By Michael Givens
Allston-Brighton Tab
June 9, 2006
http://www2.townonline.com/allston/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=514132
Despite heavy rain and cold weather, dozens of concerned citizens attended the last of a nine-parish pilgrimage made by Cardinal Sean O'Malley.
They came not only to participate in but, in many cases, to protest the clergy's "Pilgrimage of Repentance and Hope: The Novena to the Holy Spirit."
The event, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston, was meant as an official acknowledgement and apology for the sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church. And though the Novena attracted a large turnout over its 10-day stint, most of the publicity garnered was negative.
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| Anne Doyle was one of almost two dozen concerned protestors who stood in the rain outside St. Columbkille Church on Saturday, vying for the attention of the archdiocese.Photo by Mark Thomson |
Saturday's event in Brighton attracted more than two dozen protesters, livid over the Church's policies concerning the release of the names of priests accused of sexual abuse. The Novena, held each day in a community that was especially affected by clergy sexual abuse, enraged victims and their families, as many saw this as an empty gesture to cast the Church in a more positive light.
Demanding that the Catholic leadership release the names and addresses of accused abusers and support the reworking of the statute of limitations concerning victims of clergy sexual abuse, protesters were angry over what they felt was an empty PR gesture by the Catholic clergy.
"I think it's necessary, but not sufficient," said Steven Krueger, 54, founding executive director of Voices of the Faithful, a Boston-based group whose purpose is to ensure the accountability of Catholic priests. Krueger felt that though the Church's Novena was a positive step, it wasn't comforting for those who have survived.
Many protesters felt that they were speaking for the victims that were too hurt to speak for themselves.
Maryetta Dussourd, 62, of Jamaica Plain, was enraged at the Church for holding prayer services to address a situation that she felt needed far more attention. Dussourd, who said that her three sons and four nephews were molested by priests, felt that addressing such a volatile situation through prayer was too passive a way of dealing with sexual abuse.
"They keep bringing to church members their sins," said Dussourd of her contention that priests are re-traumatizing victims by praying over sexual abuse in such a public fashion.
The final service in the Novena began at 6:30 p.m. last Saturday and started with a 30-minute procession from the Chancery on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton to St. Columbkille's Parish. Due to the inclement weather, the archdiocese sponsored a charter bus from the Chancery to St. John's Seminary, where a prayer service was held for survivors of clergy sexual abuse and a survivor was allowed to give a testimony.
Also, the Catholic clergy participated in a Prayer of Repentance, a meditation where clergy members prostrated themselves and prayed for the sins of other priests.
Despite protesters singing "We Shall Overcome" in front of St. Columbkille's, O'Malley, along with several other priests, survivors and loyal Catholics, quietly entered the church at 8 p.m. and held Mass.
Ending the Evening with a Broad Sermon, O'Malley Spoke of the Tower of Babel, a Biblical Project Taken on by Hundreds of People to Erect a Large Tower into the Sky That Would Reach to Heaven. According to the Bible, God Smote the People with Several Different Languages So That They Could Not Communicate with One Another and the Tower Could Not Be Built.
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