BishopAccountability.org
	Letter to the Editor (Long Island Edition) Newsday.com January 22, 2003 Bravo to Dick Ryan. I returned my "appeal" with zero noted on the pledge line and attached a copy of a letter I recently sent to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington regarding my dismay with the multitude of disclosures about pedophile priests and the way in which the Catholic Church has mishandled these discoveries. Such transgressions will easily recur, as things stand, but will no longer assisted by my donations. I realize my meager void will not bankrupt one of the country's richest organizations. But if the majority of practicing Catholics followed suit, we would then quickly see needed transformations. There are many good causes to which donations can be made with confidence that "the gift given" will be put to good use, as intended. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church is no longer a good cause - unless you don't mind seeing your "gift" used to support more cover-ups, along with the leisurely retirement of pedophile priests. How demoralizing this must be to the righteous clergy. How demoralizing this is to the laity. At this particularly troubled time, people need to feel confident in turning to their church for comfort in prayer "like a bridge over troubled waters." Instead, the Catholic Church is the "troubled waters," and a setback for Christianity. Lorraine Geiger Nesconset
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