Open Letter: Blasts all 108 bishops & cardinals who aided and abetted pedophile priests by name, asks for Sarbanes-Oxley Act accountability

This came to my email today, a very emphatic open letter, again published with permission of the author, Dan Burke of Huntley Illinois. (Editor's Note: Expect more about Marci Hamilton's book as we approach the SNAP conference, as she will be one of the main speakers.)

OPEN LETTER TO: Bishop Roger Schweitz, Anchorage, Alaska, June 23, 2008 - Re: Repairing Priest Relations.

I read the June 13th AP piece by Rachel Zoll, “Bishops Target Priest’s Morale” quoting you, Merz, the Chairman of the Review Board, Aymond, the Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Children and as usual came away unimpressed and in amazement that the Bishops continue to ignore the root cause of the festering disaffection within the Church, failing to see that lack of accountability is the underlying basis for the malaise now extant within the Catholic community, in turn affecting Priest morale…ie: the flock sees the clergy and its leadership as corrupt……and why not!

Corrupt at several levels:

• Failing to institute a vetting system when recruiting
• Failing to reign in financial mismanagement and to explain financial details in Stewardship Appeals
• And worst of all - failing to take seriously, wholesale broad based intentional misconduct, on a level that would qualify in the real world as “Abetting Criminal behavior” and “Obstruction of Justice”

As an example of financial mismanagement or the use or misuse of ‘stockholder’ funds, the Cathedral of Our Lady in Los Angeles was completed in 2002 at a cost of over $200 Million, originally budgeted for $180 Million, when a $20 Million dollar Cathedral would have sufficed.

The Cathedral’s plaza is filled with palm trees, fountains and a waterfall and beneath its main floor, an undercroft of 1,270 crypts and 5,000 niches prepared for future burials, a campanile [free standing bell tower] topped with a 30-foot cross housing a carillon of 18 bells, a 58,000 sq. ft. conference center.

Constructed with the largest use of alabaster in the world, all 27,000 sq. ft. of the delicate stone having been quarried in Spain. Windows are a mosaic of thousands of tiles of nearly 20 different sizes set horizontally in rows that range from 3 to 24 inches wide and 13 to 34 inches tall, all set against Belgian tapestries depicting saints lining the 300 ft. Nave.

The edifice includes towering 30 ft. entrance doors of solid bronze coming in at $3M, a $2M wooden ambo [lectern], a $1M tabernacle, a $1M cathedral bishop's chair*, a $250K presider's chair, a $250K deacon's chair, and visiting bishops' chairs costing $150K each. Cardinal Mahony himself designed the altar, made of burgundy Rosso Laguna Turkish marble coming in at $5 million.

* Can you believe it?...$1Million for a chair!

I ask you, is it the mission of the Church to use money that could have paid for victim compensation or to assist the poor, or is it to allow an arrogant jerk Cardinal to build a beyond opulent edifice to satisfy his ego?

Recently, the Los Angeles Diocese took a Public Relations hit when it asked four elderly nuns in their late 60s and early 70s living in semi-retirement to move from their Diocesan owned home so that it could be sold by the Diocese, the proceeds to be used for payment of Priest Sex Abuse settlements.

Sins of the Fathers being visited upon the Sisters?

When Enron failed, WorldCom tanked, Adelphia was looted and Tyco excesses were foisted upon the stockholders, the financial scandals prompted an unusually not ‘tuned in’ Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

ME: REPEAT: THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT

The Act established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and mandated senior executives to take individual responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of corporate financial reports, enumerated specific limits on the behaviors of corporate officers, described specific forfeitures of benefits and civil penalties for non-compliance.

Given what has happened in the Church these past 35 years, with out of control mismanagement,

(1) a ‘failed vetting system’ or total lack thereof that permitted upwards of 5,000* + abusing and pedophile priests to be ordained,

(2) abusing priests being transferred about resulting in the abusers re-offending in many instances,

(3) the decision of one man like Cardinal Mahony to squander $200 million on an edifice dubbed ‘Cathedral of Our Lady’, why shouldn’t the church and its priests be in a morale stupor? * A USCCB statistic, not mine.

• In 1995 Sen. Bob Packwood [Oregon] resigned following mounting evidence of sexual harassment of his office staffers.

• Boeing CEO Phil Condit, resigned in 2003, as a result of the defense contracting scandal that ultimately saw two Boeing executives, ex Air Force procurement official Darleen Druyun and chief financial officer Mike Sears sent prison.

• Again in 2005 Boeing fired its CEO Harry Stonecipher for having an affair with a staffer.

