- guardian.co.uk, Sunday March 3 2002 00.31 GMT
Now the mills are mostly empty and the Archdiocese of Boston, to which Lowell belongs, has been shaken to its foundations by a scandal that has detonated a rebellion among the faithful.
At issue is the allegation that scores of priests have been sexually abusing children, and that Cardinal Bernard Law, America's senior Catholic prelate, has been covering up their crimes.
The cardinal has suspended 10 priests. One has been convicted and the names of 80 more have been handed to the authorities. Hundreds of victims have testified to paedophile abuse spanning generations.
But as the cardinal moves to purge his church there are calls for him to resign. It has emerged that his office supervised the settling of legal actions against some 70 priests - at a cost of $10 million - to keep the outrage under wraps.
Across the street from his residence demonstrators pray as they listen to speakers such as Arthur Austin, abused by a priest decades ago: 'There is no excuse - none - for the behaviour of the church in its response to sexually abusive priests. The church knew and the only thing anyone in the hierarchy is sorry about is that they got caught'.
The case of Father John Geoghan ignited the scandal. He was convicted in January of molesting a boy in a swimming pool (after more than 130 children had filed complaints against him), and now faces rape charges.
Geoghan was sentenced to nine years for what Judge Sandra Hamlin called 'reprehensible and depraved' crimes against minors. He preyed on troubled children from broken homes. But as the victims' tales reached his office, Law is accused of moving the priest between parishes 30 times rather than call him to account.
'It was kept quiet - that's the way they felt it should be handled,' one priest, Father Vince Maffei, says now. 'That was the decision of the people in charge, and it has backfired something fierce.'
At the end of January, Cardinal Law gave an assurance that no priest with a record of abusing children remained in pastoral office. But since then he has been forced to suspend the 10 priests, announcing a 'zero tolerance' policy towards anyone facing accusations.
Daniel Conley, district attorney for Suffolk County, says that files on 25 priests have been handed to him alone by Law's office. Donna Morrissey, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, insists that 'our action should not be seen as a conviction of the accused'.
But the growing number of victims coming forward - some 200 so far - has prompted the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union to express fears of a witchhunt. One attorney, Jeffrey Newman, is trying to ensure the veracity of all his testimonies by making victims coming to him file a police report too; to file a false police document is a crime.
In Lowell, birthplace of the Beat poet Jack Kerouac, the church's tardy attempts to cleanse itself have backfired badly. The priest in the scrappy parish of St Patrick's, Father George Spagnolia - 'Father Spag' to his flock - has refused to stand down or vacate his rectory as instructed, after an allegation of sexual abuse in 1971. Behind him mobilises an angry, mass counter-rebellion of parishioners.
St Patrick's is wedged within one of Lowell's poorer housing projects. But its walls are now adorned with signs reading 'Fight the Power', and 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Unless Ordained in Boston'.
'Father Spag' was ordained in 1964 and has had an intriguing career. In the same year of the alleged sex abuse, he led a vigil outside the then cardinal's residence in support of a demand for a parish school. But he left the priesthood in 1973 for 20 years after a dispute which he says was to do with Church policy on race, but about which he remains tantalisingly vague.
He inspires intense loyalty in his flock. 'He'd give you money out of his own pocket' says Elly Torres who came from Cuba in the Sixties to work in the mills. Spagnolia gave an extraordinary sermon press conference where he said: 'Let me say now: I have done nothing... I believe this case will go all the way to Rome.'
Almost all the abuse cases reportedly involve boys. But female victims are also emerging.
The Massachusetts scandal threatens to engulf the Roman Catholic Church, which is the biggest Christian denomination in the US, with 63 million adherents.
Allegations against priests have also emerged in New Hampshire and Maine. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced it had 'credible evidence' of sexual abuse of children by 35 priests. The Arizona Daily Star demanded the resignation of the Bishop of Tucson after disclosing that millions of dollars had been paid out to settle cases brought by 11 former altar boys against four priests.
One of the lawyers representing victims in Massachussetts, Carmen Durso, said: 'The public atmosphere has forced a lot of people to confront their demons, because that's what these are -demons.'
