FLORIDA
Alachua County Today
Time for renewal, reformation, and rebirth in 21st Century Catholicism
Dear Most Holy Father:
As a survivor of clergy sexual abuse in the early 1960s in Birmingham, Ala., I approached the local diocese, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and John Paul II, in 1993, to report the priest who sexually abused me for four years. I was virtually ignored.
As a result, this monster priest was allowed to remain in ministry until his crimes were finally made public by The Decatur Daily (Ala.) in 2002 after I reported him. He was forced into retirement in June of this year as a result of my relentless pursuit for justice.
For the past 19 years, I have been an outspoken critic of the hierarchy of a broken church in need of renewal, reformation, and rebirth in the 21st Century. Consequently, I have written numerous letters challenging the church’s hierarchy to admit culpability in the cover-up of clergy sexual abuse crimes. John Paul and you failed miserably in meeting my challenge.
The Roman Catholic Church is in dire need of becoming truly “spiritual” in exercising its brand of Christianity in the 21st Century. I offer the following recommendations for your consideration:
1) Rescind the canonization process for Pope John Paul II. He is unworthy of this exalted declaration as it has been proven that he failed miserably in protecting children from being sexually victimized by predator priests.
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