Call to the bishops: 'build on hope, not fear'

David, I hope they hear you. There are times when it is embarrassing to be a Catholic ... the Notre Dame fiasco was one of them. Actions speak louder than words --- and the actions of the so-called leaders of the Catholic Church left much to be desired in the eyes of many faithful, committed Catholics.

As long as the most of the bishops' sole strongest trait is loyalty, they will be unable to exemplify dialogue, compassion, sensibility, or leadership. Until then, we're on our own...

June 17, 2009

A LETTER TO CARDINAL GEORGE
UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS

FROM:

BishopAccountability.org and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Dear Cardinal George:

Like millions across the globe, we are horrified by the disclosure of systemic and devastating child sex crimes and cover-ups in Catholic institutions in Ireland. Like hundreds of thousands here in the US, we also are shocked by your silence and the silence of your American colleagues to this vast scandal.

For weeks, Ireland has been in turmoil over a new government report which documents decades of pervasive and systematic child abuse in church-run orphanages and other residential care institutions. Although the report has shocked Catholics and generated headlines worldwide, US church officials have failed to make a public statement about the scandal.

The silence of US bishops has been deafening, especially given that this news affects millions of Irish-American Catholics in a personal way. Your silence is particularly egregious because so many US priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and bishops began their careers or lives in Ireland.

We can't help but wonder if you and your brother bishops are staying silent because the Irish report may prompt closer scrutiny of the American hierarchy on two fronts: (1) How many predatory Irish priests and nuns found sanctuary in US dioceses? (2) Did bishops cover up the sexual and physical abuse of helpless children in Catholic orphanages and residential schools in the US?

Ireland had a centralized system of state-financed, church-run schools and homes for children. The situation in the US is, of course, very different. Still, Catholic dioceses and religious orders in America have, for decades, operated hundreds of orphanages, reform schools, minor seminaries, and boarding schools. We know that many of these institutions have well-documented histories of child sex crimes.

At St. John's School for the Deaf in Wisconsin, for instance, the boarding school's longtime director, Father Lawrence Murphy, is believed to have raped and abused as many as 200 boys. Two Oregon orphanages employed Fr. Maurice Grammond, who is accused of abusing 50 children.

In light of the horrific report from Ireland and the unsettling facts of similar abuse in the US, we are urging you and each of your brother bishops to:

1. Insist that Irish church leaders give you the names of clerics who molested in Ireland and came to the US,

2. Publicly name all Irish abusers who molested there and moved here,

3. Start reaching out to parishioners in the US who may have been assaulted by Irish clerics, and

4. Admit to the hidden crisis of child abuse in US Catholic orphanages, minor seminaries, and reform schools

Today, BishopAccountability.org has posted on the Internet a list of 12 US Catholic residential institutions where children were sexually abused. This list is just a start. Like their Irish counterparts, US Catholics and citizens need and deserve a full accounting of the mistreatment of children in all residential institutions owned by the US Catholic Church. You can help make sure the truth is told. But that will happen only if you and your colleagues show courage, prod your Irish brethren for abusers' names and records, and make that information publicly known. You must then use your vast resources to identify and help those who were molested in US institutions or by abusive Irish priests who came to the US.

We trust you will share our letter with your colleagues. We look forward to hearing your response.

BishopAccountability.org
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

Terence McKiernan, President, 508-479-9304
Barbara Garcia Boehland, San Antonio Director, 210 725 8329
Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, 781-439-5208
David Clohessy, National Director, 314 566 9790
P. O Box 541375 PO Box 6416
Waltham MA 02454 Chicago IL 60680

If I had a chance to talk to the Bishops I would say the following:
You are out of touch with Catholics!
You are out of touch with ordinary people! Take off your miters and join in on a dialogue. Stop shouting at us from the pulpit.
Treat us like the educated people most Catholics are.
Turn the administration of the diocese over to competent lay people.
Be pastoral. We need your compassion when we get it we will respond.
Respect the role of women in the Church. Stop rejecting them even to
refusing to wash their feet on Holy Thursday!!
Take action to help the wonderful men you are bringing into this country
from other countries. Help them to learn to speak American English as
I would have to learn to speak the language of another country if I was missioned in their country. Do you know
Catholic people in the pews are angry because they ae unable to understand them?
Instruct them in the American culture, especially in their relations
with women.
Make mission the deciding factor in all your decisions, econlmic, keeping
or closing parishes, etc. Don't let money be the deciding factor.
Thanks for listening.

