NORTHBRIDGE (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
[House of Affirmation – BishopAccountability.org]
Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com
Memory is a funny thing.
Over the weekend, Msgr. Thomas Sullivan told The Boston Globe that the Diocese of Worcester would never sell properties that hosted Mass to anyone who would hold a same-sex wedding.
“We wouldn’t sell our churches and our properties to any of a number of things that would reflect badly on the church,” he said. “These buildings are sacred to the memory of Catholics.”
So much is wrong with that statement I hardly know where to begin. Neither does David Lewcon, who probably wishes that his memory wasn’t so good.
“The mere fact that I’m stumbling for words pretty much says it all,” Mr. Lewcon said.
First, the monsignor was speaking in reference to the House of Affirmation, a Northbridge building whose very name is synonymous with scandal, not sacred memory. Next, his statement conflicts with what he told me in July, when I asked why the diocese abruptly pulled out of negotiations with two gay men who wanted to turn the aging mansion into an inn and banquet facility. …
“For me, it’s one of the least sacred places in all of Northbridge,” said Mr. Lewcon, 58. He worked at the center as a teenager, and in 2002 settled a lawsuit with the diocese for $110,000 after disclosing that he was sexually assaulted when he was 16 by a priest affiliated with the center. “It’s a dirty, dirty place. What went on behind the scenes, I don’t even want to know about.”
Mr. Lewcon is among several men who settled sexual assault lawsuits against priests closely affiliated with the House. These included the notorious Rev. Thomas Kane, founder and executive director, who operated the center based on a bogus doctoral degree. It was closed in 1987 amid financial improprieties; its victims would later refer to the center as a pedophile boot camp where children suffered repeated sexual abuse.
Sadly, there wasn’t a lot of affirming going on at the House of Affirmation. If this is the building that the diocese claims holds memories so sacred that they’d be tainted by the prospect of a marriage between two loving, committed adults, it has a lot more to worry about than a lawsuit.
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