As a child, Michael Mack was enamored with the beauty he found in the Catholic Church. He was raised by Catholic parents, attended Catholic school and wanted to be a priest when he grew up. “The Catholic Church was my world,” said playwright and performer Michael Mack. Then he was abused by his pastor.
While his autobiographical one-man show tackles the difficult topic of clergy sexual abuse, the play begins with the joy he found in Christ, and years later, ends with that same joy, he said. He will perform the play at St. John Neumann Church in Reston April 20 as part of ongoing efforts in the diocese to support those impacted by abuse.
“The Diocese of Arlington’s Office of Victim Assistance hopes that events such as Mack’s play help raise awareness of the ongoing need for healing for those sexually abused,” said Frank Moncher, director. “It is important for the church to continue to listen to and support victims/survivors who courageously share their experiences. Our office remains available to assist those in need.”
The play begins when Mack was a child, and his mother was in and out of the hospital seeking treatment for schizophrenia. In financial straits, his father sent Mack and his siblings to live with their aunt in North Carolina for a time. While there, Mack was befriended by the parish priest. One day in the spring of 1968, the priest invited the 11-year-old boy to the rectory. “That’s where my story began,” said Mack. “My family and I left the town soon after, and I think of the years that followed as my 40 years of wandering in the desert.”
In 2005, Mack was living in Massachusetts when he discovered that his abuser was living close by. The man had spent a brief time in jail for child abuse and had been penalized by the church, said Mack. Mack went to the man’s doorstep seeking a conversation with him, which inspired the play’s title “Conversations with My Molester: A Journey of Faith.”
In 2011, Mack journeyed back to the small town where the abuse occurred. He saw the church, since transformed into an arts center, and the rectory. He then visited the parish’s new church and went to confession for the first time in 43 years. He and the priest had a long conversation, during which he shared about the abuse.
Afterward, the priest invited him to Mass. “I wept through the entire Mass, it was like being washed clean by water and the Holy Spirit,” he said. “I still had a lot to work through, but it was the first major step where I felt like, I’m back. This is my home — with all its warts — this is my home.”
Mack will perform his play thanks to the efforts of the St. John Neumann ACTION ministry. The parish group focuses on supporting victim survivors and preventing abuse, said member Angie Boggs. “We are the church, and we have a responsibility to these folks, to listen to them and to help them tell their story,” she said. “We have to deal with it, we have to do what we can to understand it so that we can prevent incidents like this. Sexual abuse, not just by clergy but by anybody, is so prevalent.”
“Our work, the work that Angie and I are doing here, is really about healing — for individuals who have experienced any child sexual abuse, and (for the) church,” said Mack. Boggs agreed. “I feel very strongly the responsibility as a Catholic to make the church what it’s supposed to be, to help the Holy Spirit recreate our church every day.”
If you go
Michael Mack will perform “Conversations with My Molester: A Journey of Faith,” which is suitable for adults, April 20 at 7 p.m. at St. John Neumann Church Brown-McCarthy Auditorium, 11900 Lawyers Rd., Reston. April Is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
