NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on April 04, 2012
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is asking New York’s Cardinal Tim Dolan to disinvite one of his controversial colleagues who is set to preach tomorrow at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing Dolan about Cardinal Justin Rigali, the now-retired head of the Philadelphia archdiocese. Rigali has been blasted by prosecutors for keeping dozens of accused clerics on the job as recently as last year despite child sex abuse allegations against him.http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-taps-chaput-philadelphia
In a letter to Dolan, sent today by fax and email, SNAP says “For the sake of thousands of wounded victims and hundreds of thousands of betrayed Catholics – many of whom are still suffering – we hope you will rescind that invitation. It sends a depressing and chilling message – that wrongdoers in the church hierarchy will continue being rewarded, no matter how many children they put at risk.”
A copy of SNAP’s letter is below:
*****
April 4, 2012
Dear Cardinal Dolan;
Twice in just a few days, you have rubbed salt into already deep and still fresh wounds of hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse and thousands of Catholics who rightfully feel betrayed by the church hierarchy’s continuing recklessness, callousness and deceit in this on-going crisis.
On your blog on Monday, April 2, you repeatedly sang the praises of your predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan. You made no mention of his work – in both Connecticut and New York – concealing child sex crimes. You ignored his recent interview in Connecticut Magazine, in which he retracted perhaps the worst so-called “apology” we’ve ever seen during this decades-long scandal.
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