One is tempted to assume that a lot of bishops do not have the courage of their convictions, or maybe not even the convictions expected of them. The one thing too many bishops want more than anything is to be considered first and foremost card carrying, full-fledged members of the democratic party like they were in the 20's, 30's and 40's. Back then, they called the political shots in the big northern cities and new ideas like birth control, pornography,and abortion were kept suppressed by them and for them to keep them in the democratic fold. Now, the democrats simply don't want them with there anti-abortion notions (birth control and pornography is ancient history). The bishops have never recovered from such rejection. The sainted Cardinal Bernadin didn't even make it back into the fold. Maybe there should be a line drawn somewhere in the sand. Mr. O'Brien couldn't pass up a hint at guilt by association in the Tiller murder. Does he really believe that President Obama gave an inch on abortion at Notre Dame?

David O'Brien is a Catholic voice of reason. Let us hope he is reasonably listened to.

"When those who are properly shocked by genuine assaults on human life use the dramatic metaphors of war, the Holocaust and slavery, they give up hope of persuading the public, building consensus and solving the problem."

Up here in the far north country, deep in the forest, property lines are many times blurred and you are not always sure whose property you are on. One neighbor (who has since moved to Arizona) confronted wandering visitors with these words "Move one foot more and I'll shoot you dead." Needless to say there was no dialogue there, only flight by these frightened people.

The murderer of George Tiller has been using this language even as he is in jail. A statement from our bishops who've invoked the Holocaust (much to the dismay of many Jews), who've invoked war (using George Bush's metaphor), a statement condemning Tiller's message would go a long way in calming the waters. And then, perhaps there could be a dialogue not a monologue of death and destruction and war.

it is always amazing to me that the abortion issue always centers around women and their choice/non choice. how do women become pregnant anyway? where in this debate is there ever a hint of how men in our society share responsibility for unwanted pregnancies. I don't think the u.s. bishops have developed any kind of pastoral response re. a man's choice/non choice...are we content to maintain the traditional explanation...that men have needs beyond their control? i'd hope not!

NO FREE PASS BY THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victims’ Advocate

The New York Assembly should not be giving a free pass to sexual predators of children - of any stripe, sexual orientation or religious affiliation. Nor should they be giving more protection under the law to these same sexual predators then to victims of childhood sexual abuse - by anyone.

The New York State Assembly should pass the Markey/Duane Child Victims' bill.

A major epidemic is going on in our country, a pandemic if one considers it in its worldwide proportions and it is hard to believe, in light of such concerns, that we continue to have churchmen in the state of New York like Brooklyn's Bishop DiMarzio as well as others who actually oppose the removal of statutes of limitations regarding the sexual abuse of our children.

In the state of New York, it appears that leaders of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Jewish denominations are of the opinion that sexual predators and abusers should not be held accountable.

This should be unacceptable to all of us who are concerned with the trafficking of individuals for sexual exploitation, because, make no mistake about it, the sexual abuse of children in religious denominations, sects and cults is part and parcel of the wider epidemic and pandemic of the trafficking of individuals for sexual exploitation.

It is particularly disheartening in light of the fact that the Roman Catholic Church, the Holy See, was one of the earliest signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Is this an example of a “Do as I say, not as I do,” mentality?

“Window” legislation, as it relates to civil statutes, is the single most important factor in holding sexual predators and their enabling individuals or institutions accountable.

New York’s Markey/Duane bill is rather modest when compared to Delaware’s 2007 Child Victims Law which went from an egregious two year statute of limitation to none going forward and includes a two year civil window for previously time barred cases of childhood sexual abuse - by anyone - and which remains open until July 10, 2009.

I was privilaged to testify before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of Delaware’s child abuse legislation.

So imperious are religious denominations’ disregard of children in the state of New York, that the statute of limitations now protects known sexual abusers of children from criminal prosecution forever once short statutes of limitation expire.

I cannot comprehend the hubris that would occasion the type of behavior that has been so graphically delineated in a number of investigations in the U.S. including the 2002 Suffolk County, NY Grand Jury Report which detailed the clergy sex abuse of children in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Yet churchmen still question the rightfulness of extending the statute of limitations.

