PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
Allentown Catholic Diocese begins process to defrock priest accused of fathering child.
August 31, 2010
By Devon Lash, OF THE MORNING CALL
When Mark Rozzi learned a young woman in his own Berks County neighborhood was allegedly involved in a sexual relationship with a priest, it seemed he was 13 again.
At that age, Rozzi said, he was sexually abused by his teacher and priest at Holy Guardian Angels outside Reading. It took decades for him to talk about the abuse. On Monday, joining a small group of protesters outside the Allentown Catholic Diocese headquarters in South Whitehall Township, he encouraged others like him not to wait so long.
“Bad stuff happens to good people,” said Rozzi, now 39 and living in Muhlenberg Township. “But you have to keep coming forward, because there are so many victims that are afraid to talk about this.”
The group, the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, urged diocesan leaders to seek out victims of abuse and, as recommended by the sign one woman hoisted, “do everything possible.”
The four demonstrators gathered in response to a lawsuit filed last week that claims a Reading priest, the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito, started a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student that led to her pregnancy.
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