Posted on 04/25/2002 4:43:48 PM PDT by history_matters
On February 26, 2001 RCF sent the following to Cardinal George of Chicago.
On March 1, 2001 the Cardinal answered RCF’s letter.Your Eminence,
I recently received a letter from a Mr. Matt Abbott regarding his Feb. 24, 2001 conversation with you at St. Rita High School during Parish Leadership Day. According to Mr. Abbott:
‘..he [Cardinal George] doesn’t like the fact that you make accusations with no evidence to back them up. He used the [Bishop] Ryan case as an example: He claims that there as no evidence of wrongdoing, other than Ryan’s “imprudent” association with certain individuals’Surely Mr. Abbott misunderstood your comments, to assume otherwise would suggest you are a liar who has some reason to protect a pervert bishop.The lawsuit filed against Bishop Ryan one week after his resignation mentions Ryan’s homosexual activity with clergy and male prostitutes. Are you suggesting the attorneys who filed the lawsuit had no affidavits to back up their statements? Are you calling them liars as well? How about the statement from the ex-wife of Ryan’s former lover? What about the statements from 3 priests and 2 former male prostitutes?
It seems everybody is lying except you and bishop Ryan – and General Absolution doesn’t happen in Chicago and there has never been a child sexually abused by a Catholic priest.
Maybe RCF’s work in Springfield is not complete. In an effort to defend RCF’s reputation and my good name, we might need to present to the public all the evidence including the size and shape of Bishop Ryan’s penis along with statements and copies of cancelled checks. One wonders what bishop Ryan must know that would cause other bishops to lie for him. Maybe we should take a closer look at others who protect the wolf. RCF has credibility and speaks the truth Cardinal – you do not.
Sincerely,
Stephen Brady, President
Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
Dear Mr. Brady:On March 6, 2001 Roman Catholic Faithful responded to the Cardinal’s letterThis is in response to your faxed letter of February 26. I’ll attempt to clarify the report which Matt Abbott gave you of our short conversation in the corridor of St. Rita High School. I had not realized that, in speaking with him, I was speaking with you; but it is good to take the occasion to raise with you the distinction between an accusation and an accusation accompanied by proof.
Let me use a fictitious example. Suppose that, last week, a woman who has been in prison for drug dealing off and on over the years came to me and told me you had committed adultery with her four times last year. She gave me the times and places, describing your physical characteristics in some detail. She also showed me copies of checks you had written to her. Is any of this evidence that you are an adulterer? Since I have no knowledge of your physical characteristics and the checks didn’t say “payment in service for sexual favors”, am I free to assume she has verified her story? Am I morally justified in concluding that her story is true? Am I then free to write and tell anyone willing to listen that Stephen Brady is an adulterer?
The answer, of course, is no. You have a right to your good public reputation which, like anyone’s, can be easily destroyed. In talking to Matt, I did not say that you or anyone else is lying. I said there has been no conclusive evidence given to prove the accusations you’ve made against Bishop Ryan, who also has a right to his good reputation without conclusive proof against him. I had assumed that the lawsuit filed against the diocese might clarify some of the accusations, but I have not heard anything about the case since it was filed. Filling a suit isn’t proof of anything, except of the intent of the one who files. Filling an affidavit isn’t proof of anything until it is contested and adjudicated. I have not seen any the “evidence” you have accumulated. Interviews by Mr. Lago with some of the parties concerned left the accusations unresolved. Bishop Ryan befriended some individuals whom, he explains, he was trying to help. At this point, I am in no position to say anything more: nor have you given me any proof which would justify saying anything more.
You know that your remark about a child never having been sexually abused by a Catholic priest is merely sarcasm, the kind of sarcasm often used by enemies of the Catholic faith who hate bishops and priests.
What does it say when you and Call to Action adopt the same tone? In the Archdiocese of Chicago, at least, every accusation by someone who claims to be a victim of sexual abuse by a priest is carefully investigated. Not every accusation is true, but some are. If there is something I need to know about sexual abuse of a child by one of the priests of the Archdiocese, I ask you to have the victim contact me. You know, as well, that priests have been permanently removed from ministry and their victims helped, to the extent possible, to overcome the effects of such terrible sin committed against them. Also, you may or may not know that the practice of giving general absolution, an abuse which began years ago in the Archdiocese of Chicago, has begun to be addressed.
Finally, I am sorry that you believe you have to make personal innuendoes and threats to get attention, even for causes you believe in sincerely. This is Lent, a time when Christ, through the Church, calls us all to conversion. You are in my prayers; please keep me in yours.
Yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
Francis Cardinal George
Archdiocese of Chicago
Office of the Archbishop
Post Office Box 1979
Chicago, Illinois 60690Your Eminence,
Let me begin my response to your March 1 letter by first commenting upon your remark that the practice of your diocesan priests giving general absolution has begun to be addressed. In this remark, your cowardice and insincerity are laid bare. You have been bishop of Chicago since May 7, 1997, a total of more than three years. At any time you could have ordered this practice stopped by simply commanding your priests to obey, under penalty of discipline. The expression “has begun to be addressed,” is more appropriate for problems like termite control or poor grades in children’s math scores. Such subtle problems are often not subject to readily recognizable remedies. You like to give examples. Let me give you an example. Suppose these priests practicing general absolution were instead handing out pamphlets stating black people do not have souls and cannot go to heaven. Do you have any doubt that you would instantly order this practice ceased? Do you think you would wait four years before “beginning to ad- dress” the problem? Of course not. General absolution places the eternal souls of your flock in eternal jeopardy. Your failure to come to their rescue is a disgrace and a betrayal of your office.
With regard to Bishop Ryan, you know fully well that Fr. Hardon flew to Rome with statements from priests and personally vouched for the accuracy of the charges. This is in addition to the sworn statements that I referred to previously. To respond to your analogy, if in addition to the sworn statements from these drug addicts, Fr. Hardon flew to Rome with two women who claimed to have committed adultery with me, and he vouched for their accuracy, I would consider this a sufficient basis in which to conclude that the adultery had occurred. When combining this information with the affidavits filed with a civil lawsuit, for which attorneys can be disbarred for unfounded allegations, any possible doubt would be removed from my mind. It therefore appears that the only way you would acknowledge that a priest or bishop was engaged in sexual misconduct is if we sent you photos of the priest performing these acts. However, when we attempted to provide you with photos of clergy misconduct last year in connection with the St. Sebastian Website, you faxed me a letter in which you said that you would not look at these homosexual photos because they could be a near occasion of sin for you. You have thus built a wall around yourself which guarantees plausible deniability on your part for any sexual misconduct on the part of your clergy. Although this is shameful and cowardly, we must at least congratulate you on the genius of this scheme.
Yes, Cardinal George, we will continue to pray for you. It is clear we have not been praying hard enough.
In Jesus’ Name, The Way, The Truth, and the Life,
Stephen Brady
We always thought they were all "EXCELLENT" bishops until...You can't be so cynical. Cardinal George is an EXCELLENT Bishop to me, it doesn't get any better :-)
We need to carve that into every Church and rectory door.
The rot is too wide and deep within our priesthood, I am convinced that such a high % of them have some homo or molestation scandal in their pasts that the "one strike you're out" policy would put them into danger of defrocking, so they will NOT address the problems.
As I see it, so many priests have seen other priests in compromising situations, that no one would report a boy raper for fear of his own sins being exposed.
As I said, the rot is too wide and deep to be cured from within, it will take lay Catholics demanding a clean sweep to save our Church. If it can be done.
...this doesn't sound like a hard-core faithful Cardinal...Brady is a "hard-core faithful", Francis George is just a very good Roman Catholic Cardinal. Nothing more, nothing less.
YES!
We don't believe you.
Clean them all out, I say. Better to have one good and holy priest in an entire archdiocese helped by laymen than a network of leftist homo boy seducing so-called Catholic priests.
Better millstones around their necks etc as Luke put it.
Don't make me laugh.
It's time to take the gloves off and grasp the snake by its head and crush it. We need cardinals who can take the battle to the apostate lavender mafia so-called Catholic priests, not 'quiet behind the scenes' types and more airy promises.
Any Cardinal or Bishop who stands tall in this battle for the soul of our Church will find an ARMY of the faithful behind him, ready to clean out the lavender rectories in person if that's what it takes! Lavender baggage on the street and hit the road! You're finished, get out, we will not see our Church destroyed!
Cardinals and Bishops, lead and we will follow! Continue to waffle, and we will all eventually go elsewhere or go mad, and the Church will be finished.
(T.M., 12 years of Catholic education 63-75, two kids in Catholic school today.)
I would really like my opinion of the Cardinal to be corrected by factsOne of the big "facts" is that Chicago had v. weak religious leadership before Cardinal George. One of the Church "leaders" was awarded in 1996 the Presidential Medal of Freedom. You know who was the Cardinal and the President back then? Also 1996 was marked by the invention of the, so called "Partial Birth Abortion." The same Church "leader" called Ann Landers to his deathbed, requested a "gay men’s choir" to sing at his funeral, and enlisted pall bearers from the local Masonic lodge.
