After prayer and remarks by the cardinal, those in attendance were invited to ask questions and offer opinions about a grand jury’s findings of sexual abuse by 63 priests and Rigali’s response to them.

"It wasn’t a debate, but I would say both sides were heard to some degree of satisfaction," said the Rev. Joseph J. Meehan of St. Eugene Church in the Primos section of Upper Darby. "To his credit, the cardinal set himself up to receive criticism, and he accepted it."

Of the 300-plus priests who attended the meeting, about a dozen stepped up to a podium set up in the middle of seminary pews to speak their piece. A few had less-than-flattering words for Rigali, who has criticized the grand jury findings while maintaining the archdiocese never made concerted efforts to cover up the abuse of hundreds of children by dozens of priests.

"The first priest really unloaded -- he even brought typed notes to the podium -- and that kind of set the tone," said Heron, who used his time to express disappointment with what he feels has been an overly legalized response to the report by the archdiocese.

"The facts speak for themselves, and now is not the time to defend the indefensible," he said.

Heron and Meehan said the opinions of the priests were varied, with some supporting Rigali’s hard-line defense of the archdiocese and others finding it weak and deplorable.

The 418-page report is littered with graphic depictions of abuse by the priests, 24 of whom had ties to Delaware County.

"I know the older ones more than the some of the younger ones," said Meehan, who was ordained in 1961. "It was heartbreaking, sad and surprising."

Asked whether he ever felt such a scandal would bubble to the surface, Meehan said, "If you had asked me in the 1980s if this day would come, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not.’ I think my suspicions began with the break of Boston. Once problems began to surface there, the murmuring began in Philadelphia and other places."

Members of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic reform group founded after the Boston scandal broke, were pleased that some priests confronted Rigali.

"I’m very encouraged," said Richard Taylor, a member of Voice of the Faithful of Greater Philadelphia. "Priests in Philadelphia tend to be rather timid speaking up about things that are amiss in the church. To hear that some of them actually stood up and took the cardinal to task is remarkable.

"If priests are this upset, imagine what ordinary lay people are feeling."

Some of the criticism at the meeting was aimed at Rigali’s predecessors, Cardinals Anthony Bevilacqua and John Krol, who were accused by the grand jury of burying and covering up reports of abuse.

"There was support for people who lashed out at the cardinals, but my feeling is we all have clay feet," Heron said. "Those cardinals need healing as much as I need healing, and the victims need healing."