Why, one wonders, are dioceses in the state of New York not distributing postcards for the members of the Catholic community to sign and send to their legislators in Albany to support the complete removal of statutes of limitations going forward in regard to the sexual abuse of children, criminally and civilly?

This is not a matter belonging to what the Catholic Church calls the “deposit of faith,” and, leaving aside the matter of mortal sin for the moment, the sexual abuse of children is a matter of criminal behavior.

Can there be any question about the intrinsic evil of the sexual abuse of children or of the fact that such individuals are intrinsically disordered?

Certainly not!

Church officials who claim that their dioceses, parishes, churches or programs will go bankrupt have produced no data to support such inflammatory statements and in states like California and Delaware there has been not the slightest possibility of that happening.

In fact, in addition to settling a $ 660 million dollar lawsuit a few years ago, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California built and paid for a new cathedral that any city in the world would be proud to showcase.

It is important to remember that window legislation is not “anti” any particular group; it is pro-child. It forces records, if they exist and have not been destroyed, to be made available in a court of justice and hopefully into the public venue as well.

Moreover, there should be no accommodation in law giving more protection to individuals who have been accused of the sexual abuse of children than to the victims themselves.

I think now is the time to make those who violate and abuse our children accountable in all states no matter when the abuse took place. Remove statutes of limitations going forward and include window legislation for past crimes.

It is unconscionable for religious denominations and their leadership to protect and enable sexual predators by refusing to support changes in the laws that would hold both the perpetrators and their enablers accountable.

In all good conscience, I strongly encourage all people of good will in the state of New York, including Catholics, to support criminal and civil laws that are as strong as possible in holding the sexual predators of our children and any individuals or institutions, who were complicit in their protection, accountable.

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victims’ Advocate
New Castle, Delaware
maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com

Sadly there are things that make communication about a seamless garment next to impossible:

1. Too many of our bishops place politics before communication. If some political person is for something then these bishops believe they must be against it ... and since "They Have the Power" all they have to do is demand obedience.

2. Those bishops that actually are in support of that same political person do not speak out because of collegiality or (sadly) because they may not be 'promoted.' Silence is Prudent. The result is once again lack of communication.

President Obama at ND is a classic example. The Loud Seventy once again said what is equal to, "Let there be no Eucharist (or honest communication)" while the rest - along with most presidents of Catholic places of higher education were (scared?) into silence.

Communication equals education and formation --- but sadly most bishops are either stidently and simplisticly authoritarian or silent. Far too many still think that we are The Church before WWII and all they have to do is 'demand.'

Here in Fort Wayne it would seem that Bishop D'Arcy is forever hooked at the hip with the radical Randall Terry. Is this fair? No, but it is (at least my) reality.

And we won't even consider that the US Catholic Episcopacy still can't see above its navel.

Thanks - that was very cathartic.

Why can't these brilliant men, the bishops, listen to someone like David O'Brien? Or anyone in the church that cares.

Those of us that love the Catholic church are on our own. The bishops have meetings, they make laws and these mean nothing at all. Individual priests do what they want and they are patted on the head and excused. We have a young priest that cares but he can't say anything and we know he will not go far because he is honest and spiritual.

We will stay with our church but we will bring changes.

So reasoned and enlightened an approach. Why do we seem to always be doing battle? In the heat of accusation, we appear unable to hear the other--and that's amoung ourselves. Jesus was always about Hope. Move on and work it out. Don't stay mired in the muck of the past. And whatever we do we ought not to condemn those seeking to further true dialogue such as Fr. Jenkins.

Thank you, David O'Brien, for your intelligent, consistently clear and reasoned voice as an American and as a Catholic. As the Poles used to cry out to John Paul II, "May you live a thousand years!"

Wow! What a shameful article.

I think the author of this article and most of the people that support this type of theology are "out of touch" with mainstream Catholicism.

I pray that David, and those like him, embrace the truth and beauty of Catholicism by embracing the Church...and not throwing stones at it.

Dr. O'Brien,

You forgot to mention the central issue about Notre Dame's scandal. They awarded an Honorary Law Degree to Obamamania. If that was not done there would be little opposition to his Notre Dame visit. That is not common ground, that is capitualation on murder. The Church does not exist to find popularity and concensus.

