02/04/2007

Associated Press

Archbishop John G. Vlazny, the spiritual leader of Catholics in Western Oregon, has been asked to back a proposed monument to victims of priest sex abuse — preferably on the grounds of the Portland archdiocese.

The monument would help victims of sexual abuse heal, said Bill Crane, the leader of the Oregon chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, or SNAP, the nation's largest support group for clergy-molestation victims.

"Money brings no healing and no reconciliation," Crane said. "By putting a monument in place, I think it's an everyday remembrance of what has taken place. We're initiating something that is going to be tangible."

Crane and other monument proponents delivered a letter Thursday to the Archdiocese of Portland, asking Vlazny to allow a memorial to be erected on the grounds of the archdiocese.

Bud Bunce, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Portland, said Vlazny and other church officials can't comment on the proposal because they must adhere to a gag order imposed by a federal judge in connection with a proposed bankruptcy settlement plan for the archdiocese.

Crane grew up in New Jersey and said he was molested by a priest in that state. In 2003, he led the effort that resulted in the first monument in the nation in remembrance of clergy sex-abuse victims. The monument stands at the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mendham, N.J.

Carved out of black basalt stone, it weighs 400 pounds and bears a plaque with Jesus' words that anyone who harms a child would be better off "to have a millstone hung around his neck" and be "thrown into the depth of the sea."

Crane said those who support the Oregon effort envision a similar memorial.

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Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com