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Catholic priest to lead Newark rally against church sex abuses
By Deena Yellin
[with video] A priest who says he was sexually assaulted three decades ago will lead a demonstration against church sexual abuses on Wednesday, in front of Newark's Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Rev. Desmond Rossi, a priest in the Diocese of Albany, said the aim of the "National Day for Reform" is to gather the Catholic community together for prayer and to plan for the future. The event, called for 1 p.m., will include prayers for the health of the church, and a call for changes that will lead the church back to sanctity, he said. Father Robert Hoatson, a former priest with the Archdiocese of Newark, said he's glad Rossi is having the event to push for change within the church. Hoatson, who will be among the speakers Wednesday, said he's distraught that those who knew about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's alleged misconduct did nothing. McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in July amid abuse allegations. "Seminarians knew about it; priests knew about it. I heard stories about it widely and asked questions about it in way back in 1993 but was told that he had stopped," Hoatson said. Hoatson runs a West Orange-based group called Road to Recovery, which aids sex abuse survivors. "We need to make changes in the culture of the church so that these dysfunctions can't occur," he said. Women in powerFather Kenneth Lasch, a retired priest in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock, who is an advocate for victims of sex abuse, said it's high time for reform. "It's time for the church to change the clerical task system, said Lasch, who will speak at the event Wednesday. "We need more laywomen in positions of authority. I maintain that if more women were involved, the abuse scandal would not have unfolded the way it did. There is so much distrust of the hierarchy, and we need to build trust again." Rossi, a native of Garwood, said he chose the Newark cathedral as the site for the demonstration because the archdiocese was where much of McCarrick's alleged abuse took place. "We need to talk about what needs to happen as we go forward within the church," he said. "This is for anyone — priests, seminarians and lay people — who would like to see reform in the church. "And I want to let lay Catholics know that their priests are listening," he added. Rossi recently went public with his own story of abuse in a July magazine article As a young, idealistic seminarian, he was sexually assaulted by two classmates in a Newark church, he said. He also said McCarrick made him feel uncomfortable during their encounters. Rossi described McCarrick as "overly friendly," and said he would sit too close to him and allow his hand to linger on his knee. What made the gesture so troubling was the power imbalance between them, Rossi said. Rossi said he was ashamed and traumatized by the assault by classmates. He fled to Albany to be ordained, and in 1999, as a result of his experience, he resigned from the priesthood, he said. In the meantime, the men who assaulted him were ordained and assigned to parishes in New Jersey. But when others began coming forward in 2002 to speak of abuse in the church, Rossi said, he gathered his courage and brought his story to the Archdiocese of Newark's Review Board in 2003. He was informed that the allegations were credible, but could not be substantiated. After the magazine article was published, he said, he was contacted by 17 people who said they, too, had been abused as children by teachers, priests and others in power. Very recently, Cardinal Joseph Tobin agreed to reopen his case. "I will wait to see with that resolution is," Rossi said. Last year, Rossi returned to the priesthood, and he works as an associate pastor at St. Mary's Parish in Glen Falls, New York.
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