Op-Ed

National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) raises alarm warnings about the very specific choice of words by Benedict XVI

NSAC calls on pope to require ALL cases of sexual abuse of children to be reported to local and state authorities, even if civil laws don’t “require it.”

Asks pope to remove and sanction all bishops who cover up abuse

For Immediate Release

May 5, 2010

With its experience across the United States and having witnessed the splitting of hairs of local laws and successes at pushing cases outside statutes of limitation by local bishops, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) is increasingly concerned about the very specific words used by Pope Benedict.

The pope called on all bishops to report abuse where they are “required” to report abuse to local authorities. We implore the pope to demand that all bishops report all abuse to local and state authorities.

Our experience is highlighted by one example in the state of Maine in the United Statess. The bishop appointed an unlicensed counselor as the Victims’ Outreach Coordinator. After meeting with this counselor, advocates became aware of the unlicensed status and recognized that neither the coordinator, nor the chancellor, nor the diocesan investigator was required by state law to report abuse that they learned about in the course of their work for the bishop. Advocates quickly rallied state legislators to include the language of “church workers” in the statute for mandated reporters. Now all “church workers” are required to report.

NSAC fears that since bishops are well-trained at evading reporting of abuse and that not all local jurisdictions or states have updated their mandated reporter lists to include church workers and hence “not required to report.” Bishops will take advantage of the system all the while continuing their PR mandated mantra of “we are doing everything possible to protect children.”

Given NSAC’s familiarity with the tactics of bishops, we have also become alarmed at the number of ordained clergy working so closely with victims. First and foremost, we have learned that the ordained will use, lean on and hide behind their vow of obedience instead of acting in the interest of reporting abuse and saving children. Reporting is delayed or never takes place, priests escape and more children are raped and sodomized.

Contact: Kristine Ward, www.nsacoalition.org, kristineward@hotmail.com

Michael Sweatt, www.nsacoalition.org, mjsweatt@aol.com

April 25, 2010

            NSAC: If Credibility is the Goal, Cardinal Law Must Be Removed from Position of Naming Bishops

The United States based National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) said today that if the Vatican has changed its strategy in the sexual abuse crisis and is “moving to get rid of bishops tainted by the scandal” as indicated by news reports then Cardinal Bernard Law must be relieved of his position on the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.

If credibility and accountability are truly what Pope Benedict is aiming for, Cardinal Law must be dislodged from all privileged positions not only his post as Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major but most importantly his place of considerable influence in the making of new bishops in his own likeness, the coalition said.

If Pope Benedict doesn’t remove Cardinal Law, we call upon Cardinal Law, in all justice after the Pope’s acceptance of the resignation of two Irish bishops named in the Murphy Report, to do the right thing and step aside, the coalition said.

Cardinal Law resigned as the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston during the white heat of the scandal in the United States in 2002 but he has been kept in a position of power and influence by the Vatican.

For Cardinal Law’s record on abuse, see the public documents on www.bishop-accountability.org

The coalition also noted “with sadness” that it has taken massive news reporting on several continents to move the Vatican spokesperson to say the time had come for “truth, transparency and credibility.”

“The Church has laryngitis in its moral voice. The only cure for it is the truth. The truth is in the documents. Piecemeal release of the documents only prolongs the crisis. Pope Benedicts should release all of the documents pertaining to sexual abuse by priests and nuns the Vatican is holding and order Bishops and religious congregations to release all of the documents in their files.

Contact: Kristine Ward, Chair, National Survivor Advocates Coalition, www.nsacoalition.org
Steve Sheehan, NSAC Boston, sheehan1777@aol.com, Mike Sweatt, NSAC Maine, mjsweatt@aol.com

“The proof of action will be in whether Pope Benedict pursues justice that includes bishops and Vatican personnel who covered up the crimes of sexual abuse not pronouncements on removal of priests and nuns who abuse.”

“An institution with the depth of 2,000 years of history seeking to be the moral leader on the earth has to squarely face that the cover up of crimes is also a severe and festering wound in the Church and society.”

“With his Church being investigated by two governments, Ireland and Germany, Pope Benedict’s inch by inch approach to resolution of the crisis does leave a great deal to be desired.”

“Action is long overdue. The time for promising it should be long over.There was never a day or a year when it was right to abuse a child. For moral and spiritual leaders there should never have been the need for a learning curve on what to do about crimes. Pope Benedict is, after all, the ultimate authority in his Church. If he wants to take action what’s stopping him?” 

Contact: Kristine Ward, 937-272-0308, Kristineward@hotmail.com, www.nsacoalition.com

Pursuing Cover Up Bishops Has to be Part of Justice, Otherwise We Have Relativism

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) said today that “Pope Benedict’s road to justice for survivors and victims of sexual abuse by priests and nuns must include dealing with the Bishops and Vatican officials who shielded priest abusers not just the abusers themselves.”

“An institution with the depth of 2,000 years of history seeking to be the moral leader on the earth has to squarely face that the cover up of crimes is also a severe and festering wound in the Church.

“Tears, yes, words, yes but solid and convincing action that is uniquely within the Pope’s purview is what is needed. Remove the bishops and Vatican hierarchy that covered up. Otherwise what we have is creeping relativism, the very thing Pope Benedict preached against on the eve of his election to the papacy five years ago.”

The Pope’s tears in his eyes at Malta should surely lead him to addressing the victims in his own country. For the German victims there has been absolute silence from him.”