What happened to my last post? Was it suppressed? My only point is that for Professor O'Brien to write something like this "instruction " while making a career out of dismissing throughout his long career the requirements of the Apostolic Constituion Ex Corde Ecclesiea (BORN FROM THE HEART) is at best disingenuous. REFER: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/docum...

Don't forget that Friday is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus-God come in the flesh! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

I couldn't agree with you more and wrote to the Bishop of So Bend before the graduation urging him to attend. We are secure enough in our position on abortion so that no one would have doubts on where he or any bishop stands. Both the President and Notre came well. If Jesus could enter homes and sit at table with those with whom he disagreed, I think we can too.

Bishop Joseph Sartoris (Emeritus)

..."If, in the case of abortion, Americans and their president are as bad as Notre Dames' critics charged, then their is really no other choice for Christians but withdrawal from corrupted institutions and civil disobedience."

Well, no. There is reaching out and teaching, above all else by example. Their is speaking out against all violations against human dignity, not just abortion. There is speaking out against unjust wars of aggression, and torture, for example. There is speaking out against the vile, hateful rhetoric spewing forth from right-wing talk radio on a daily basis, and this might involve reminding Catholics that slander about a grave matter (such as "Obama is a secret Muslim", or "Obama is a baby-killer", or "Obama is the most pro-abortion president ever") is a MORTAL sin, at least according to the old Baltimore Cathechism.

Jesus did not withdraw from the "corrupted institutions" of his day, but, in fact, the very meaning of the INCARNATION involves the Son of God taking on sinful human flesh in order to unite us with God and to teach us how to live as sons and daughters of God.

For many years now, I have been discouraged that the bishops have been silent as our political discourse becomes more and more shrill, more and more dishonest and more and more filled with disrespect and the bearing of false witness. It seemed to me that if someone was pro-life and anti-gay rights, how dishonestly they presented their position and how dishonestly they painted the other side just did not matter (not to mention how much they violated other Catholic social teaching). I had thought that our bishops would lead us in teaching us how to disagree, argue fairly, pray and then leave it in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Needless-to-say, I have had to process quiet a bit of dissipointment.

I have recently volunteered to work with a local organization that supports pregnant women -- through to the child's toddler stage -- with counseling, clothing, diapers, and friendship. While this organization has been in existence for 30 years and I thoroughly believe in this type of outreach, I've hesitated to explore it because it IS supported by many members of our church. I was worried that it was a politicized group that would push a radical anti-abortion agenda onto these women who wanted only help and a listening ear. In part, I was encouraged to put aside my doubts and explore this opportunity by President Obama's words at Notre Dame and elsewhere. After the initial interview with the group's director, I realized this is not a political or religious entity, but a humanitarian outreach whose sole purpose is to fill a desperate need. I am so glad I went to that initial interview and am hopeful that I can help make a difference in keeping one more life on earth and providing comfort to a frightened and needy woman.

Professor O'Brien,

I am Holy Cross graduate who never took any of your courses.I did, however, attend an alumni meeting in Albany NY where you were the guest speaker. I can't tell you how disappointed I was at your mischaracterization of then Senator Obama as pro-life. I say mischaracterization as a charitable way of describing what occurred. When you were challenged with the fact that he had a 100% rating from NARAL, you responded that he was endorsed by another Holy Cross alumni, Senator Casey, but failed to mention that he, too, was a friend of the abortion industry. No one in their right mind considers Obama to be pro-life.

An elderly priest who has since passed away challenged you on your endorsement of Liberation Theology, educating you on its failure south of our border. It was an embarrassing example of ineptness of many of the professors at Catholic Institutions.

Today, at Holy Cross, students are instructed in theology by a professor who is a homosexual living with his male lover. Planned Parenthood and NARAL are allowed to rent space on campus to market their evil to students and "locals".
As with Notre Dame, speakers who dissent from Catholic teachings including one, Chris Matthews, who left the Church, are routinely honored with Honorary Degrees although their beliefs are "anti-Catholic".

Most alarming, though, is the track record of dissidents who are allowed access to young and impressionable students. Like Theology Prof Macguire of Marquette, whose son was so impressed with his father's faith that he became a Muslim, several of your children became Protestants. This is tantamount to hiring failed business executives to teach business courses.

