"We would argue for much more aggressive outreach . . . to find survivors," Casey said.
Washington's Cardinal McCarrick has met with some abuse victims, though spokeswoman Gibbs said she did not know how many. But in the past four years, Gibbs said, Auxiliary Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, whom McCarrick has appointed his point man for victim outreach, has met with about 80 abuse survivors. Many of them were molested in other dioceses but now live here, Gibbs said.
"He has a special e-mail they can reach him at," she said. "They can call him on his private line. It's not a one-time visit with the bishop -- it's whatever you need with the bishop."
Some abuse survivors praised Farrell's sincerity and demeanor but complained about lack of follow-up. Donna Kollars, who was molested by a priest in the late 1970s in Forestville, said that in her two-hour meeting with Farrell, "he was very sorry -- he seemed sincere in being angry about what this priest had done."
But when the priest pleaded guilty in December in Prince George's County Circuit Court, "there was nobody there from the church that I know of," Kollars said. "I think somebody should have been there to show support."
Gibbs said there has not been an archdiocesan-wide healing Mass because it is felt that such services are more meaningful when sponsored by individual parishes, several of which have held them.
The Richmond diocese has not sponsored any healing Masses, acting spokesman Steve Neill said. "Nobody asked for them," he said. "They're not required by the charter. And I haven't heard there has been any . . . criticism of us for not having them."
Neill said he did not think Richmond Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo had met any victims since becoming head of the diocese last year, but he added that DiLorenzo's predecessor, Bishop Walter Sullivan, did.
Neither Richmond bishop has apologized to four men who say they were sexually abused as teenagers by the Rev. John E. Leonard, though Leonard was convicted last year of assault and battery of two of the men. "Never," replied one of the four, Thor Gormley, 52, of Virginia Beach, when asked whether he had received a conciliatory call from the diocese.
Asked about that, Neill said the diocese's vicar general made a public apology to all victims of clergy abuse during a Holy Week Mass in March. Any of the four who want counseling are "urged to come forward, and it will be made available," he said.
Asked whether the diocese should be the one to take the first step, Neill replied: "We don't want to invade their privacy."