Contact: Kristine Ward, Kristineward@hotmail.com, www.nsacoalition.com

Penance Is Not Justice                                                Survivors Deserve Justice

For Immediate Release

April 16, 2010

Pope Benedict, in extemporaneous remarks in a homily April 15, spoke of the need for penance. The press referred to it as a “change in tone” regarding the sexual abuse crisis.  

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition is compelled to say what the survivors and victims deserve is justice. 

Penance can take its due course but justice delayed is justice denied.

Justice  will only be achieved when there is a stark facing up to the crisis, when truth is sought and found and acted upon. Veiled references to the crisis do not bring an end to it. Only justice will do that. The road to justice is through truth. 

Once again we call upon the Pope, all officials of the Vatican, and all bishops to release the documents on sexual abuse so that the truth may be known.  

Given the weight of the current crisis, Catholics may become  grateful for any shred of indication that Pope Benedict and the Vatican are moving to address the sexual abuse crisis particularly in light of Cardinal Bertone’s comments in Chile linking homosexuality to pedophilia,  Cardinal Sodano’s Easter Sunday speech describing the current news coverage of the crisis as “idle gossip” and the papal preacher’s Good Friday tying of criticism of the Pope with anti-Semitism.

We ask Catholics and all men and women of goodwill to remember that much much more than a slight change in tone is needed. To whom much is given, much is expected.

Contact: Kristine Ward, kristineward@hotmail.com, www.nsacoalition.org

WORLD   | April 16, 2010 In Shift of Tone on Abuse Cases, Pope Speaks of ‘Penance’ By RACHEL DONADIO In his most direct reference to the sex abuse crisis, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on Thursday of the need for the faithful to do “penance.”

Resurrecting the phrase “petty gossip” is far from the spirit of the Resurrection.

For Immediate Release

April 4, 2010

It is shameful to use the Easter Mass at the Vatican to shore up the Pope and slander victims as purveyors of “petty gossip.”

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals who elected Pope Benedict, stood before the Mass in front of a captive audience and knowing he would have a worldwide audience to push an agenda intended to marginalize survivors, keep them shackled in silence, and denigrate the truth they have brought into the light.

Resurrecting the phrase “petty gossip” is far from the true spirit of the Resurrection.

Neither Cardinal Sodano nor the Pope uttered a word of compassion, hope, or light for the victims of sexual abuse by priests and nuns.

On a day whose very essence is transformation, it was busy as usual at the Vatican. Lord help us.

Resurrecting the phrase “petty gossip” is far from the spirit of the Resurrection.

NSAC: “Read it and weep.”

NSAC Asks: “When was it ever right in any time, circumstance, educational setting –particularly Catholic Church schools– to abuse innocent and vulnerable? Why wouldn’t Pope, bishops, priests, nuns know this?

NSAC calls for re-routing of collection money in US and Ireland and Tax Revolt in Germany where tax money support Catholic Church

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) issued a response today to Pope Benedict’s pastoral to the people of Ireland saying simply and directly “ read it and weep.”

“The letter stings with a puny Christianity using holy language to deflect responsibility for the criminal acts of abusing children and the cover up of crimes, “ the coalition said.

“The people descendant of the great St. Patrick, inseparable with the faith for centuries, and intrepid heralds of the Gospel to many nations are spoken to as though the scandal happened in a vacuum and Pope Benedict and the central government authority of the Church bear no responsibility for the actions of Irish bishops and priests trained, selected, placed and kept in power by the Vatican.

“Simply writing the words ‘criminal activity’ does not mean and should not be confused with the Pope taking responsibility for the cover-up of crimes. “ the coalition said.

“Like a shell game the letter shifts blame for the crisis on turbulent societal times, bad education of priests and the failure to apply canon law, “ the coalition said.

Let it be resoundingly asked: When was it ever under any circumstance, time, or educational structure considered right to abuse the innocent and vulnerable, to sodomize and rape them, and to cover up these crimes ?

We agree with Pope Benedict that the letter should be read in its entirety and judged in its entirety.

As the survivors, the faithful and all men and women of goodwill read it, let is be remembered:

• Pope Benedict ran the Vatican office where cases of sexual abuse by priests have been piling up for years
• Pope Benedict ran the Munich diocese where evidence has come forward of his knowledge of abuse by at least one priest before he ever headed a Vatican office
• the Irish scandal does not exist in a vacuum, it follows the media revelations of scandals in Canada, the United States, Australia and co-exists with media revelations of scandal in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
“The Church has laryngitis in its moral voice and this letter is not the cure” the coalition.

“Read it, “ the coalition said, “because knowledge is power.”

“ Weep, “ the coalition said because:
• it does not announce the removal of Cardinal Sean Brady as primate of Ireland
• it does not include the acceptance of the resignations offered by Irish bishops
• survivors are left without acknowledgement that a Pope who headed the Vatican office where sexual abuse cases have been piling up for decades knew of their plight and did nothing to stop the cover-up and come to their assistance
• the Irish faithful and all men and women of goodwill are given an “apostolic visitation” as the answer to a deep seeded culture of secrecy that grievously wounds the innocent and vulnerable
• the emphasis is on priests and there is not acknowlegement of abuse by nuns included in the church institutions and included in the Irish government reports.
Until and unless there is true and substantial response to the crisis, the coalition urged:
• Catholics in the United States and Ireland to re-route their collection money either to the direct suppliers of parish utilities and vendors of parish services bypassing diocesan assessments or give the money to trusted charities
• Catholics in Germany to revolt against the use of tax monies to support the Catholic Church (taxes are the way churches are supported in Germany)

In making its comments today, NSAC acknowledged the “noble courage” of the survivors that have come forward in Ireland and throughout the world and extended to them its solidarity “most particularly on this difficult day.”

