Voice
of the Faithful Focus – A bi-weekly
brief update highlighting both a problem in
our church and
some progress being made as we work together to Keep
the Faith, Change the Church.
Problem: The Catholic Church in the U.S. continues
to be plagued by the worst crisis in its history and
yet the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
has failed to place any discussion of the clergy abuse
scandal on the agenda for its semi-annual meeting,
June 15-17, in Los Angeles. Voice of the Faithful calls
upon the bishops to:
- Create a national data base of credibly accused priests
- Support legislation extending or eliminating the time
limits under State Statutes
of Limitations Laws dealing with sexual abuse
- Fully
fund the “Causes and Context” Study
- Embrace Financial Accountability and Transparency
Click
here for the complete VOTF press release.
Progress: The
Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Chicago and the Diocese
of Joliet have begun
posting some of the names
of credibly accused priest on their web site, thanks
in part to the pressure applied by VOTF members. Philadelphia
(57 names), Chicago (55) and Joliet (22) currently
list the priest’s name, year of ordination and
current status. Philadelphia also provides a photo
and lists all of their assignments. Although more needs
to be done this is a step in the right direction to
increasing awareness, improving the safety of children
and giving survivors more information as they consider
whether or not to come forward. The release of such
data provides a model for all dioceses to follow as
we call upon the USCCB to compile a national data of
priest with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse.
For a database of publicly accused priests in the U.S.
click
here.
For the listings of names go to the following web
sites:
Diocese
of Joliet
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Archbishop of Chicago
VOTF urges Pope Benedict XVI to require the U.S. bishops
to stop the malicious campaigns against survivors and
instead take a leadership role in reforming child abuse
legislation. Read more
Our votf.org
domain name is back. Our web site is now accessible
via votf.org, votf.net and voiceofthefaithful.org.
Emails can be sent to the national VOTF staff/volunteer
person’s name at either @votf.org or @votf.net,
for example rjoyce@votf.org. We apologize for the misprint in the
June 8 Vineyard: Jeannette Normandin died on May
30, not as stated.
Look for the next Vineyard edition to be sent on June
29th.
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