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	Pope's Talk Angers Some Abused by Priests By Alfred Lubrano Philadelphia Inquirer April 19, 2008 http://www.philly.com/philly/news/religion/20080419_Pope_s_talk_angers_some_abused_by_priests.html When he saw Pope Benedict XVI on television in Washington on Thursday, Michael Wurtz felt hot anger burn through his gut. The leader of the planet's billion Catholics had just been talking and praying privately with victims of the clergy sex-abuse scandals. Speaking to reporters, Benedict said pedophiles in the priesthood were a cause of "deep shame." Wurtz, a Center City man who was victimized by a priest as a child, found himself screaming and shaking a fist at his television: "You should be ashamed!" he yelled. "Ashamed! All this wasn't right." Contacted yesterday, Wurtz and other victims of clerical abuse said it was a positive first step that Benedict had spoken with victims. But, each added, it did little to eradicate the toxic half-life of abuse that never leaves a person, and it's unclear whether the pope's meeting will lead to changes that will save other children from predatory priests. "It's all good and nice to meet with victims," said Joe Nowacky, 42, a Center City man who was abused by a priest as a child. "But you can't forgive what they did. And I'm OK compared to guys I grew up with who were abused worse than me. They're basket cases." Wurtz added that it was gratifying that "the highest person in the church" was going on record as denouncing the awful acts. "But changes to help people aren't progressing fast enough," he said. "This is the church that preaches compassion and love. What happened to me goes against that." Contacted for its perspective, the Philadelphia Archdiocese yesterday asked Mary Achilles, hired in 2006 to be a victims' advocate for the archdiocese, to comment. "I think Holy Father's meeting with victims in a private forum without fanfare is the right step at the right time," Achilles said. "It demonstrates his compassion and concern. The Holy Father is taking the bull by the horns, saying there is no room for pedophiles in the church. And it's his cardinals' responsibility to promote healing. "If the victims aren't healed, we are not healed as a church." She added that beginning later this month, every school in the archdiocese would display posters urging children being hurt in any way to come forward. John Salveson, a 52-year-old Bryn Mawr man who was victimized by a priest on Long Island, said yesterday that he was concerned that Benedict was excoriating only the pedophile priests, and absolving the bishops and cardinals who knew about the abuses but did nothing. "The bishops' and cardinals' roles - that's what I'd like to hear the pope address," said Salveson, former head of the Philadelphia office of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests). These days, Salveson runs the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, which is looking to extend the civil statute of limitations so that victims of pedophiles will have a greater chance to sue their abusers. "Is it good he met with victims?" Salveson said. "Sure. Does it address the real root of the problem? No." Will Spade agreed. He was a prosecutor in the 2005 investigation of the Philadelphia Archdiocese that brought about a scathing grand jury report whose conclusion was that the church hierarchy "excused and enabled the abuse." "The pope's meeting with victims was a nice gesture, but I haven't seen any sign of the church's implementing policies with teeth to identify and weed out sex offenders in its midst," said Spade, now a lawyer in private practice. "And it would be nice if the church would compensate all victims, whether their cases are beyond the statute of limitations or not. "There's so much else they can do." That's true, said Vicky Cubberly, 57, a South Jersey woman who said she was victimized by three priests. "The pope meeting with a few victims for just 25 minutes was a slap in the face, just a public-relations ploy," said Cubberly, who did not want to reveal the town in which she lives. "You cannot grasp in 25 minutes the magnitude of what abuse does to someone. I'm 22 years in therapy over this. What the pope did doesn't feel sincere to me." Despite the vitriol, some victims' advocates say they will withhold judgment for now. "Talk is good, meeting with victims is better, but action is crucial," said David Clohessy, national director of SNAP. He spoke from New York yesterday, where he was passing out leaflets among the throngs following the pope, urging clerical-abuse victims to come forward. While public knowledge of priestly sins will make it easier for new victims to come forward, Clohessy said all victims await definitive changes in how the church deals with pedophilia. "It is undeniable that not one innocent, precious, vulnerable child on the planet is safer today because of what the pope said," added Clohessy, himself a victim of clerical abuse. What is clear, however, is that simply by addressing the issue, Benedict is unearthing deep-buried memories in other Catholics. "I've been getting calls for the past couple of days from everywhere," said Barbara Polesir, codirector of South Jersey SNAP. "The pope's visit is actually triggering new survivors to come forward. There are more people now explaining how priests abused them when they were kids." Contact staff writer Alfred Lubrano at 215-854-4969 or alubrano@phillynews.com
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