BishopAccountability.org
	In Boston, Church Leaders Offer Atonement for Abuse By Katie Zezima The New York Times May 30, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/us/30religion.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin BOSTON, May 29 — Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley is leading a nine-day series of Masses and other services to acknowledge sexual abuse by clergy members in the Archdiocese of Boston and to pray for forgiveness and healing. The series, which the archdiocese is calling "a pilgrimage of repentance and hope," is the first occasion on which Masses have been offered here to atone for the abuse of minors by priests since the church's sexual abuse scandal broke in January 2002. The services started on Thursday and will be held at parishes that were served by priests accused of or convicted of sexual abuse. A crucifix from a shuttered parish touched by sexual abuse will be carried and displayed at each service. "This is not just some pious exercise," said Barbara Thorp, director of the archdiocese's Office of Healing and Assistance Ministry, which has offered counseling to about 650 people who say they were abused by priests, as well as to their families. "We really do come humbly begging for God's help." "We've responded on so many different levels," Ms. Thorp said, "but I think there was still a sense that people were waiting for the church to acknowledge the gravity of this sin in a way that people recognize immediately and is truly authentic, truly to the heart of the church." At the first Mass, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross here, Cardinal O'Malley and more than 20 priests prostrated themselves on the altar for nearly 10 minutes as a litany of repentance was read. It asked for 30 intentions of forgiveness, among them those for the "sins of your priests" and "harm brought to your church." Cardinal O'Malley arrived in Boston in 2003 after Cardinal Bernard F. Law resigned amid the sexual abuse crisis. In his homily to the nearly 100 people in attendance, including many nuns and priests, Cardinal O'Malley expressed sorrow that so many victims had hidden their abuse for so long, and he said their pain was the shared pain of the church. "The sexual abuse of children is, for us, the wounds on the body of Christ," he said. A person who says he was abused by a priest, or a relative of such a person, will address each service. On Thursday, Olan Horne, 47, who said he was abused by a priest as a child in Lowell, Mass., said that he still had trouble accepting Roman Catholicism, but that the church must open its doors to people like him. "We need to promote a dialogue of understanding," Mr. Horne said. "The survivor community is suffering." Some groups and some people who say they were abused by priests said the services were years overdue. "It's too little too late," said Ann Hagan Webb of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Ms. Webb said Cardinal O'Malley should take more-tangible steps toward healing, including releasing the names of priests who have been accused of abuse and where they worked. She said he should also support legislation eliminating the state's statute of limitations on abuse crimes. "It's just symbolism if there's no substance behind it," she said. More than a dozen people protested outside Thursday's Mass, holding signs, including one that said, "Dirty Hands Don't Heal." Ms. Webb said her group planned to protest at all 10 services, which end on Pentecost. One protester, Stan Doherty, 52, of Hingham, Mass., said: "I don't think he's doing much now. He's papering over the problem." Those who attended the service disagreed. Janet Callahan, 52, a customer-service representative from Malden, Mass., said she planned to attend several of the services. Ms. Callahan said she wanted to be a part of an effort to heal both the church and victims of sexual abuse. "That's all somebody like I can do, is pray," she said. "It's been a very painful time, and now it's time to heal." Nancy Goggin, 44, a marketing consultant from Randolph, Mass., took her 9-year-old daughter, Teresa. Ms. Goggin said she almost left the Catholic Church at the height of the scandal but felt she was compelled by God to stay. "I'm thrilled because this is so important, the act of reconciliation," she said. "The church is trying to heal, and it's probably the most important thing the cardinal has done since he's been in the archdiocese, It's reconciling us first in front of God and allowing us to reach out to the victims." The archdiocese has paid more than $100 million to settle hundreds of sexual abuse claims since 2002. Dozens are still pending.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.