Sorrow, Hope in Lowell, by Rita Savard, Lowell Sun, May 30, 2006

Sorrow, Hope in Lowell

By Rita Savard
Lowell Sun
May 30, 2006

http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_3880370

LOWELL -- Having the parish priest mentor your kids is a high honor for any working-class Irish Catholic family -- especially when the church is your reason for living.

Larry Finn's parents, Mickey and Ann, trusted Rev. Joseph Birmingham. While serving at St. Michael Church, the priest took a special interest in the Finn's 12-year-old son, taking him on ski trips and for rides in his gold Cadillac.

"He let me drive his car," Finn said. "He enjoyed letting me sit on his lap while he got aroused. ... He made me touch his privates, and he touched mine."

Cardinal Sean O'Malley leads a prayer service at St. Michael's Church in Lowell last night as part of a nine-day pilgrimage of repentance for children who were sexually assaulted by priests.

Finn was repeatedly violated by the priest. Now 46 and standing at the altar of St. Michael's, Finn finds himself returning to a place he has tried to forget since childhood. Looking out at more than 100 faces inside St. Michael's, Finn recounted his story of sexual abuse and innocence lost at the hands of Birmingham.

Last night's prayer service at St. Michael's was a mix of sadness and hope, as Cardinal Sean O'Malley continued his nine-day pilgrimage of repentance for children who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests. The Novena to the Holy Spirit, calling on God to forgive the sins of the church and help heal the victims, began Thursday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston and will canvass nine parishes that housed pedophile priests.

Traveling back through the dark hallways of his mind, Finn said he always left the rectory crying, then ran home. Home was safe. It was where his parents taught him about God long before Birmingham entered his life.

But Finn said others were even less lucky than him. For those children, there was no safe haven. Their bedrooms were a place where Birmingham would molest and rape them.

Also abused by Birmingham, Lowell resident Olan Horne said it wasn't uncommon for Birmingham to break bread at a family dinner table. After dinner, Birmingham would bless the children before bed.

"He'd come down after raping these kids, and then the father or mother would hand him $20 for the church," Horne said.

When Birmingham died, Finn was glad. But his emotional torment was not laid to rest with Birmingham's body underground. Finn's marriage ended in divorce after 10 years, and a fear of his own children falling victim to sexual predators weighed heavy on his conscience. Finn remembered the day his ex-wife called and mentioned a person running an after-school program who was talking to their daughter. Although it was an innocent relationship, it became all Finn thought about.

"It consumed me," Finn said. "I thought, if this man hurt my daughter, I'd kill him with my bare hands."

The obsession landed Finn in the psychiatric ward at Lowell General Hospital. He said it has taken years of therapy and a continued faith in God to help him "get through the nightmares."

"Please process my story and let it go," Finn said. "The pain that is true cuts deep into the soul, into the heart."

After Finn spoke, the Rev. John Curry from the Boston Archdiocese told Finn he felt very connected to him as he too comes from a family of 12 brothers and sisters, and understands that home is supposed to be a safe place.

"My heart broke with your trouble," said Curry. "Not just your family but your home at the church was taken from you. I desire to restore your home."

Reciting the story he has been taking with him from parish to parish, O'Malley talked about his days as a young priest, when he was friends with a Colombian woman who worked at his parish. The woman died unexpectedly, and O'Malley, along with the other priests, were shocked to look in her coffin and discover she was missing a hand.

"She had artfully concealed it by the shawl she wore all the time," O'Malley said. "Here was a woman who earned her living cleaning houses with one hand, but still somehow felt inhibited by it."

The cardinal said he felt bad that she thought she had to hide her disfigurement, as if revealing it meant others would think less of her. The Mass O'Malley attended on the same day as the woman's funeral talked about the story of Jesus and the man with the withered hand. When the man outstretched his hand to Jesus, it was healed.

"So it is tonight that we come together as a church, to hold up our withered hand and ask God to heal it," O'Malley said.

"I think the Cardinal did a wonderful thing by coming out," said Gladys Dyer, 74, of Lowell. "It was long overdue. These people are lost, and they have to know we are behind them in prayer. Now I just hope the church supports the legislation to repeal the criminal statute of limitations, because anyone who sexually abuses a child, even a priest, should be punished by the law."

Rita Savard's e-mail address is rsavard@lowellsun.com.