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	Priests to Hear from Sex-Abuse Victims By Patti Mengers Delco Times [Philadelphia PA] September 15, 2006 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17199473&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18171&rfi=6 After having allegedly been abused as an adolescent by a priest for more than seven years, John Salveson can't imagine facing a room full of Roman collars and recounting his abuse. But today at 4 p.m., a man and woman who suffered clerical sexual abuse as children will tell their stories to hundreds of priests serving in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The priests will be assembled at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood at the invitation of the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal Justin Rigali. The approximately one-hour meeting, which will include testimony from a parent of abuse victims, will be followed by a procession to the seminary's St. Martin's chapel for evening prayer. "I can't imagine anything scarier," said Salveson. "If you were sexually abused by a priest, can you imagine going into a seminary to talk with 200 priests then going to a religious ceremony? That has the potential to be pretty traumatic." The 50-year-old Radnor resident was not invited to be a part of the event, which archdiocesan officials have dubbed "Witness to Sorrow" and scheduled to occur on the Roman Catholic feast of Our Mother of Sorrows. "They don't want to talk to people like me," maintained Salveson, an executive search consultant who said he was abused as a teenager by a Long Island priest. Salveson is founder and president of the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, an organization incorporated in July to advocate for reform of Pennsylvania legislation affecting sexually abused children. He is also former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests or SNAP. Salveson sees today's seminary meeting as a public relations event and believes victims would be better served if archdiocesan officials lobbied for Pennsylvania legislative reforms, including the abolition of the statute of limitations on sexual abuse crimes. "There are some very concrete things they could do to protect kids and they don't want to do that. Instead, they want to do a public relations event," said Salveson. Mary Achilles, a veteran victims' advocate hired in January to evaluate programs and procedures relating to sexual assault in the archdiocese, said she can understand some people's skepticism regarding today's meeting. "It's a first step. It's the beginning. It's an extremely important step. We must start with the experience of victims," noted Achilles, who was a victim's advocate for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 10 years and was with the Philadelphia District Attorney's victim assistance program for 14 years. The Rev. Ralph Chieffo, pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Church in Upper Providence, plans to be among several Delaware County priests attending today's meeting with sexual abuse victims. "It's an opportunity to reach out to victims to be a healing agent, not a hurting agent, to learn how to minister to them and heal that trust that was broken," said Chieffo. In his 31 years as a priest, Chieffo has had occasion to counsel and console victims of clerical sexual abuse. "But many priests may have not experienced that. It's very essential and important that they hear from victims themselves to help them be more understanding and compassionate," said the clergyman. The meeting of priests with victims comes a year after Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham released the findings of a three-year grand jury investigation that named 63 priests who allegedly abused children as far back as the 1950s. Forty-three of those priests had connections with Delaware County at some point. None of those priests could be prosecuted because Pennsylvania's statute of limitations had expired for those alleged crimes. In the last three years, the statute of limitations has been extended from within two years of the abuse or age 18, to the age of 30. The grand jury report chastised archdiocesan officials for not turning sexual abuse complaints over to civil authorities in a timely fashion and for enabling potential pedophiles to have continued access to children. The grand jury recommended the Pennsylvania Legislature abolish the statute of limitations for sexual offenses against childrenand amend the law so it would allow unincorporated associations such as the archdiocese to be held to the same standard as corporations for crimes concerning the sexual abuse of children.
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