Here is the segment on FOX 29 from 11 a.m. this morning.
Please join us in a rally tomorrow at noon until one in front of the Archdiocesan building at 222 N. 17th Street, Philadelphia 19006.
There is a parking lot at 18th and Vine.
Here is the segment on FOX 29 from 11 a.m. this morning.
Please join us in a rally tomorrow at noon until one in front of the Archdiocesan building at 222 N. 17th Street, Philadelphia 19006.
There is a parking lot at 18th and Vine.
THANK YOU, Susan, for all you are doing to help us take back our church. I am wondering if there would be a future rally of Catholics4Change on a weekend day when people are not working could attend, and who would want to show support in a kind of “Catholic Cairo.”
Susan, you, your courage, and your calling at this time of your life are an answer to prayers for all of us who have a family member/victim of priest sexual abuse.
I agree that a weekend rally would be great! Especially on a Sunday morning — like Palm Sunday or Mother’s Day — they have to be made to see that they do not have the right to take our church away from us…they are supposed to be servants of God not power and money.
Susan, I read about you and Kathy Kane in last Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer and was so happy to hear that others feel as I do. I love my Catholic faith and have always felt it was a gift; one that I am sharing with my children who also attend a local Catholic school. This latest round of allegations against priests has left me so deeply troubled. I continue to attend mass but am not putting money in the collection basket. Maybe it’s a pointless gesture. Thank you for your work here and for giving the practicing faithful a voice.
LIke the above comments I applaud your efforts and thank you for starting this blog. Our parish’s pulpit has been strikingly silent through all of the recent news, even as the portrait of one of the accused priests (as interim pastor) still hangs in the church vestibule, but the breadth of discontentment takes in those of all ages and levels of involvement–volunteers, CYO coaches, parish council members, lay ministry leaders–all privately expressing the need for accountability and change. I try to persuade those I speak with to not silently turn away, but to find a way to speak out–this is, after all, OUR church, OUR haven, OUR responsibility. For those who cannot or are not inclined to attend a rally, I suggest using the weekly envelopes –with a note indicating this week’s tithe is being sent to some other charity (perhaps SNAP in support of those who are victims of the abuse, or Voices of the Faithful, a concerned group that formed in Boston after the scandal hit there, or just a note saying “Break the Silence” or “For our Children…young and old”).
How stunning would it be if we, as a diocese, for just one Sunday, perhaps EASTER SUNDAY, withheld our funds, choosing instead to flood the baskets with notes in support of transparency, healing, and support for those innocent children? Will it hurt our church finances or our schools? Perhaps temporarily, but I am haunted by several compelling thoughts:
Jesus had zero tolerance for the defiling of his Father’s house, to the point of turning over the money changers in the Temple. Surely, he would want us to act, stepping between innocent children and those who use a sacred position to exploit them. We could not be there to scoop up their broken bodies or kiss away their tears as youngsters, but we can act now to acknowledge their pain and plight, made worse by the callous way they were so easily dismissed. I ask myself, who are these people who could listen to the story of the little child abused by not one, not two, but three trusted adults within the “safe’ haven of the church and not instantly pull these adults from the reaches of other children and hand them over to the law?
Sometimes, change is unpleasant; change is sacrifice and swallowing pride to admit our flaws. Sometimes it’s speaking out in any way we can think of, because as in the words of Elie Wiesel, “to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.”
Thanks for the chance to speak out.