BOSTON (AP) – An alleged victim of defrocked priest John Geoghan, whose lawsuit against the Boston archdiocese helped spark the clergy sexual abuse scandal, was in critical condition Wednesday after being pulled from the Neponset River.

David Procopio, a spokesmen for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, said Patrick McSorley, 28, of Taunton, was found in the river near Pope John Paul II Park, in the city’s Dorchester section. Procopio said it was not clear how he ended up in the river.

McSorley’s attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, told The Associated Press that McSorley was unconscious and on life support at Boston Medical Center.

A hospital spokeswoman said McSorley was listed critical condition.

An outspoken critic of the Catholic Church’s response to clergy sexual abuse, McSorley brought a lawsuit against the Boston archdiocese claiming he was sexually assaulted by Geoghan in 1986, when McSorley was 12.

Geoghan is serving a nine- to 10-year prison sentence for fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1991.

McSorley’s lawsuit was among the first of hundreds eventually filed against the archdiocese claiming clergy sex abuse.

The church settled with 86 plaintiffs, including McSorley, for $10 million in 2002. Hundreds of other cases are still pending.

After a year of a near-constant barrage of damaging media attention – and the release of thousands of pages of internal church records showing the archdiocese routinely transferred accused priests to avoid scandal – Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop in mid-December.

“Patrick McSorley is a hero to many victims of clergy sexual abuse and to the public in general,” Garabedian said. “Just (Tuesday) he was commenting about how the leaders of the Catholic Church really don’t care about victims and refused to begin the healing process.”

AP-ES-06-18-03 2313EDT

Copy the Story Link