By Kathy Kane
July 26, 2006
Dear Cardinal Rigali,
We are two of the prosecutors assigned to the Philadelphia grand jury investigation that resulted in the report issued ten months ago regarding the sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese. We have since been involved in efforts to have the grand jury’s legislative recommendations become law. We are not writing at the behest of the District Attorney’s Office. We are writing to you as private citizens and advocates of legislative reform because we are alarmed by the message – propagated by Church lobbyists and echoed in legislative chambers and New York Times advertisements – that the Church has fixed the problem. Surely when you consult your conscience rather than lawyers or public relations advisers, you must know that the problem of sexual predators in the priesthood is not fixed in Philadelphia… Read the rest of Maureen McCartney and Mariana Sorensen’s letter here.
Cardinal Rigali ignored this sincere plea until finally forced into some action by the release of the 2011 Grand Jury Report on Clergy Child Sex Abuse. Since then, the following priests have been permanently removed from ministry for abuse and/or boundary violations.
Fr Michael Chapman
Fr Stephen Perzan
Fr Peter Talocci
Fr Mark Fernandez
Fr Stephen Glatts
Fr Robert Povish
Fr John Reardon
Fr Thomas Rooney
Msgr Francis Feret
Fr George Cadwallader
Fr John Bowe
Fr David Givey
Fr Joseph Gallagher
Fr Mark Gaspar
Msgr Richard Powers (Were it not for the shredded memo, he would have continued on in ministry.)
Fr Andrew McCormick (On administrative leave after GJ report and then arrested. Now awaiting trial.)
The back story on Msgr Richard Powers is very interesting because it seems to be a name that came out of nowhere in regards to clergy abuse within the Archdiocese and first appeared on the infamous shredded memo of 1994, which was introduced at the beginning of the Lynn trial in 2012..18 years later.
Also interesting is Msgr Powers resided in a rectory with one of the Archdiocesan frequent fliers- 22 years and 6 parishes after my abuse, Francis X. Trauger. They spent almost 7 years at the same rectory. I’ll bet anything the sHHHH was heard alot!
Sadly, there are still several parts of that same letter that could be sent today to Archbishop Chaput.