Open the Parson purse

According to a front-page story this week, the Windham Historical Society is in the last few months of a campaign aimed at raising enough money to buy a prime piece of historic property in Windham.

The Parson Smith house, located on River Road, is an old house with 124 beautiful acres bordering the Presumpscot River. One of the town’s first ministers lived in the house in the 1700s. Subsequent owners have taken good care of the home, which is in museum-quality shape.

The house obviously has history. It’s a beautiful example, inside and out, of Colonial America, complete with open hearth. Many schoolchildren have taken field trips through the home, and no doubt were more proud and more aware of their town’s history as a result.

It’s now time to help the Windham Historical Society meet its worthwhile goal. To date, the society has raised a tenth of what it needs to buy the house. The society needs to raise another $640,000 before July 1, the day the house goes on the open real estate market. Townspeople should take this chance, now, to save a bit of Windham history.

To donate, call fundraiser Linda Hanscom at her place of business: 892-0900.

Fighting back

A brave local man, enraged by his own experience of abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest, is taking a stand against what has shackled him most of his life and is speaking out.

According to a Page 1 story, Harvey Paul, 52, of Windham, wants to make sure Catholic priests who abuse children are put in jail and are not protected by a religious organization that has had a sad track record of sheltering and concealing the evil acts of some of its leaders.

Since 2002, Paul has been a part of a nationwide group called SNAP, an acronym for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. As part of the group, Paul helped convict his own abuser, Joseph Gilpin, who taught at the parochial school in Biddeford Paul attended in the 1960s.

Convicting his abuser has not healed all of his wounds. Paul has been divorced three times, and has trouble living a normal life. Paul has indeed paid a heavy price for Gilpin’s sin.

Evidently, such wounds suffered as a child last forever, which is all the more reason why sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests is one of the worst criminal acts imaginable. With one act, a child can lose faith in religion and role models. But, Paul is a survivor. As part of SNAP, he has and is facing his fears and anger and is doing the best he can to fight what he considers corruption on the highest scale.

And this fight is noble. While some within the Catholic community feel SNAP is destroying the church by exposing priestly abuse, it is the work of Paul and fellow members to rid the church of a derelict few that will eventually bring redeeming respect back to the Catholic church.

-John Balentine, editor