Protesters crash Cardinal Dolan’s visit to local school

NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

By Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record

TOWN OF ULSTER – Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Catholic Archbishop of New York, held Mass at John A. Coleman Catholic High School on Monday as victims’ rights advocates protested outside.

The main purpose of Dolan’s visit was to bless the chapel, which was destroyed by a flood in February and has been rebuilt and renovated with more than $40,000 of improvements.

Coleman, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, has an enrollment of 175 students. It became the first Catholic high school in the state to become independently operated in 2001.

A group demonstrated across the street from the school Monday, calling on Dolan and the Catholic Church to do more to protect the rights of sexually abused children.

“I think it’s disgraceful that the Roman Catholic Church is lobbying against the Child Victims Act, the act that will protect children better than any other tool here in New York state,” said Andrew Willis of the political action committee Fighting for Children.

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