Diocesan priest kicks off fund for abuse victims with marathon run

Published: 2004-05-03

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (CNS) -- The vocations director for the Diocese of Springfield raised almost $25,000 for a new diocesan fund for victims of sexual abuse by running in the Boston Marathon April 19. Father Dan Pacholec said he felt helpless in the face of the sexual abuse crisis in the church and wanted to do something positive to begin to bring healing and hope back to the church and to victims of abuse. Shortly after the Feb. 11 announcement that Bishop Thomas L. Dupre of Springfield had retired for health reasons, allegations were made public that years earlier as a priest he had abused two minors sexually. Father Pacholec said he felt a real darkness and heaviness in the diocese. "It seemed there was no good news where the church was concerned, particularly in our own diocese, for several weeks in February," he said in a statement. That's when he came up with the idea of running in the Boston Marathon as a kick-off event to start a much needed fund for abuse victims called "Fund for Healing and Hope."

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