I’m honored to represent so many Catholics on the matter of Church accountability in regard to child sex abuse. It’s your comments here on the site that inspire me when I’m being interviewed. The overwhelming support I have received on and off this site makes the job easy.
I want to thank Kathy Kane, who is as devoted to this effort as I am. She may not be on camera, but she is always working on these issues. She offers me invaluable insight and guidance in regard to this site and advocacy. My parents, who sacrificed for my Catholic education and volunteer tirelessly for their parish, have been an example and offered me the best advice.
I thank the Philadelphia press and TV news for their respectful coverage and the opportunity to discuss faith. Many of the reporters, anchors and writers are Catholic and even those who aren’t have been eager to understand.
Now, it’s time to tackle each action initiative. I would like to raise $1000 to take an ad in the Inquirer to list the actions we want. If we don’t hit that mark, then I will use the donations to blanket the media with press releases via the PR news wire service.
We aren’t stopping.
Susan, thank you for, once again, communicating so clearly and articulately what so many of us are feeling. Keeping this public is so important to the safety of our children. As long as the Archdiocesan employees know this is not going to be forgotten and swept under the rug this time and that they are being watched, I believe there’s a chance that our children may be safer.
Jackie, it’s an honor to represent Catholic parents in this matter. Thanks so much for your support and ideas.
Susan, you did a great job on Fox 29. Very articulate and confident and ready with your clear answers and statements of what we want and need to know. You are doing a wonderful job as spokesperson for all of us. Thanks again.
Thank you, Joyce. It’s hard to get in all in within a few minutes. Next, I’ll be focusing on each action we want accomplished. One by one…
Great job, Susan…. 🙂
Thank you, Laura.
“The document stresses that any legal bills related to abuse allegations would be paid ‘through unrestricted bequests or the sale of archdiocesan property and not from parish collections.'”
Why should Msgr. Lynn’s legal fees will be paid by the Church? As a diocesan priest he did not take a vow of poverty, and he receives a salary. If he can not afford an attorney, why can’t he get a public defender?
As a cynic when it comes to RC Church child abuse sexual tactics, I believe the cardinal wants the best lawyer money can buy. It’s probably not so much to save Lynn, but rather to save his own A$$. Lynn is has a lot more info on the criminal conspiracy within the diocese than do the other priests. The last thing that Cardinal Justin Rigali wants is to have the real secrets of the Church cover-up revealed to the public.
Bingo. Also note that it doesn’t say how the Archdiocese is paying for its legal defense and advice. The Archdiocese is named in several civil suits. While they say they aren’t paying for the priests who are accused on sex abuse, one has to wonder if they are paying for those accused of boundary issues. (Not that we have been told who is accused of what).
Susan, you were wonderful! Thank you so much for representing us. Your time and commitment are truly a mission, and a labor of love. Through you, we know what Jesus would do. Wishing you blessings this Holy Week.
Yes, I think it’s pretty clear why Msgr. Lynn’s legal fees are being covered. It’s an investment in damage control. He has them in a headlock with all that he knows.
If you want answers to the legal funding questions, you can certainly telephone either of these two individuals at Stradley and Ronon:
William Sasso
Chairman
Stradley and Ronon
2005 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone 215-564-8045
E-mail: wsasso@stradley.com
Mark Chopko
Chair
NonProfit and Religious Organizations
Practice Group
Stradley and Ronon
1250 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036
Phone 202-419-8410
E-mail: mchopko@stradley.com
If either Mr. Sasso or Mr. Chopko attempt to refer your inquiry or concern to the in-house counsel at the Archdiocese, please be advised that this attorney was a former attorney at Stradley and Ronon. I am sure that Mr. Sasso or Mr. Chopko would be capable and able to address your concerns, though they most assuredly will not.