Contact NSAC: Kristine Ward, 937-272-0308 kristineward@hotmail.com www.nsacoalition.org

NSAC: “Read it and weep.”

NSAC Asks: “When was it ever right in any time, circumstance, educational setting –particularly Catholic Church schools– to abuse innocent and vulnerable? Why wouldn’t Pope, bishops, priests, nuns know this?

NSAC calls for re-routing of collection money in US and Ireland and Tax Revolt in Germany where tax money support Catholic Church

March 20, 2010
For Immediate Release

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) issued a response today to Pope Benedict’s pastoral to the people of Ireland saying simply and directly “ read it and weep.”

“The letter stings with a puny Christianity using holy language to deflect responsibility for the criminal acts of abusing children and the cover up of crimes, “ the coalition said.

“The people descendant of the great St. Patrick, inseparable with the faith for centuries, and intrepid heralds of the Gospel to many nations are spoken to as though the scandal happened in a vacuum and Pope Benedict and the central government authority of the Church bear no responsibility for the actions of Irish bishops and priests trained, selected, placed and kept in power by the Vatican.

“Simply writing the words ‘criminal activity’ does not mean and should not be confused with the Pope taking responsibility for the cover-up of crimes. “ the coalition said.

“Like a shell game the letter shifts blame for the crisis on turbulent societal times, bad education of priests and the failure to apply canon law, “ the coalition said.

Let it be resoundingly asked: When was it ever under any circumstance, time, or educational structure considered right to abuse the innocent and vulnerable, to sodomize and rape them, and to cover up these crimes ?

We agree with Pope Benedict that the letter should be read in its entirety and judged in its entirety.

As the survivors, the faithful and all men and women of goodwill read it, let is be remembered:

Pope Benedict ran the Vatican office where cases of sexual abuse by priests have been piling up for years

Pope Benedict ran the Munich diocese where evidence has come forward of his knowledge of abuse by at least one priest before he ever headed a Vatican office

the Irish scandal does not exist in a vacuum, it follows the media revelations of scandals in Canada, the United States, Australia and co-exists with media revelations of scandal in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

“The Church has laryngitis in its moral voice and this letter is not the cure” the coalition.

“Read it, “ the coalition said, “because knowledge is power.”

“ Weep, “ the coalition said because:

it does not announce the removal of Cardinal Sean Brady as primate of Ireland

it does not include the acceptance of the resignations offered by Irish bishops

survivors are left without acknowledgement that a Pope who headed the Vatican office where sexual abuse cases have been piling up for decades knew of their plight and did nothing to stop the cover-up and come to their assistance

the Irish faithful and all men and women of goodwill are given an “apostolic visitation” as the answer to a deep seeded culture of secrecy that grievously wounds the innocent and vulnerable

the emphasis is on priests and there is not acknowlegement of abuse by nuns included in the church institutions and included in the Irish government reports.

Until and unless there is true and substantial response to the crisis, the coalition urged:

Catholics in the United States and Ireland to re-route their collection money either to the direct suppliers of parish utilities and vendors of parish services bypassing diocesan assessments or give the money to trusted charities

Catholics in Germany to revolt against the use of tax monies to support the Catholic Church (taxes are the way churches are supported in Germany)

In making its comments today, NSAC acknowledged the “noble courage” of the survivors that have come forward in Ireland and throughout the world and extended to them its solidarity “most particularly on this difficult day.”

Contact NSAC: Kristine Ward, 937-272-0308 kristineward@hotmail.com
www.nsacoalition.org

__._,_.___
Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
Messages in this topic (1)
Recent Activity:
Visit Your Group

January 28,2010

A nationwide support group for victims of sexual abuse is reaching out in local Catholic parishes where an alleged predator priest was previously assigned.

Bob Schwiderski, regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, held a press conference Tuesday outside St. Agatha’s Church in Hope.

Schwiderski says several victims from North Dakota have come forward with allegations that Father Gregory Patejko sexually abused them, among them a Zeeland, ND man who settled a claim with the Fargo Diocese after alleging Patejko sexually abused him in 1976.

Patejko was a pastor in Hope, Page and Aneta from 1979 to 1981 and his assignment to the local parishes came directly after his time in the Zeeland/Ashley area. He later served at several churches in Texas before relocating back to Poland. He is now believed to be deceased.

“They picked him up and they dropped him here is what they did,” Schwiderski said. “If there are victims here we urge them to get help.”

Schwiderski says that since his organization was first informed of the Fargo Diocese 1994 settlement with Richard Jangula of Zeeland, three more victims have come forward with stories of sexual abuse during Patejko’s time in North Dakota.

One of these victims also claims to have a “confidential agreement” with the Fargo Diocese. In it, the victims say they received an undisclosed amount of money and agreed not to sue the diocese in the future.

With this information, Schwiderski says he believes there are more victims who have not yet come forward. He also had harsh criticism for the Fargo Diocese, which he says should be open with local parishes about Patejko’s past.

The Diocese of Fargo’s statement of policy regarding sexual misconduct states that in the event of a report of sexual misconduct, “the Diocese is committed to communicating openly and fully with the affected parish or community.”