God bless you dear Cardinal.
Clean them all out, I say. Better to have one good and holy priest in an entire archdiocese helped by laymen than a network of leftist homo boy seducing so-called Catholic priests.I second that.
That link was particularly disturbing though; I was not aware of the controversy surrounding Bernardin, to be honest -- I was under the general impression (from lack of knowledge though) that he was a decent Cardinal. I was basing that on my rememberance of the last of his time spent battling a painful death, juxtaposed against the emergence and popularity of what's-his-name up in Oregon (Dr. Death - his name escapes me, atm).
With that in mind, let me reiterate that I'm not disputing that Cardinal George inherited a mess. And its' commendable if, as you say, he's diligently pursuing a lengthy and protracted clean-up (however slow it might appear, to outside observers). But you have yet to provide me with any facts to back up your claim about what he's doing that is so great. Do you have any insight into the General Absolution issue that would offer a different point of view? I'm assuming, of course, that you are of similar mind to me in the fact that the General Absolution dispute puts in danger the souls of the diocese -- but now I'm realizing that perhaps you dont' see it that way, which would explain why I'm worked up about it (and need to get a grip, as you put it so delicately) and you don't seem to be bothered by it.
So, to summarize: Give me some facts about what George is doing that is so 'great' and worthy of admiration (besides stepping in to make sure there are some kneelers in a seminary and that priests are wearing grey at funerals). And also, please tell me if you agree that the General Absolution situation put souls in danger.
I like your priorities and your suggestion that after we assure that children and teens are protected,we use the Catechism to get our nuns,priests,bishops and cardinals back to the Catholic Faith.
Before this clear and present danger when I became a "a zealot for the celibate",so to speak,I actually did copy the pertinent paragraph(s) from the catechism and just wrote a simple "I am having a hard time reconciling what you said in yesterdays class,sermon etc. with the attached".I found it to be very effective.It takes the personal opinion out of the debate and places the perpetrator on the defensive which is not their usual positon and they find it very uncomfortable.What is even more interesting is that every once in a while a "transgressor" has responded with a "thanks,I did not even realize that".
I believe that "all things work for good for those who love God",and that for many this crisis will result in a great leap in the knowledge and understanding of our faith leading to a greater,more active commitment to Jesus Christ.
I think we can do something similar with the text of the Holy Father's statements at the beginning of their meeting in much the same way.
You forgot Deacons.
The reason I forgot to mention Deacons is that in all the parishes I've attended in all my life (I'm 42) none of them ever had a Deacon - so I've never been exposed to one.
Just heard here that Cardinal Law is out of here in June... it is on the radio.
God calls all sorts of people to his service and He makes use of the civility of one and the rough manner of another.
I think our model in seeking cleansing of the Church should be St. Catherine of Siena IMO because she was a lay woman, a 3rd order Dominican, and did not flinch when God called on her to speak the truth to Pope, cardinals, clergy, politicians, laity. She also never lost sight of the dignity that attends the office of Pope, bishop, priest, deacon, religious. She raised high the standard and called to individuals in those offices to live up to the high calling of Christ Crucified and Risen.
God has raised him up as Cardinal for this hour -- I pray Cardinal George will go boldly forward in the apostolic grace and power to rid the Church of the devil's minions. I pray the Cardinal will be part of the great pruning of the Church so that an incredible flowering of true faith may follow.
God’s Charity is freely given to all. One who has God’s charity loves all men, period. It may be that a man needs to be spoken harshly to, but it is always done to improve the man, for his benefit, or for the protection of others, not to spew cheap insults and raise the rhetorical level. This reads more like a Judicial Watch fundraising letter than a letter seeking to improve the Church."...is not the mark of a man with Christ's charity in him."Charity should be bestowed only where it is due. Jesus Himself, on occasion, used far stronger words than Brady does. "Generation of vipers" comes to mind.
patent +AMDG
Can you tell me some things that he has actually done that are meritorious, in your opinion, for holding firm to the faith?I’ll give you one example. He was invited to speak before one of the umbrella groups for gay Catholics. He got up and promptly started lecturing them about the Catholic view of homosexuality, right down the line. You may not like that he hasn’t shut enough of these groups down, but he clearly holds firm to the faith, and is not afraid to speak it.
patent +AMDG
patent
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