In my judgment, since the Philadelphia Catholic faithful contribute to the collections in Churches throughout the area and a portion of these proceeds are forwarded to Church administration downtown, area Catholics do, in effect, pay the salaries of the legal counsel retained by Cardinal Rigali and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
I wanted to provide the below citation so that readers on this blog can have a more realistic understanding of just what we are up against when we plead with the Cardinal for candor and honesty:
From Mark Chopko’s “Constitutional Reflections on the Parish:
An Entity in the Fabric of the Church”
July 1, 2006
The Church comes into existence through the communion of bishops in their dioceses
with the Bishop of Rome.(77) Under the Church’s law, parishes are considered portions of dioceses.(78) Although the parishes themselves are public juridic persons and they are noncollegial
aggregates of persons, the parishioners in the aggregate do not have collective rights because of their status as “parishioners” in the church.
For the Philadelhia Catholic faithful, the key phrase, of course, is this:
“THE PARISHIONERS IN THE AGGREGATE DO NOT HAVE COLLECTIVE RIGHTS.”
Mr. Chopko can have his interpretation of Canon Law. At least two Papal addresses, Vatican Council II and the gospel (God’s word) assure me and all Catholics that the laity does indeed have a collective right. I plan on exercising it right along with you Michael.
Well, you’ll get a chance as we speak.
The newest controversy just appeared on ActionNews regarding the arrest of a athletic director/coach at Archbishop Carroll H.S. for solicitation.
Susan, by the way, the only “right” that is recognized in the US is the “legal” right. Certainly, I agree with you that we do and should have “rights” as parishioners.
Nice job, Susan, on articulating our basic concerns! Regarding the attempt to raise money for an ad, I fully support this and instead of making our normal Easter Sunday church donation, I will be sending that to you, but sending an envelope through the church collections with a note detailing where my money is going this week and why. I will continue to donate Sunday “tithing” to other organizations and will use my envelopes to speak out. Please provide some direction as to where donations should be sent or how to best go about that.
I found the response from the Cardinal’s office insulting in its tone and another example of an obvious public relations’ smoke screen. I think visibility is key, and I would support the production of Catholics4Change bumper stickers or car magnets as well.
By the way, the Sunday bulletin I picked up at Mass yesterday did not contain an insert…
Thank you, Nancy. I have a great list of organizations (such as Project H.O.M.E. and Little Sisters of the Poor) that could use our financial support. I will include that list in a blog and on the Resources page sometime this week. I’m also happy to take suggestions. If people want to give money to their parish but not the diocese, it was recommended to me that I put “for parish use only” in the check memo line. I am creating Catholics4Change merchandise via CafePress and will post that soon, too. The proceeds will also go toward the ad. We need about $1,000 for a 1/8 page ad. I’m at a couple hundred as of today. I’m so thankful for the response during these tough economic times. I know of at least 4 other parishes that didn’t. Some are saying it was because they didn’t have enough time to put in the insert.
You might want to check about the “for parish use only” note on the memo line. If the check goes in the first collection basket, 10% of the take goes to the archdiocese. How can anyone insure that those directions for parish use only will be followed? My husband and I originally want to donate our entire Heritage pledge to our parish and bypass the archdiocese, but we were not permitted to do that. If you don’t want a dime to go the archdiocese, then you can contribute specifically to the parish school. They can’t touch that. However, keep in mind that if everyone does that, sooner or later there won’t be any contributions to keep the lights on in the church. We’ve discontinued our pledge and are giving it directly to the Sanctuary Fund at our parish.
Last Friday, Dan Bartley, national President of Voice of the Faithful came to Phila for the arraignment of Msgr Lynn and the three perps. He sees this crime and scandal in Phila. as a sign of the national ineffectiveness of the Bishops in dealing with the clerical sexual abuse in our country.
All catholics must see that the Bishops honestly implement the Dallas Charter. There needs to be separation between victim assistance programs from offficials of the diocese and their insurance firms. He called for changing the process by which bishops are selected to include significant participation of the laity. Phila. is the high point of the scandal which must lead to reform. Cardinal Regali must resign for the good of the whold church.