To the best knowledge of SNAP, Schwiderski says, there has been no communication from the Fargo Diocese to the Hope, Page or Aneta parishes directly referencing Patejko.

“They’re trying to change the subject and pass it off on victim confidentiality,” Schwiderski said. “That’s fine, but come back to your policy and be open with the parishes.”

SNAP vs. Fargo Diocese
The SNAP organization has challenged the Diocese of Fargo publically several times within the past year, claiming it has not aggressively sought to identify and assist victims of sexual abuse.

The group sent out a formal letter in December that was directed at Bishop Samuel Aquila for what the group perceives as a lack of response to allegations against Patejko.

“We’re worried essentially that three church officials allegedly knew of these credible allegations against a predator priest and, at best, stayed silent and, at worst, helped conceal them,” said David Clohessy, SNAP national director.

That letter states that since the allegations were made, “to the best of our knowledge, there has been no personal visit by top church staff to Patejko’s former parishes to urge victims to come forward and get help; no public announcements on the diocesan Web site, in the diocesan newspaper, in parish bulletins, or news releases to the media and public about Patejko’s wrongdoing…”

Bishop Aquila responded to the letter last month in the form of a letter to the editor that was printed in the Fargo Forum on Dec. 22, 2009.

“The most important message”

While the SNAP organization continues to criticize the Fargo Diocese, Schwiderski said the group’s main mission is to offer support and resources for victims. He, too, was abused by a Catholic priest as a boy in Hector, MN, Schwiderski said.

“You are not alone. Thousands of people in SNAP lived through the same burden and we’re here to help,” he added. “We’re not against the church. The issue is that people have been harmed and they need help.”

More on SNAP
SNAP, established in 1989, is a support group for women and men abused by religious authority figures in the United States. SNAP is an independent, 501(c) 3 non-profit organization with no connections with any churches. The group claims to have more than 4,500 members in 55 active chapters.

Reach SNAP at www.SNAPnetwork.org or at 1-877-762-7432.

The coalition said it was dismayed that a spiritual leader would resort to a letter read to parishioners at Sunday liturgies on a matter as significant as this and wonderment that any bishop who declares he is concerned about the issues of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth still does not feel compelled to be with his people as their spiritual leader in a time of crisis.

Words are poor subsitutes for presence in any crisis, the coalition said.

Bishop DiMarzio, the coalition noted, had no hesitation when he entered into people’s homes via robocalls in the recent election in praise of Assemblyman Vito Lopez who worked against statute of limitation reform for victims of sexual abuse. As direct a contact as he could get with all registered voters of the Assemblyman’s district seemed a good idea to the bishop.

Maybe the bishop could at least have robocalled the parishioners who were dealing with such a heavy blow.

His announcement of the removal of the pastor quotes him as saying to his people, “You are undoubtedly aware of the deep suffering and hurt that surround any mater of child abuse, especially when the allegations involve a member of the clergy. It can damage, often irreparably the innocence, trust and reputations of all who are who are in any way affected by it.”

The people of the parish, the coalition said, are “undoubtedly aware” we just wonder if Bishop DiMarzio is since actions undoubtedly speak louder than words.

Bishop DiMarzio’s statement says ,“The steps we have taken are essential to maintaining our commitment to the bishops’ Charter and Norms.”

Wouldn’t be wonderful if Bishop DiMarzio had a full court press, flat out, no holds barred committement to the protection of children instead of to a document that has proven its weakness over and over again since 2002.

We suggest the people of the parish withhold their money until they see their bishop in their parish.

Perhaps, that particular kind of absence will make the bishop’s heart grow fonder.

Link to Bishop DiMarzio’s statement:http://dioceseofbrooklyn.org/default_article.aspx?id=4534

National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) expressed its regret that the United States Supreme Court banned televising the Proposition 8 trial either by delayed posting on YouTube or live broadcast because of a technicality.

The court ruled that the Ninth District court had not allowed enough time for comments on whether the trial should be televised and therefore the US Supreme Court would not allow the delayed posting or live broadcast.

NSAC reiterated its call for as wide a distribution of the trial proceedings as possible.

The coalition said televising the trial would provide an avenue of knowledge for Catholics about the use of Catholic money by bishops to support or defeat legislation.

Exit polls showed that 64% of Catholics voted yes on Proposition 8 to ban same sex marriage. Catholic bishops in California led by San Francisco Archbishop George Neiderbauer, former bishop of Salt Lake City, formed an alliance with Mormons to support the proposition.

Citing Roman Catholic bishops’ direct involvement in the Proposition 8 issue and the “bitter lessons” learned about these same bishops and secrecy in the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church, the coalition said it opts for openness in the search for truth.

The Catholic Church, an opponent of Proposition 8, should applaud and support any efforts that open the avenues of access to justice through a transparent process, the coalition said.

Secrecy breeds corrosion and it is an enemy of the truth, NSAC said.

The Catholic Church, an opponent of Proposition 8, the coalition continued, should applaud and support any efforts that open the avenues of access to justice through a transparent process.

The coalition also noted the Supreme Court plans to take up the issue of televised court proceedings later in the term and urged the court to rule in favor of wide distribution of trial proceedings.

Contact:

Jim Jenkins, NSAC – California, 510-559-5173

Kristine Ward, NSAC, Chair, 937-272-0308

.

