“National Sexual Assault Awareness, Child Abuse Month,” by Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia for The Catholic Standard and Times
The Cardinal writes: “The resurgence of news coverage concerning sexual abuse causes further pain. Every time there is a report of abuse it not only re-injures the victims, our parishioners are shaken by each disclosure, and it erodes the true image of the priesthood.”
Here’s an idea from C4C: Cardinal Rigali could ease the pain by fulfilling the recommendations of the 2011 Grand Jury Report. Doing this would cut down on abuse and media coverage. Doing this would restore our faith in Church Leadership and reinforce respect for priests.
“We also seek forgiveness for what may have been a well-intentioned desire to prevent scandal by not publicly acknowledging incidents.”
From the Cardinal’s presentation….
Such a statement gives the word “disingenuous” a bad name.
Dear Cardinal,
Please stop blocking the proposed change in statue of limitations….. please put in place all grand jury reccomendations…….by protecting the physical assets of the church you are continuing to destroy the church spiritually……. help heal us spiritually you will get your physical assets back in the future……where is the concern for our souls……..no wonder Jesus reccomended we give everything away to the poor and follow him and that it is difficult for a rich man to get to heaven……… Even with jail sentences most convicted priests will be out on parole…….so what is there to fear????? Maybe it is just pride?I love the Catholic Church…….I donate frequently but this might change soon………..unite your suffering to Christ and make the changes necessary……….You are in my prayers.
Dear Cardinal, Please put in place all grand jury recommendations. Become what you are meant to be, a true servant of the servants of God.
The truth will surely set us ALL free.
I posted the following rant on that site, and of course, they took it down. Its similar to my other rants, with more proof and facts:
Here’s the view of the future for you:
A child is told by his parents that she should be a Catholic. She goes out with her friends, and the friends show her stories from the internet, on her phone, that talk about thousands of priests raping tens of thousands of children worldwide.
They will show the child individual stories from the Philadelphia Grand Jury report, about 12 year old Ruth who was raped by Father Cudemo, then taken for an abortion. They will show how the church hid the truth, lied to parishioners. They will show on page 25, Nicolas Cudemo was “transferred each time because of what were recorded in Archdiocese files as ‘particular friendships’ with girls.”
They will show page 130 – In January 1997, Monsignor William Lynn presented Fr. Cudemo with a certificate declaring him “a retired priest in good standing in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia”. Read Page 130 to find out it got worse, and he was working as a priest in Orlando in 2003.
They will show the New York Times article where Rigali said there were no priests in active ministry “who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them.”, and then they will show him backtracking after it was clear that he lied and was willing to put children in jeopardy again.
You think that child is going to remain Catholic? You think her friends can talk her into disobeying her parents, disobeying the church, lying, cheating, stealing, having sex, and every other temptation imaginable?
That technology is available today, but it will be much easier in the next year or two. The Philadelphia diocese will be one of the examples millions of kids will use to convince millions of others that the Catholic church is a cult of child rape, lying, and ignoring the victims. You go think about that for eternity.
“The victims of child sexual abuse live each day with the effects of this terrible sin.”
From Cardinal Rigali’s article in the Standard and Times……
It’s May 2011, over 5 years since the release of the First Grand Jury Report in September 2005, and the Cardinal still refers to these unspeakable acts as a “sin”.
In the interests of clarification and honesty, the Cardinal needs to use the proper term”
“CRIME” “CRIMINAL ACT”
And what is required for a CRIME or CRIMINAL ACT here in the Commonwealth of PA? PROSECUTION !!!!
The cardinal is publicly asking for forgiveness and pardon, which is a good step forward, but he and his predecessor have yet to accept responsibility for permitting the pedophile shell game that abused children.
He lists lots of great statistics and touts the the Safe Environment training, which is good also, but it would appear that although “all priests” were trained, some priests didn’t learn a thing.
The names of all the priests listed in the grand jury report should have been listed on the archdiocese web site, but they weren’t. Actions speak louder than words.