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  Mass of Healing, Panel on Sex Abuse Sunday
Voice of the Faithful Sponsors Parma Event

The Beacon Journal [Parma OH]
August 23, 2003

A Mass of Healing for victims of sex abuse by priests will be said at noon Sunday at Padua Franciscan High School, 6740 State Road, Parma.

The Mass is sponsored by Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic reform and renewal group formed in the wake of last year's national clergy sex-abuse scandal.

Following the Mass, there will be a panel discussion from 1 to 2:30 p.m. featuring sex-abuse experts and victim advocates.

Moderator of the discussion will be John Seryak, a teacher in the Revere school district, a member of a local crisis-intervention team and a guardian ad litem through Summit County Domestic Relations Court. Seryak is the author of Dear Teacher: If You Only Knew: Adults Recovering from Child Sex Abuse Speak to Educators.

Among the panelists will be Barbara Blaine, founder and national president of the SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests); Maryhelen Kreidler, University of Akron nursing professor and child sex-abuse therapist; Margaret Grant, director of the Victims Resource Center of Laurelwood Hospital; Victoria A. Didato, director of the Child Sex Abuse Initiative of Ohio, and Fred and Kay Starr of Stow, who will talk about how an instance of abuse by a priest affected their family.

For more information on Voice of the Faithful, go to www.votf.org.
 
 
 

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