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  Sex-Abuse Scandal Draws Protesters to Centerville Parish

By Robert Gold
Cape Cod Times
September 10, 2007

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070910/NEWS/709100315

Centerville — The driver slowed her car and shouted at the small crowd outside Our Lady of Victory Parish.

"Get a life," the woman yelled at Paul Kendrick and six other demonstrators shortly before the 11:30 Mass at the Roman Catholic church.

Kendrick and many of the demonstrators often travel to churches around Massachusetts, targeting priests they say played some role in the Catholic sex-abuse scandal.

Yesterday, they handed out leaflets rallying against the Rev. Paul Miceli, a Mass assistant at the Centerville church.

Miceli was secretary of ministerial personnel for then-Cardinal Bernard Law of the Boston Archdiocese during part of the sex-abuse scandal, including the late 1990s.

Kendrick shook his head at the woman's comments but said it is far from uncommon.

"We are not here to alienate people (but to) awaken people," Kendrick said, standing on South Main Street outside the church entrance.

The demonstrators handed out fliers saying Miceli "aided and abetted the abuse of children by his participation and leading role in the transfer and cover-up of criminal priests who sexually assaulted minors in the Archdiocese of Boston."

Paul Kellen of Newton said the demonstrators want an apology and more information from Miceli.

Kellen said more openness from the church can only help victims of clergy sexual abuse.

"The more information people can take in, the more they can be helped," he said.

The Rev. Mark Hession, the pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish, read a statement to church members after a morning Mass Sunday, addressing the protesters.

"The scandal associated with the sexual abuse of minors, especially by priests and other church personnel, has caused everyone grave pain and suffering, most especially the innocent victims," he said in the statement. "None of us can do enough to repair the heinous breach of trust affecting the church and the communities in which we live and minister. Unfortunately, in the wake of such a ferocious struggle, other persons also end up being painted with a broad brush of association."

Hession called Miceli a "trusted colleague and a respected brother within the priesthood."

Miceli, a member of Blessed John XXIII Seminary in Weston, was not at the Centerville Mass yesterday and had not been scheduled to attend, Hession said.

Miceli has been a priest at Our Lady of Victory Parish for about five years.

After yesterday's 11:30 Mass, one church member said she wished the church had commented earlier.

"If there is any information that should be looked into," she said, "we should have known about it."

Robert Gold can be reached at rgold@capecodonline.com.

 
 

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