DEBORAH BECKER: This is Deborah Becker in Boston, which has been at the center of the U.S. clergy abuse scandal since it first erupted here in 2002. During a mass in honor of priests at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Cardinal Sean O'Malley said Europe's mushrooming abuse crisis is a painful reminder.
SEAN O: These are not easy times to be a priest. Sometimes it feels like we are being walloped quite unfairly.
BECKER: Olan Horne was among a handful of victims who met with Pope Benedict during his U.S. visit in 2008.
OLAN HORNE: We said it eight years ago: This is not an American problem - this is a global issue. Nobody believed us. People were spitting in our faces, saying, well, why didn't you come forward? This is all about the money. You hit the pedophile lottery.
BECKER: Another survivor at that papal meeting was Bernie McDaid. He's disappointed that the Vatican has not done more for victims since that emotional meeting.
BERNIE MCDAID: I put my hand on his heart and said, you have a cancer in your flock and you need to do something about it. A couple of the other survivors couldn't even speak. The follow-through, I'm sad to say, there was no follow-through.
BECKER: But some Catholics say the church has been addressing the issue. Eighty-year-old Nancy Caruso regularly attends Mass in Boston's North End.
NANCY CARUSO: I'm sad for the priests that were involved in it. I'm very sad for the pope. It's happened. Nobody wanted it to happen, but let's move on. Let's not forget the tenets of our religion.
BECKER: For Carol McKinley, who considers herself a Catholic activist, the latest allegations are about religion.
CAROL MCKINLEY: I definitely feel that there is an attack against the church. Do we have a problem? We did have a problem. I'm not quite sure we have a problem now.
BECKER: For NPR News, I'm Debra Becker in Boston.
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