__,_._,___

December 17, 2009

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) sees in the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray, Bishop of Limerick, Ireland the failure of a Church unwilling to hear the cries of the innocent until forced into a corner by a civil government.

For 15 years, survivors in Ireland pursued the government’s investigation after they got no serious response let alone compassion or understanding or action to protect other children from the hierarchy that claimed to be part of a moral voice on the planet.

What is admirable today is not the passing of a bishop from his realm but the courage of those whose childhoods were taken from them, whose souls and spirits were deeply scarred yet who nobly rose to advance the cause of truth.

The resignation of one bishop does not end this scandal or even begin to heal its wounds.

Wholesale change, deep and meaningful must come to a hierarchy and a Church that allowed children to be abused and unflinchingly covered up crimes.

If the acceptance of this resignation is Pope Benedict’s “outrage” and “deep distress” for the Church in Ireland, it is an oxymoron.

Contact: National Survivor Advocates Coalition 937-272-0308

“Closing of the Purses” In Ireland

Cites US Experience of Bishops Fighting Victims

For Immediate Release – 12/15/09

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) calls on our Irish cousins to close their purses until they receive a satisfactory response from their local bishops and the pope for the rape and sodomy of innocent Irish children.

The pope and bishops are quick to use words such as “shamed,” “shocked,” or “horrified” and will make hollow apologies and promises of improved programs to protect children. All of this is done to placate the initial distaste of the average Catholic in the pew.

In reality they will quickly tell you the abuse crisis is “history” as did the current President of the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops. They will fight victims and survivors at every step of their search for justice. They will write their own policies and they will offer to police themselves. They will roll out “independent audits” using surveys and checklists designed by none other than the bishops themselves.

Not one bishop will resign or be fired for his inaction in protecting children or for his own involvement in transferring abusive priests, thereby aiding and abetting sexual predators. They will destroy documents or ignore court directives to release files on abusive priests. They will provide zero pastoral care to these children (now adults) who served the priests at the altar or were their students in theology class.

Now is the time to take the only action the bishops and pope understand.

Withdraw the cash these bishops will use to fight survivors, to hire expensive lawyers and public relations firms. Stop the cash flowing to the pope who personally developed some of the existing Church polices when he was Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Sadly, this is the legacy of Benedict XVI and the Roman Catholic bishops of America.

Contact: NSAC 937-272-0308

__._,_.___

Get Answers Before Giving to Christmas Collection

Give to Charities That Have Proven Track Record for Helping Not Hurting Children

The Catholics of Bridgeport Connecticut deserve better than they are getting from Bishop William Lori.

First, their money is spent to fight for a serious and hefty fight to the United States Supreme Court to keep documents about sexual abuse by priests secret.

Now, today’s Hartford Courant reports, that Bishop William Lori paid $40,000 in Catholic money to victims of two priests who remain in ministry in the diocese.

One of the priests, Father Frank Wissel, a pastor and founder of a home for underprivileged says he never knew any payments were paid and he was told an investigation decided the charges were false.

Monsignor William Genuario, the other priest in today’s report, was a vicar general of the diocese, currently a judge on the marriage tribunal court, and has been part of the diocese’s administration since 1956.

The diocesan faithful who contribute to the coffers that pay settlements and legal fees have to be understandably confused: why pay if allegations are false? or if allegations are true why keep priests in ministry when you have a policy of removing them as Bishop Lori says he does?

We urged Catholics in Bridgeport to follow the money and get clear answers from their Bishop before they turn over any more of the their hard earned money in the Christmas and Sunday collections.

The coalition is not advoacting that Catholics in Bridgeport withhold their money from good causes, particularly those that help children. We do urge them to give their money and to dig deep and give generously to any group that has clearly demonstrated that the money is used to help children, not to fight legal battles and obscure the truth.

Contact: Kristine Ward, Chair

937-272-0308

NSAC Calls for Removals of Bishops, Recall of Nuncio

For Immediate Release

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) based in the United States, today called Pope Benedict’s response to the Irish sexual abuse scandal as “woefully inadequate.”

Pope Benedict said today after meeting with Irish bishops at the Vatican that he was “deeply dissturbed and distressed” and would write a pastoral letter to the people of Ireland outling future changes in dealing with abuse.

The coalition said in a statement., the Pope should:

· immediately remove the Bishops who protected sexual abusers in the Irish clergy

· remove any person in Ireland and in the Vatican hierarchy complicit in protecting abusers

recall the papal nuncio

The Pope now has the report, he has spoken with the Irish bishops. Now is the time for action. It has been too long delayed.

The Pontiff has the authority to remove bishops. To leave them in positions of authority sends the message that no wrong was done, no strong action is not needed and all that’s necessary in the face of these horrific revelations is a bit of tinkering on how things will be done in the future.

These horrific crimes cry out for justice. In the name of the Christ Child, the Pope should act.

The Catholic Church is suffering from laryngitis in its moral voice. Today, the Pope offered no medicine that will advance the cure.

One must ask,: How long, O Lord, how long?”

How long, how many meetings, how many letters until there is clear, decisive, real action to own up to the crimes committed against children, the vulnerable and innocent by persons in authority in the Catholic Church?

Contact: Kristine Ward, National Survivor Advocates Coalition

937-272-0308

__._,_.___
Reply to sender | Reply to group

For Immediate Release

The National Survivors Advocates Coalition (NSAC) calls upon Catholics in the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT and throughout the country to be actively vigilant regarding the release of documents that the diocese fought up to and including a request for an appeal hearing from the United States Supreme Court.

