Priest abused by priest speaks out

WASHINGOTN, D.C., April 27 (UPI) -- The Rev. James Moran, 60, had his credentials pulled by a Washington archdiocese after speaking at Mass about being sexually abused by a priest 25 years ago.

Incidents of priest-as-victim have been mostly silenced with a few exceptions, including Moran, who waited until Holy Week to speak.

Moran was a 25-year-old seminarian in 1970, he said, when an older priest climbed onto him in an attic bedroom and performed a sex act, the Washington Post reported. Moran was doing an internship at a small parish outside Boston, preparing to be ordained.

When he tried to report the incident, he was summarily dismissed by the parish supervisor and rape crisis counselors who said only women could be raped.

In 2002, after serving as a military chaplain, Moran told then-Boston Archbishop Bernard Law about the 1970 incident and received an offer of financial support for counseling and a $90,000 settlement, but not what he wanted.

"There was no validation of me as a good person," he said of his meeting with Law, who resigned later that year amidst the priest abuse scandal.

Moran feels he is being punished for speaking out, "My gut feeling is that I have been raped again."

"The wave of clergy victims is just getting started," said Gary Schoener, a clinical psychologist who specializes in clergy abuse cases.