We, as a Church, owe more to students who attend Catholic institutions and to the parents who pay the tuition.

I apologize in advance for this long post, but I'm sure that anyone, like me, coming out of the fog of childhood when it was first delivered will recognize it immediately. Perhaps even some bishops will recognize it. . .

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish--where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source--where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials--and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.
. . .
"Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end--where all men and all churches are treated as equal--where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice--where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind--and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

"That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe--a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
. . .
"I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the first amendment's guarantees of religious liberty. Nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so--and neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test--even by indirection--for it. If they disagree with that safeguard they should be out openly working to repeal it.

"I want a Chief Executive whose public acts are responsible to all groups and obligated to none--who can attend any ceremony, service or dinner his office may appropriately require of him--and whose fulfillment of his Presidential oath is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation.
. . .
"But let me stress again that these are my views--for contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters--and the church does not speak for me.

"Whatever issue may come before me as President--on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject--I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise."

The speaker, of course, was the then Presidential candidate and later, President John F. Kennedy. Perhaps the bishops ought to use this speech for one of their daily meditations.

David O'Brien completely mis-characterizes problem that many, including close to 100 bishops had with Notre Dame's action. He states: Many church leaders harshly criticized the University of Notre Dame, long beloved by Catholics, because its administration invited President Obama to give the commencement. The problem was not with the graduation speech but with the honor conferred on President Obama. That honor was in direct defiance of the bishops call to not honor politicians who advocate such things as abortion which are directly opposed to Church teaching.

Having failed this most fundamental major premise, no remaining content in the piece is worth consideration.

Pat

First of all, Professor O'Brien, thank you for your for your most reasonable and informative essay. I ,too, was enthusistic about our president's talk and was overjoyed at how he was received at ND. And I believe in his sincerity.
I need to hear from thinking and scholarly people like you just to make me feel that I am OK in the way I think and feel about the clerical Church.I feel that the Church in America is too top heavy, too clerical, too swift to condemn without proper thought and research.

I feel that the Holy Spirit resides with the People of God as was so wonderfully stated and brought out by Yves Congar,OP in Vatican II. But the hierarchical/clerical church, as I see it, wants to erode the intentions of Vatican II. This church is putting on earmuffs to deafen the sound of the People of God and the Holy Spirit that is stirring in their hearts. This church is distracted with Vatican politics, Vatican Vanity,Vatican clerical Fashions,etc.! I could go on! So thank you again for giving me hope!!

cf. Washington Post, 5 May 2009: Thomas J. Reese, SJ:
"Memo to Bishops: Most Catholics Aren't Listening."

REPORT BY IRELAND’S COMMISSION TO INQUIRE INTO CHILD ABUSE

I am thoroughly saddened, disgusted and angered at yet another sweeping indictment of individuals and church authorities including the leadership of both male and female religious communities.

In 2004 it was the “report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

Today it is the commission set up by the Irish government and headed by High Court Justice Sean Ryan that has released the 2,600-page report, which capped a nine-year investigation and the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has not seen fit to comment on it in the name of all?

It reinforces the conclusions many have come to in the United States especially since 2002; that the problems of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church have been both systemic and endemic over decades and generations in countries around the world and that there is no hope of reform from within.

It is not an American problem as some cardinals and highly placed Vatican officials argued a few years back. Neither is it caused by the presence of homosexually orientated men in the priesthood.

It is not a conspiracy by the newspapers in the United States or by anybody to bankrupt the institutional church.

It is not the “Know Nothings” of an earlier era in the United States.

It comes from within the institution not from the outside. The institution, the Roman Catholic Church as we know it, has done it to itself.

Clericalism is the all encompassing problem in the church today, that widespread abuse of authority, that lack of accountability and transparency which the United States bishops promised in 2002 but which they have been short on delivering since and should have been practicing all along the line anyway.

The all encompassing mantra that allowed, permitted and enabled this horror to happen, was and is the widespread abuse of power and authority in the Roman Catholic Church starting at the highest levels. It can be see in the reports and documents coming out of the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts in 2002, in dioceses in California like the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and in investigations and reports like the Grand Jury Report on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2005.

