Sex abuse victims of a former priest got an apology from the bishop of his old diocese, which ran a cartoon in its weekly newspaper satirizing memories of molestation.
The cartoon ran in the Dec. 10 issue of The Anchor, the same week James Porter was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to abusing 28 children in the 1960s.Bishop Sean O'Malley of the Diocese of Fall River called the cartoon "inappropriate and insensitive."
"I am embarrassed that such a statement would appear in a Catholic journal," O'Malley said. "My one desire has been for healing and reconciliation."
The cartoon, distributed by Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate, shows a receptionist for "Dr. Vic Timm, psychiatrist" asking a client, "How much abuse can you afford to remember?"
A sign lists the rates: $10,000 for memory of abuse by a parent, $20,000 for memory of abuse by a teacher, and $30,000 for memory of abuse by a priest.