Latino ex-altar boy says ‘machismo’ fueled pain

“To this day, Johnny Vega said, the sound of church bells transforms him back into the terrified boy from Paterson who was sexually abused by a priest as well as a deacon.

In those moments, his pain is raw and real. But he has learned to cope with the past and to reach out to others struggling as he has, he said.

Vega spoke about his experience Saturday at the national conference of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, the country’s first support group for people abused by religious authority figures.”

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