The Coalition joined two other national groups, Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and BishopAccountability.org, calling for continued and sustained efforts by the attorneys for the four newspapers that brought the court case for release of documents.

” 1,488 secret documents were withheld recently by the Bridgeport Diocese, “the coalition said. BishopAccountability.org estimates that 12% of the records.

“It’s clear the courts have said the documents should be released. The courts did not say that all documents except for 12% of them should be released,” the coalition said.

“Catholics should be seekers of the truth, the whole truth not 12% shy of the truth,” the coalition said.

” Holding back on 12% of the records on top of a lengthy court fight to keep all of the records secret only reinforces the questions:

What is the Bridgeport Diocese trying to hide?
Whom is the diocese trying to protect?
How much Catholic money is Bridgeport’s secret hiding costing that could be spent on feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, liberating the oppressed and educating the next generation of Catholics?”

The coalition asked Catholics to remember that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settlement and the Diocese of San Diego settlement in 2007 included provisions for the release of documents. These releases have yet to be fulfilled.

“We urgently ask our fellow Catholics to make it a priority that all of the Diocese of Bridgeport’s sexual abuse records requested by the four newspapers be released, “the coalition said, “Let us not go the way of Los Angeles where promises become vapors.”

The coalition said, “In the same way that we cannot be complacent about the hierarchy, we cannot take for granted that because Bridgeport Diocese has said it comply with the court ordered release of records that in fact the release of all documents that there will be an unobstructed path to the release of documents.”

“The roots and values of our faith unite us, “ the coalition added, “and we can do no less than heed our call to conscience to be vigilantly engaged in this process.”

Catholics in Bridgeport were asked by the coalition to:

Contact Bishop William Lori in person, by letter or through comments on his blog (www.bridgeportdiocese.com Bishop Lori’s blog) and inform him they are actively vigilant and expect deterrents to the release of documents to cease
bring up the matter with their parish priests this weekend and ask them to bring up the matter in any meeting with the Bishop and at meetings of priest councils
keep the document issue alive through conversations with fellow Catholics
contact the judge handling the release of documents
write letters to the editor the expressing their opinions about the process of the release of documents
seriously consider withholding financial support to the diocese and their parishes if they documents are not released with all deliberate speed

Contact:

Kristine Ward, Chair, National Survivor Advocates Coalition 937-272-0308
Full Text of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition Statement

 This section of NSAC News is designed to permit Survivor Advocates to express their opinions and ideas relevant to the subject matter of this newsletter. Your participation is invited and encouraged. Letters to the Editor addressing a particular article should be sent to the Editor of the publication. in which the article originally appeared.  This Op-Ed section provides a forum for our readers to express their independent views.

____________________________________________________________________________

A Fork in the Road

 James Jenkins, Ph.D.

 Wednesday, 21 October 2009, I learned from the NY Times of the announcement in Rome by William Cardinal Levada, the Vatican’s chief doctrinal watchdog, that the Roman Catholic Church was taking steps to ease the way, more likely grease the skids, for conservative, reactionary Anglican bishops and priests to be fully accepted into the Catholic communion.

 There are continuing reports out of the Vatican that there is a lot of “inside-Roman-baseball” that underlies much of this story.  Apparently, both Anglicans and Roman officials charged with shepherding “ecumenical dialogue” were caught off-guard and surprised by this audacious announcement emanating from Levada’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition).

 My own speculation is that this whole incident demonstrates the preference of Benedict XVI’s papacy for exercising his absolute power through his most favored bureaucracy, staffed and stacked with his most trusted operatives, which he fashioned to his own will over two decades as its leader before becoming pope.  We have to presume that Benedict is no fan of collegiality.

 For me personally, this moment seems more like the reflection poet Robert Frost offers in his poem, “The Road Not Taken.”  Spiritually, religiously, and culturally, “Two roads diverged in a wood…”

 After years of revelations of the exploitation of children by sexually rapacious clerics, and the moral betrayal of supposed shepherd-bishops, shell-shocked Catholics are now treated to the spectacle of Vatican politicians, Benedict chief among them, of trying to cherry-pick the low hanging fruit off the Anglican branch of the vine.

 I can almost hear the Anglicans, and their fellow American Episcopalians, heaving a giant sigh of relief that finally someone is willing to take their embarrassing problems off their hands. 

 How politically opportunistic!  This is so rich, so Vatican!  The Vatican apparently hopes to cannibalize Anglican misogynistic and homophobic misfits in order to prop up their own dead-end ideology and failed pastoral leadership of the past forty years? Where is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in that?

 Is this political ploy the fruit of Benedict’s chosen strategy to reclaim the spiritual heart of an alienated Western Europe and North America?  These democratic societies are the very ones the Vatican considers in the throes of “moral relativism” and, by the Vatican’s repeated words and actions over the years, have wished again and again consigned to the historical ash heap.

  This comes in the context of other Vatican shenanigans.  The Vatican is now in the midst of an “investigation” of American religious women, who after making decisive contributions to the cultural and economic development of Catholics in the United States, are now aging and dwindling in numbers.

 There are not a few of us Catholics who smell a clerical rat.  I suspect that the true motivation for this investigation of American Catholic sisters is not to fathom the decline of religious life in American society.  On the contrary, the Vatican seems to more likely to positioning themselves to pick the carcass of the sisters, who have limited but substantial financial and property holdings, in these days of diminishing and depleted church treasuries. 

