PORTLAND – Bishop Joseph Gerry and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Maine have agreed to a series of meetings with people who say they were sexually molested by priests.

The meetings are described as “listening sessions” and will be moderated by a facilitator to be chosen by the church and advocates for victims. No dates have been selected for the meetings.

The meetings – two of which will be open to news reporters – represent a departure of sorts for Gerry and other church leaders in Maine, who have made few public comments about the abuse scandal.

The sessions also mark the first opportunity for victims in Maine to collectively express their feelings directly to church leaders.

Cynthia Desrosiers, the Maine coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the meetings are a part of the healing process and are a positive step in what has been a rocky relationship between the church and abuse victims.

“Obviously we have differences, but something is going to be done here that will be healing for victims,” Desrosiers said.

Three priests, the Revs. John Audibert, Michael Doucette and Leo Michaud, have been removed from Maine parishes under a church policy which disqualifies a priest from active ministry if he is subject to a “credible allegation” of sexual abuse of a minor.

Gerry has written letters to church members discussing the issue and last month bought full-page advertisements in Maine newspapers expressing sympathy for victims and offering to pay for counseling.

The sessions will offer members of the victims’ group an opportunity to tell Gerry directly about the abuse they suffered. Victims also intend to make a series of demands that they say are necessary for their healing.

The demands include publicly releasing the names of all Maine priests alleged to have abused children and putting an end to what victims say is a practice of protecting abusers by asserting legal protections.

The victims also plan to ask Gerry to waive settlement agreements that prevent victims from talking about their abuse publicly.

Gerry and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Cote have met with abuse victims individually, but they have never met with victims as a group.

Ground rules for the meetings were set at a negotiating session Friday in Augusta.

That meeting included Sister Rita Mae Bissonette, who represented the diocese; Cyndi Amato, the director of Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine; and SNAP coordinator Desrosiers.

Two of the sessions will be open to the press and a third will be closed to the media, Desrosiers said.

Public meetings have been a priority for SNAP members, who have criticized the church in the past for using victim confidentiality as a cloak to protect priests who have abused children. The closed meeting was included at the church’s request for victims who do not want to be identified publicly.