By
the age of 12, Maureen Powers, the daughter of a professor at the local
Roman Catholic university, played the organ in the magnificent hilltop
Catholic basilica here and volunteered in the parish office. But, she
said, she was hiding a secret: Her priest sexually abused her for two
years, telling her it was for the purpose of “research.”
By
her high school years, she felt so tied up in knots of betrayal and
shame that she confided in a succession of priests. She said the first
tried to take advantage of her sexually, the second suggested she
comfort herself with a daily candy bar and the third told her to see a
counselor. None of them reported the abuse to the authorities or
mentioned that she could take that step.
