Cardinal Sean O'Malley and about two dozen bishops and priests prostrated themselves on the altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Thursday to ask forgiveness from God for the damage done by the Roman Catholic church's clergy sex abuse scandal.

It was the first of 10 Masses or prayer services scheduled for the next week and a half across the Boston Archdiocese to offer prayers and to apologize to victims for the priests and church workers who hurt children.
"We come together in this pilgrimage overwhelmed by the sadness and pain sexual abuse has caused our church," O'Malley said during the Mass.
"We are sorry that this pain was hidden and the sins were not exposed," he said. "So much suffering was caused by the actions and inactions of bishops and priests."
For about a dozen victims of abuse and their supporters who protested outside the cathedral, prayers, Novenas and the Litany of Repentance were not enough.
"It's empty words as far as I am concerned," said Susan Renehan of Southbridge, who said she was sexually abused by a priest over a three-year period while a child living in New Jersey. "I don't want to hear words of repentance. I want to see actions that define that repentance."
John Harris, 48, of Norwood called O'Malley's pilgrimage to churches in communities that have suffered a particularly painful history of sexual abuse a "PR ploy."
"I felt it was insulting," said Harris, who said he was molested by a priest at the age of 21.
A coalition of sex abuse survivors groups and their supporters sent a letter to O'Malley a week ago asking him to develop a public list of archdiocese priests and employees dismissed for sexual misconduct and to publicly support the elimination of the statute of limitations for sex crime laws.
The Rev. John Connolly, a special assistant to O'Malley and rector of the cathedral, while not addressing the specific requests of the protesters, said the archdiocese has made significant and substantive efforts to address past instances of sex abuse and to prevent future cases.
The church, through its office of Pastoral Support and Outreach, offers counseling and treatment to victims; has trained adults to recognize signs of sexual abuse and taught children how to prevent abuse; and worked closely with civil authorities to prosecute and prevent abuse.
"Every day there is action," he said. "But, yes, there's a lot more that needs to be done."
The service came on the same day that Dr. Robert Haddad, president and CEO of the archdiocese's Caritas Christi Health Care System, resigned after sexual harassment allegations and criticism that the archdiocese had not acted forcefully enough in his case.
About 300 people attended the Mass, including survivors of sexual abuse and their families, although archdiocese officials said it was unclear exactly how many.
Olan Horne of Lowell, who said he was abused by a priest as a boy, addressed the crowd inside the cathedral before the Mass.
He said that while he agreed with the protesters outside that more needs to be done, he could not pass up an opportunity to speak inside to promote understanding and remind church leaders that more needs to be done.
"We need to promote understanding," he said before the Mass. "We need to promote dialogue. We need to promote love. We need to promote hope."
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