 I’m sorry, but I can’t think of any other motive for the clerics but power and greed.  They want to be the beneficiaries when these American nuns are no longer able to offer any dissent, or cause trouble by educating the Catholic masses about their individual dignity and independent moral conscience – not highly valued principle by our Vatican clerical overlords.

 I digress.

Let those who want to cling to Roman ways and traditions, continue to do so.  I have to admit that I consider this choice a dead-end.  The signs of the times are all around us, and have been for a long time:  The clerical dominated Catholic Church is passing away.

 The child sexual abuse scandal ripped away any pretense of a healthy, vibrant community led by their celibate priests.  Laid bare was the morally bankrupt and corrupt leadership of bishops and priests complicit in the rape and sodomy of children.  The full scope of the clerics’ financial chicanery and fraud has been assiduously repressed and has yet to be fully disclosed.

 In a shocking reversal of the gospel, our shepherds now aided and abetted the wolves preying on the most vulnerable of the sheep, our children.  The betrayal, the shame, the humiliation will be with Catholics for many, many decades.

  Millions of Americans no longer are even willing to call themselves Catholic, let alone attend or even associate with the church. Priests, most of whom are our friends and confessors, are dying off with fewer and fewer quality replacements.  Parishes and schools are being sold off, many times to easy the financial hit from over $2 billion in settlements from the sex abuse scandal.

 The appropriate response of American Catholics, who seek a reformed and renewed Christian community, rooted in our own cultural and historical traditions, should be to declare our American Catholic Independence.

 We American Catholics should throw off “Old World,” Vatican religious and spiritual hegemony.  Like the ancient Eastern or Oriental rites of the church, we should establish our own American Catholic Rite and be done with it.

 The Roman rite can remain a home for those who still cling to that clerical worldview.  An all male celibate, hierarchical priesthood will most likely continue.  The church over the centuries has always managed to suffer on and endure.  The Vatican and pope could still function as a unifying force for Christianity maybe without the stifling need for absolute control.  But this time, just maybe, in a more humble manifestation.

 This new rite would reflect American democratic traditions and individual freedoms, our unique indigenous culture.  The new American rite could be a church where the PEOPLE DECIDE about our liturgy and prayer, how we manage and administer our resources, whom we ordain, how we designate our leadership.  Anything less, it shouldn’t survive.

 The American rite will only give expression to a distinct cultural identity and spiritual integrity.  It will be uniquely suited to pass on in the American cultural context the values of the gospel, the practice of the Beatitudes and corporal works of mercy, the singular vision of Jesus as the Prince of Peace.

 Taking a page out of the Vatican playbook, American Catholics should ask the Episcopalians for help and assistance in establishing and organizing our new rite.  Most American Catholics would be surprised to learn how much the Episcopalians, while not perfect, already model the church we seek.  We will need guidance in forming our governance, selecting men and women for our priesthood, and establishing a new pastoral identity.

 I am presuming that the Roman church will not be very generous in sharing the resources and infrastructure of the present American church with this new endeavor of a new American rite.  With some striking out to find their own way, the clerics most likely will be hurt and feel abandoned especially when so many indicators foretell a bleak future. 

 Yet, we will need places to meet for worship and prayer, places to educate and form our children.  American Catholics, if we are to survive let alone endure, will have to begin from scratch.

 Like the traveler in Frost’s poem, American Catholics have a decision which path to pursue: Do we stay with the Romans stuck in an alienating reality?  Or, do we strike out on our own fulfilling the best promise of Vatican II. 

 An inexorable evolution toward a Peoples’ Church has already begun.  The evidence has been with us for a very long time.  It may take us decades, whole lifetimes, but we must begin this journey now.  We must help this new Light burn brighter.  Frost’s ending stanza can only give us hope:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

     Hopes It Frees Any Person with Information to Come Forward

It is our sincere hope that the United States Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the appeal of Father Gerald Robinson convicted of murdering Sister Margaret Pahl in Toledo, Ohio in 1980 will provide some sense of peace to the Pahl family.

Given the Vatican’s current investigation of US nuns, there seems no better time to wonder where the Vatican’s heft and moral leadership were when a no holds barred approach to finding the killer was needed when Sister Margaret was found slain in the hospital chapel on Holy Saturday 1980.

Instead officials of the Toledo Diocese, the same diocese now headed by Bishop Blair who is carrying out the Vatican’s investigation of nuns, block and blunted a true investigation of Father Robinson.

The Supreme Court has done what Catholic bishops have failed to do: provide justice to victims. This shameful stain cries out for Bishop Blair to seek out any and all victims of Father Robinson and all sexual abuse victims. We hope this decision is freeing for any person who may have any additional information regarding Father Robinson and it is an impetus to come forward to the Toledo police.

Contact:
- Kristine Ward, chair, National Survivor Advocates Coalition
  937-272-0308

 September 11, 2009                                               Vol. 1, No 135

 _________________________________________________

 Op-Ed

 This section of  NSAC News is designed to permit Survivor Advocates to express their opinions and ideas relevant to the subject matter of this newsletter.  Your participation is  invited and encouraged. Letters to the Editor addressing a particular article should be sent to the Editor of  the publication. in which the article originally appeared

The 9 Year Old and the Nun

by Steve Theisen

“Sister, why do you wear that ring?”  as a 9-yr old, I asked

“Because I’m married to Jesus.” she answered.

