Alleged victim demands apology from monsignor
By Michael S. Rosenwald, Globe Staff, 4/30/2002
Speaking to reporters at his lawyer's Boston office, Garland
said he will feel closure - and the Catholic Church will begin to heal - only
when Ryan and other accused clergy publicly take full responsibility for their
actions and apologize. However, Garland and his lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who
has negotiated millions of dollars in sex abuse settlements with the Archdiocese
of Boston, said an apology would not stop them from pushing ahead with a lawsuit
against the archdiocese. Ryan ''recognizes that he hurt people,'' Garland said of the
priest's resignation, but ''it's just not enough.'' ''I'm just trying to get on with my life,'' Garland said.
''It's there every day. There has been no closure. Until that happens, I don't
see myself truly moving forward without being affected every day.'' The former star athlete at Catholic Memorial High School in
Boston has filed a lawsuit alleging that in the late 70s, Ryan got him drunk at
a restaurant, then introduced him to the late Cardinal Humberto Medeiros.
Garland said he was then orally raped at the chancery of the archdiocese.
Garland has also said that Medeiros groped him on the second
floor of the chancery before Ryan led Garland to his room and molested him.
Garabedian was hired after Garland made the allegations. On March 28, Garland was arrested by Chelsea police after
allegedly trying to confront Ryan where he had been living since he was placed
on administrative leave. Garland led police on a brief car chase before being
apprehended at gunpoint. Garland said he did not intend to harm Ryan and wanted only
to obtain a confession he had been told that the priest had written.
This story ran on page A16 of the
Boston Globe on 4/30/2002.
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Company.