November 2, 2006
Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Denver
1300 South Steele Street
Denver, CO 80210
Dear Archbishop Chaput:
In the past two years, several dozen lawsuits have been filed against
your archdiocese charging clergy child sex crimes and cover ups. Over
and over, victims say the same thing: They want the truth exposed.
They want deeply-held church secrets about clergy sex crimes would
made public.
Earlier this year, Colorado lawmakers seriously considered legislation
that would have enabled victims of these horrific crimes the chance
to expose dangerous pedophile priests and complicit officials. Had
these proposals passed, it’s likely that at least some of the
truth about child molestation by clergy in your archdiocese would have
surfaced.
In response to these developments, several months ago, you proposed
a “mediation” process that could potentially resolve some
of these lawsuits, most likely without any discovery, depositions,
interrogatories or courtroom testimony by church officials; in other
words, with no real exposure of secrets.
This past weekend, Pope Benedict spoke to some of your brother priests
to about clergy sex crimes. His words were very clear: “The wounds
caused by such acts run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence
and trust where these have been damaged. In your continuing efforts
to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish
the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are
necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles
of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to
the victims."
We are writing to ask you to obey the Pope’s advice to “establish
the truth” and “above all, bring healing to the victims.” In
our years of experience of helping victims heal, we have learned that
healing for all parties happens best when clergy sex crimes are fully
revealed. “The truth,” the Bible tells us, “will set
you free.”
In the light of the Pope’s wishes, our experience, victims’ needs,
and the deep need for truth-telling and healing in your archdiocese,
we respectfully ask that you help heal the wounded and protect the
vulnerable, by voluntarily disclosing all church documents relating
to clergy sex abuse. We especially request that this be done before
and during any “settlement talks.”
Increasingly, more victims are insisting that such records be made public.
Almost always, however, these requests are met with hostility by church
officials.
We think this is a narrow, short-sighted approach. We believe full disclosure
is best for all concerned. And we know that you and your attorneys can
fight, or can offer, such disclosure. We beg you to choose the more healthy
approach “disclosure” even though it may cause you and your
staff short-term discomfort.
For the long term, if everyone knows how abuse cases were handled (and
mishandled), and knows who the predators are, society will be safer.
Thank you.
Barbara BlaineSurvivors Network of thoseAbused by
Priests
703-371-6787
PO Box 6416
Chicago IL 60680
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Jeffrey R. Dion
National Center for Victims of Crime
212-467-8717,303-861-7033 |
Tamika D. Payne
Colorado
Coalition Against
312-399-4747 |
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Mary Pat Fox
Voice of the Faithful
617-558-5252, 212-981-1357 |
Ann Barrett Doyle
BishopAccountability.org
781-439-5208 |
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