CHICAGO (IL)
NBC 5 Chicago

September 11, 2018

By Mary Ann Ahern

[Video includes full text of the letter.]

The meeting comes as Pope Francis plans to sit down Thursday with key American bishops who have requested a meeting on the sex abuse crisis

Cardinal Blase Cupich has scheduled a closed-door meeting with Chicago priests this week, NBC 5 has learned, to discuss the current crisis facing the church.

The invitation for the meeting, planned for Wednesday evening, was sent to all priests in the Chicago Archdiocese. It will take place a day before Pope Francis plans to sit down Thursday with key American bishops who have requested a meeting on the sex abuse crisis.

Though Cupich’s meeting isn’t mandatory, a second email was forwarded on Tuesday instructing attendees to print out the invitation and bring it with them, as the meeting is considered a private conversation with the…