Published: April 18, 2008 09:30 am            

Priest abuse victim tells pope his wrenching story

Salem, Mass. — A former local altar boy molested by a priest in a sacristy four decades ago finally got his long-sought audience with the pope, telling the head of the Roman Catholic Church "he has a cancer growing in his ministry and needs to do something about it."



Bernard McDaid, 52, now a house painter, was one of five Boston area victims of sexual abuse by priests who met privately with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday in a chapel at the residence of the Vatican's ambassador in Washington, D.C. , following an outdoor Mass attended by 46,000 people at the new Nationals Baseball Park.



McDaid had traveled to Rome five years ago to try to meet with Pope John Paul II to talk about his case and others, but he was unsuccessful.



The meeting with Pope Benedict came as a surprise during the pontiff''s week-long trip to Washington and New York, his first visit to the United States since ascending to the papacy in April of 2005.



McDaid was a sex-abuse victim of the late Rev. Joseph Birmingham, a notorious serial pedophile who had been assigned to several Boston area parishes. In an interview with CNN, McDaid said he told the pope he was an altar boy at St. James Church in Salem when he was abused in the sacristy, and "it wasn't just sexual abuse, it was spiritual abuse. And I want you to know that."



Then, he said, "I told him that he has a cancer growing in his ministry and needs to do something about it. And I hope he hears me ... and he nodded."



McDaid said the meeting with the pope was candid and emotional. It was arranged by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who was appointed the archbishop of the Boston Archdiocese after the clergy abuse scandal forced the removal of his predecessor, Cardinal Bernard F. Law.



The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a papal spokesman, said the meeting with the victims lasted about 25 minutes, and that Pope Benedict offered them encouragement and hope.



"They prayed together," Lombardi said. "Also, each of them had their own individual time with the Holy Father. Some were in tears."



In the meeting, Cardinal O'Malley presented the pope with a notebook listing the names of more than 1,000 victims of sexual abuse from the Boston Archdiocese.



The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called the session "a positive first step on a very long road." The group, which has been fiercely critical of the church, said it hopes the personal stories will lead to reform in how church leaders respond to abuse claims.



Expected to address the abuse problem only once during his pilgimage to America - at a Mass with priests in New York on Saturday - Pope Benedict has insead returned to the issue repeatedly, beginning in a news conference on his Tuesday flight from Rome to Washington.



He has called the crisis a cause of "deep shame," pledged to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood and decried the "enormous pain" that communities have suffered from such "gravely immoral behavior" by priests.

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Tom Dalton is a reporter for The Salem (Mass.) News. Contact him at tdalton@salemnews.com.

        

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