Its in our local mainstream media, so at least I know we're not victims of some kind of hoax directed only at us conservative Catholics:
Centre Daily Times, State College PA
Fri, May. 16, 2003
Letter calls for ending clergy abuse
By Mike Joseph
mjoseph@centredaily.com Clergy throughout the Roman Catholic diocese serving Centre County received a letter of demands Thursday concerning clergy sexual-abuse cases, purportedly written by a secret group of 26 diocesan priests.
Bishop Joseph Adamec, head of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, received a copy of the letter inasmuch as he is a member of the diocesan clergy, said his spokeswoman, Sister Mary Parks. The diocese refused to comment on the letter because the writers were anonymous.
"We're not going to respond to an anonymous letter," Parks said.
The letter called for the bishop to settle sexual misconduct cases out of court to protect the reputation of priests. The three-page letter was postmarked Wednesday in Johnstown and was received Thursday also by newspapers and TV and radio stations throughout the eight-county diocese.
Signed by the "Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown," the letter said the federation is sworn to secrecy. Parks said the diocese knows of no such group.
The letter did not identify Adamec by name but referred repeatedly to "our bishop." Adamec has faced criticism from conservative Catholics, including priests, who say he has not been rigorous enough in keeping abusive priests out of the diocese.
The letter received Thursday expressed another view, saying the conservatives are going too far. The letter said that "our bishop threatens and harasses homosexual priests into fearing for their office."
If the requests are not met, the letter said, clergy will consider "peaceful protest" and show "civil disobedience to our hierarchy."
Altoona lawyer Richard Serbin represents nine alleged victims of clergy sexual misconduct who have filed six complaints in Blair County Court against the diocese. The diocese has filed preliminary objections to the complaints, arguing they should be dismissed on the basis of the statute of limitations. Serbin has filed papers to counter the diocesan objections.
Centre County has seven Catholic churches and more than 14,000 of the 113,000 Catholics in the eight-county diocese. The diocese has about 100 active priests in all.
Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.