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  Rigali Calls Together Priests to Hear from Abuse Victims

By Maryclaire Dale
The Associated Press, carried in The Evening Bulletin
September 14, 2006

http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=
17191571&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

Philadelphia - Cardinal Justin Rigali is calling together hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese tomorrow to hear from two people who were sexually abused by Roman Catholic clerics.

The priests will meet at the archdiocesan seminary in Wynnewood, where they will be addressed by a man and a woman who were abused by priests as children, as well as a parent of two other victims.

A three-year probe by a Philadelphia grand jury identified 63 archdiocesan priests as abusers since the 1950s and accused church officials of a cover-up. Seventeen of the offenders have been defrocked and others have been relieved of pastoral duties.

Priests need to hear not only about the abuse, but also about the victims' struggles to rebuild their lives and hold onto their faith, said Mary Achilles, a victims' advocate retained by the church this year.

"If they're going to lead these Philadelphia - Cardinal Justin Rigali is calling together hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese tomorrow to hear from two people who were sexually abused by Roman Catholic clerics.

The priests will meet at the archdiocesan seminary in Wynnewood, where they will be addressed by a man and a woman who were abused by priests as children, as well as a parent of two other victims.

A three-year probe by a Philadelphia grand jury identified 63 archdiocesan priests as abusers since the 1950s and accused church officials of a cover-up. Seventeen of the offenders have been defrocked and others have been relieved of pastoral duties.

Priests need to hear not only about the abuse, but also about the victims' struggles to rebuild their lives and hold onto their faith, said Mary Achilles, a victims' advocate retained by the church this year.

"If they're going to lead these

 
 

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