're making reparations for your sins, you have to take an action that will fix it." She said that won't happen until the church meets survivors' demands, including a request that the church lobby to eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecution of sex abuse, and that it release the names and whereabouts of priests who have abused children. One mother whose child was abused in Weston said the church needs to have frank discussions about what happened -- and its effects. "We really want substance, not symbolism," said Webb. Some area parishioners welcomed the cardinal's visit. One was Bert Galipeau , who now attends St. Blaise but who grew up attending Assumption Church in Bellingham, which closed in 2004 in a wave of church closings. O'Malley is "going to get out and see his flock, and where is he going? He's going to start where his flock was hurt," said Galipeau, who knew some of the abuse victims at Assumption. "We have to look at the future," he said. O'Malley "is showing support for Bellingham and for St. Blaise." Webb said some abuse survivors would be protesting outside churches that O'Malley will visit. She praised the church for acknowledging the abuse but said many survivors felt it was too little, too late.
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