This is why in Delaware we removed all statutes of limitation regarding the sexual abuse of children with the signing of the 2007 Child Victims Law which includes a two year civil window for bringing forward previously time barred cases of sexual abuse by anyone, if it happened in Delaware.

New Yorkers of all religious stripes and none are well advised to support the Markey/Duane bill on the sexual abuse of children. It is unconscionable for the Archdiocese of New York and the New York Catholic Conference to be opposing accountability and transparency in regard to childhood sexual abuse.

The Irish Report was done by governmental authorities unlike the 2004 report in the United States which was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and for that reason it’s figures especially should be considered suspect.

It is unconscionable that the Irish government actually made a deal with the institutional church to allow no prosecutions for these heinous crimes against humanity. It is equally despicable that the religious order known as the Christian Brothers brought suit and barred the release of any names of any of these known sexually predatory priests to the public.

It is immaterial whether they are living or dead. If the Christian Brothers religious community knew them to be credibly accused, if they had records in church files of these individuals molesting others over the years they should have made these names public for the physical, spiritual and psychological well being of those who were abused, raped, sodomized, etc.

How could they not think of the children before all else?

How could the institutional Roman Catholic Church think of the children before all else?

Sodom and Gomorrah suggest anything?

These crimes against children are in direct violation of and in contradiction to the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child to which the Holy See was an original signatory, notwithstanding the fact that no periodic compliance reports have ever been submitted by the Holy See.

Might this suggest a course of action?

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victms’ Advocate
New Castle, Delaware
__________________

Sister Maureen Turlish is a Delaware educator and a victims’ advocate who testified before the Delaware Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of Delaware’s 2007 Child Victims Law.

E-mail Sister Maureen Paul Turlish at maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com

Anyone consider what Pope Paul IV said about "The Smoke of Satan has entered the Church? What we are witnessing is just about the complete unfolding of communism in tearing down the Church and loss of our freedom; many of our bishops and priests and religious are indeed socialists... Anyone consider what Our Lady asked of us at Fatima? She warned us and we haven't listened. Prepare for religious persecution and loss of freedom because so many are so concerned with themselves that they don't consider what God would have say about all of this. There is still hope but the way we are we won't take advantage of it... it worked for Nineveh; but we aren't as smart as they were... prepare. I'm praying for us all... May God have Mercy on us!

It appears all have forgotten what this is really about; and that is 50 million plus killing of the unborn, only recorded in the U.S.. We are so caught up on what we think and what we want we still allow the bloodiest holocaust ever in history. Shame on us! In stead of righteous replies to what I have stated why don't you reconnect before it's too late with the Truth Who is Jesus Christ... He loves you and He's waiting for you...

It is interesting that the bishops conference did not take up the issue (publicly, at least) and all of the "moderates" were not willing to go on the record with their views. I think they've realized that this battle can only highlight the diminishing influence bishops have over ordinary Catholics... not exactly good PR. Perhaps they have learned something.

It would be nice if our clergy would start talking TO us instead of AT us. My own diocese newspaper said all of us who voted for President Obama had our "priorities screwed up." My question is, how do you know what our priorities are? We lay people listen every Sunday; it would be nice if our bishops accorded us the same courtesy.

Mr O'Brien:

With the support of Republican politicians who benefit from the abortion “culture wars,” well organized extremists like Randall Terry -- a recent convert to Catholicism-- exert powerful pressure on the bishops to single out this issue from the seamless fabric of Catholic social teaching.

Humanae Vitae:

58. Among all the crimes which can be committed against life, procured abortion has characteristics making it particularly serious and deplorable. The Second Vatican Council defines abortion, together with infanticide, as an "unspeakable crime".

Without the right to life, no other social issues matter.

You are blinded by Obama's words, but his actions in support of abortion and embryonic stem cell research speak much louder than his lying lips.

Heaven is speaking, but many refuse to listen. The prophets among us have said that only those consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary will be able to discern the truth. Those who have ears should listen.

The beloved college Notre Dame is not representing their namesake's values in honoring a liar who thinks babies are punishments for mistakes. The only common ground he seeks if for pro-lifers to come to his side. If he were interested in common ground, he would not have moved to make US taxpayer money available for international abortions! He would not have voted in the Illinois Senate to have babies born alive left to die. You are being deceived.