WORCESTER -- Former Leominster priest Robert Kelley cried Wednesday as a judge sentenced him to five to seven years in state prison for raping two girls in the early 1980s.

Kelley, 61, pleaded guilty in August to raping the two young girls while he was a priest at St. Cecilia's Parish in Leominster.

Before Superior Court Judge John McCann sentenced the priest, Kelley apologized to his two victims.

Kelley, who abused the girls between 1981 and 1984, said he was "truly sorry" for being the "stumbling block" who robbed them of their innocence and faith.

"There is nothing else but selfishness, call it sin or whatever you want to," Kelley said.

But both victims, Heather Mackey Godin of Tewksbury and Diane Gallien of Ashburnham, said they wanted to be sure Kelley stayed away from children.

The Sentinel & Enterprise named the women because they agreed to speak publicly to the media.

"I know I can say I've seen evil, and it's you," Gallien said as she looked at Kelley. "This will ensure that you will never be around children again."

Mackey asked Kelley to be sent for sex-offender treatment at a place "where he would be safe and receive proper punishment. I realize, however, there is no such place."

Barbara Mackey, mother of Heather Mackey, said as she read a victim impact statement that Kelley was a "pied piper of Leominster, luring children into his web of deceit."

The mother said families appreciated Kelley because his charisma and likeability marked him as "so different from the church at that time."

"I was pleased my daughter did not fear the church or its teachings," she told the judge, saying she could not see through his facade.

McCann said the recent prison slaying of defrocked priest John Geoghan did not persuade him to give Kelley a probationary sentence.

He did recommend Kelley be placed in protective custody and ordered an additional 20 years of probation following release.

The priest kept eye contact with the two victims listening as they emotionally related the effect of Kelley's abuse on their lives.

The priest pleaded guilty in August to molesting Mackey, who was 4 when the abuse started and 8 when it ended.

Mackey's grandmother, Alexina Dionne, was friendly with the priest.

He also pleaded guilty to abusing Diane Gallien, of Ashburnham, as he counseled Gallien's mother through a difficult divorce.

In all, he pleaded guilty to four counts of unnatural rape of a child and two counts of rape of a child.

McCann criticized the priest for not admitting to raping Mackey and Gallien before he was incarcerated for six years for another child-abuse case stemming from the Sacred Heart Parish in Gardner.

"His closeness with these two families belies the representation that at the 1990 sentencing he did not remember who the other victims were," McCann said. "Had he acknowledged those offenses in 1990, it is possible that the darkness of the self-imposed prison within which the present two victims have remained for the past 20 years could have been avoided."

Kelley has admitted in a previous deposition to abusing at least 50 girls before he was removed from ministry in 1985.

McCann said it was important to send a message with the sentence.

"The court determines that there is a societal need for the sentence imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, to provide a just punishment," McCann said.

Kelley's lawyer, Worcester attorney Anthony Salerno, cited the priest's "past 18 years of no incidents" in asking McCann to consider probation or house arrest using electronic monitoring.

He said Kelley's behavior has been "flawless" since his release from prison in 1996.

"He has lived in isolation ... since the day of his release," Salerno said. "He would go home, and care for an elderly parent he lives with. That is his existence."

Kelley lived with his 91-year-old father and was working as a florist for about $200 a week, using the money to slowly pay off a $750,000 civil judgment from another child-abuse lawsuit unrelated to the criminal cases.

The victims said outside the courtroom they appreciated Kelley's apology and were content with the sentence.

"He looked at me the whole time, and he looked as though he was listening to every word I said," Heather Mackey said.