By Matt C. Abbott
Renew America
January 12, 2010
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/100112
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Stephen Brady, president of the now-almost-defunct Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc., along with Catholic attorney and RCF board member Jim Bendell, have been asked to sit on the board of a newly-formed not-for-profit corporation called the Truth Alliance Foundation.
TAF was founded by Thomas Hampson, a lifelong investigator with a passion for justice. What he learned while directing a five-year State of Illinois investigation into the sexual exploitation of children during the late 1970s troubles him to this day.
Writes Brady:
'The sexual abuse scandal that erupted in the Catholic Church in 2002 made Hampson realize that little had changed in the efforts to identify and prosecute child molesters. Politicians give lip service to the problem. Law enforcement agencies frequently fail to prosecute these cases because of the difficulty in obtaining convictions when children are victims. Religious groups and private organizations try to cover up details about, and the extent of, the offenses committed by their own people. Some cover up the offenses altogether, and a few facilitate the crimes. With the exception of some sensational headlines now and then, little notice is given to the true magnitude of the problem or to the failure of our institutions to keep our children safe.
'Hampson believes this has to stop. He started TAF to enlist committed Christians to join with him in exposing the scope and the depth of this evil. 'No problem can be solved without first seeing the problem clearly.' The goal of the group is to expose the full dimensions of the problem and to promote corrective action by the appropriate groups or agencies.
'For more than 40 years Hampson has been conducting complex investigations both for the government and for corporations. He started his career in Air Force intelligence during the Vietnam War. After his military service he became an investigator and later chief investigator for an agency of the State of Illinois, where he focused on complex civil and criminal investigations.
'Hampson acquired extensive experience investigating organized crime groups, extremist organizations, fraud, sex crimes (especially against children) and sexual trafficking. For the last 20 years he has conducted investigations for the private sector, mostly for corporations, and he has conducted investigations throughout the U. S. and in more than 120 countries world. He is married and has three grown children.'
Hampson became acquainted with RCF about three years ago when he was retained by the State of Illinois to work on a special project. During that investigation, he sought the insight and advice regarding handling of certain cases Brady had worked on. After the completion of that project, Hampson decided to start the Truth Alliance Foundation.
One of the cases the group will look into is the 1998 unsolved murder of Father Alfred Kunz, who was working with Brady on sexual abuse cases at the time of his murder.
Brady was drafted into the Army after leaving Purdue University. He was trained as a police officer and spent more than a year on special assignment in Illinois after receiving a Secret Security Clearance from the Federal Government.
(The Truth Alliance Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. TAF's phone number is 312-772-2630; its Web site is under construction. Stephen Brady can be reached at 217-632-7054.)
Kaylan Cor, mother of ten — five in heaven and five on earth — is the founder of BabyMemorial.org, a free Web site memorial for babies who die from miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, abortion and pregnancy complications.
Writes Cor:
'Baby Bunny Memorial was created back in 1998, or maybe it was earlier: It's been so long. My first pregnancy loss was in 1996. The site was open for about six years before having to close. It was created after my own pregnancy losses. I suffered four miscarriages and one stillbirth (at 23 weeks). I could not find back then a place to remember my babies and it seemed not everyone was open to talking about loss. I found so much comfort creating memorials and meeting other sad parents.
'Now it is 2010 and the Baby Bunny site has re-opened! I'm in my 40s now and God has blessed me with five children. I feel like I lost five, so perhaps God has given me five on earth. As a Catholic, my husband and I use NFP so we are open to new life.
'My successful pregnancies were difficult, however, as I had to have cerclage put in with each and I've had to have four c-sections. One pregnancy was natural, but I became seriously infected and ended up in the hospital after the birth for over a week on mega antibiotics. Another pregnancy, our baby had complications (breathing problems, holes in heart) and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain) and later had a shunt put in. Two other babies had feeding complications as newborns and were hospitalized as a result.
'But when you've gone through loss and held your dead baby in your arms (like I did with Little Anne), difficult pregnancies are nothing to cry about. I can only be grateful and I pray everyone who has suffered the same in losing a baby will also be blessed at some point in their life too. Hope and faith are very powerful. It is what kept me going after my five losses.'
Cor also maintains a blog called Catholic Survivalist.
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