This nun, my fourth grade teacher wore the brown Franciscan habit with the cross of Jesus around her neck. 

I trusted the Catholic Church at 9 years of age because I believed what Sister said: that she was married to Jesus and the priests were Christ on earth.

After the school day was out, I helped this Sister clean the chalk boards and tidy up. 

One day after school, this school in the north end of Dubuque, Iowa, where I made my First Confession, my First Communion and served as an altar, she had me stand next to her desk where she was sitting. She taught me how the Eskimos kissed. 

A few days later, she showed me how the Americans kissed. 

A few days later, she taught me how the French kissed. 

She continued this abuse after school almost every day, on Saturdays, and during the summer months. 

Visualize a nun, approximately 38, 39 years old, having her tongue in a 9-yr old boy’s mouth? 

Visualize a nun, laying on top of a 9-yr old boy with her tongue in the boy’s mouth or her having the boy lay on her?

Who was the 9-yr old to tell in those days?  Even today some people will not believe these horrors.  Even today, some say we shouldn’t tell.

Sometimes we forget the innocence of children.  I challenge the non-believers of clergy abuse to look at children who are 8, 9, and 10 years old.  Are they not innocent?  Do these children who are in their formative years not trust?

The Church told me at age 7 that I knew right from wrong – the age of reasoning for First Communion.  

“Sister, why do you wear that ring on your finger?”  “Because I’m married to Jesus.”

Who was the 9 yr old boy, going to tell that being he betrayed Jesus because I was fooling around with his wife?   It was the worst of sins.      

Who could I have turned to? 

Who could I have turned to when I knew it was my sin that put one of the spikes into Christ when he was crucified?

Fear and guilt kept this abuse going on until the 6^th grade.    

My abuser had me sit next to her during school Masses so she could hide her hand that was holding mine under her habit.  She gave me a rosary and a rosary case. Inside the case was a picture of her that she placed there.  She hid me under her desk when other kids had to stay after school.  When the kids were gone, the abuse would continue.

I broke my arm one summer.  Mom called the nun thinking she’d want to know.  My abuser came to the hospital and from behind the curtain kissed me on the mouth and reminded me to be careful because I may say some things under anesthesia and then she disappeared.

She kept me after school under the pretense of tutoring me in Latin so I could be an altar boy.

Kids teased me about being the teacher’s pet.  That hurt.  The teasing would have been worse had they learned of the abuse.  Even so I couldn’t tell them for surely they would not like me or been friends with an evil and immoral person.

I ended the abuse but feared what she would do or who she would tell.

I can’t look back and ask “what if?”  I can only look forward.  I’m eager to look forward these days and appreciate what I was not able to appreciate in the last 40 years.

Sexual abuse is unforgiving.

I learned now that suffering sexual abuse at a very young age disturbed the mental, emotional, spiritual and even physical growth patterns of my formative years. 

To compensate for the loss of the formative years it seems my brain developed “wrong thinking” or rational to combat the effects of abuse.

Since then, I’ve realized that I have ended many relationships and friendships by just walking away.

I carried the abuse internally and silently throughout my childhood development, teen years, and into adulthood.

My silence didn’t mean everything was okay.  Inside there was so much pain and guilt.

I cried at night curled into the fetal position. 

I grabbed the pain in my stomach. 

I cried silently so my brothers won’t hear. 

The pain was massive.

I prayed to God at night to take away the pain.  I asked Him every night that I would not wake up in the morning.  He would not listen to my prayers.  Even God didn’t like me for He didn’t listen to my prayers.

How did I grow?  How did I grow emotionally, spiritually, and mentally with my terrible sin?  I don’t know.  I did it by covering and hiding my terrible guilt, pain, and shame.  What did that hiding do to me?

I know now that I did not grow into the best person I could have become. 

I now know that I did not become the best husband I could have become. 

I now know that I did not become the best father, son, brother, friend, or co-worker I could have become.

I know now that many lives went unfulfilled because of abuse. 

I now know the lives damaged and unfulfilled were not just victim lives.  Our love ones or those who tried to love us were also damaged and unfulfilled.

Abuse not only affects the victim; it affects those that love us.  I unknowingly found the wrong way to deal with our hurt; a way to ease our pain; a way to block out our guilt.  

What is a family member to say to the victim who is depressed?  Abuse is like the tentacles of an octopus.  It’s capable of destroying and devouring whatever it grabs hold of.

I worried that my silence has meant that other boys experienced my fate at the hands of this veiled pedophile monster.

Flashbacks that trigger the reliving of the abuse all over again.  Flashbacks that cause anxiety, depression, etc.  I handled low self esteem often by striking out against others.  I would feel guilty or hurt so I would isolate myself.  Isolation – the last thing a victim needs.

Sleep disturbance.  What sleep?  Trying to say prayers at night for myself would wind my mind up for hours or I avoided sleep to avoid nightmares.

Imagine the difficulties of controlling memories when trying to intimate with your spouse.

I didn’t go looking for crutches. Abuse found the crutches for me. 

I unknowingly stumbled upon things that took away the pain temporarily. I didn’t know these crutches were temporary pain relievers that could end up in addictions.   I did not know these crutches would cause the people that loved us pain. 

No, I seldom look back.  I look forward to the future. 

But I do wonder, “what if I wasn’t born Catholic?”

Steve Theisen, Iowa SNAP Director
123 Celeste Street, Hudson, IA 50643
319-231-1663  ltreggiefan@cs.com