• In March 2007, less than a week after visiting the Walter Reed medical Center following allegations of deplorable conditions, newly installed Defense Secretary Robert Gates summoned Army Secretary Francis Harvey to Washington and fired him on the spot. Harvey’s statement to the press?.....I was head of the Army…what can I say…the buck stops with me…I have to take responsibility. This is the real world Schweitz.

• Just five months ago Merrill Lynch fired its CEO Stan Lynch for poor performance, and mounting losses,

• A week later Citibank fired its CEO Chuck Prince for poor performance, mounting losses.

• Just this past week Defense Secretary Gates fired Air Force Secretary Michael Wynn and Air Force Chief of Stall General Michael Moseley because lower level individuals under their command flew ‘armed’ nuclear weapons from Minot North Dakota to Louisiana, allowed the accidental shipment of Nuclear ‘triggers’ to Taiwan and found that an operational officer was not able to be reached while on duty because he was playing video games on his computer. In explaining his actions, Gates stated that oversight standards for the U.S. nuclear arsenal had deteriorated on their watch. Gates found the mistakes to a problem developed over time within the culture of the Air Force requiring stern action to send a message.

When you have 5,000 + priests,
and some Bishops by the way,

out there abusing

and another 108 Bishops and Cardinals covering up and transferring abusers

who continued to abuse in many instances, HOW does one NOT come to the conclusion that both the abuse and the broad based massive cover-up had become part of the culture of the clergy, resulting in leadership failing to (1) defrock abusers and failing to (2) ‘sack the Bishops and Cardinals’ who covered up and transferred?

Here they are from the USCCB’ audit: I see you are on the List

The names of the transferring or covering up Bishops and Cardinals are:

Roll Call Please!

Bishop Gregory Aymond
Austin, TX

Bishop Robert Baker
Charleston, Sc

Bishop Robert Banks
Green Bay Wi

Bishop Gerald Barnes
San Bernardino, Ca

Bishop Eusebius Beltran
Oklahoma City, Ok

Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua
Piladelphia, PA
Bishop Raymond Boland
St. Josph, Mo

Bishop Anhony Bosco
Greensburg, Pa

Bishop Robert Brom
San Diego, Ca

Bishop Tod Brown
Orange,Ca

Bishop Alexander Brunett
Seattle,Wa

Bishop Edmond Carmody
Corpus Christi, Tx

Bishop Matthew Clark
Rochester, NY

Bishop Patrick Cooney
Gaylord,Mi

Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio
Tyler,Tx

Bishop Daniel Cronin
Hartland, Conn

Bishop Edward Cullen
Allentown, Pa

Bishop John Cummins
Oakland, Ca

Bishop James Murray
Kalamazoo Mi

Bishop William Curlin
Charlotte Nc

Bishop Eldin Curtiss
Omaha, Ne

Bishop Thomas Daily
Brooklyn Ny

Bishop Joseph Delaney
Ft. Worth Tx

Bishop Francis DiLorenzo
Honolulu, Ha

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio
Camden Nj

Bishop Daniel Dinardo
SiouxCity,Ia

Bishop Thomas Doran
Rockford,Il

Bishop Norbert Dorsey
Orlando FL

Bishop Michael Driscoll
Boise ID

Bishop Thoma Dupre
Springfield, Ma

Cardinal Edweard Egan
New York NY

Bishop John Favalora
MiamiFl

Bishop David Fellhauer
Victoria,Tx

Bishop Joseph Fiorenza
Galveston Tx

Bishop Ralphael Flis
Superior WI

Bishop Patrick Flores
San Antonio Tx

Bishop Harry Flynn
St Paul Minneapolis Mn

Bishop David Foley
Birmingham Al

Bishop John Gaydos
Jefferson City Mo

Cardinal Francis George
Chicago,Il

Bishop Joseph Gerry
Portland Me

Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger
Evansville,In

Bishop Joseph Gossman
Raleigh,Nc

Bishop Charles Grahmann
Dallas TX

Bishop James Griffin
Colombus Oh

Bishop Jerome Hanus
Dubuque Ia

Bishop Daniel Hart
Norwich Conn

Bishop William Higi
Layfayette, In

Bishop James Hoffman
Toledo Oh

Bishop Howard Hubbard
Albany NY

Bishop Alfred Hughes
New Orleans, La

Bishop Joseph Imesch
Joliet IL

Bishop Samuel Jacobs
Alexandria La

Bishop Michael Jarrell
Houma-Thibodaux La

Bishop William Keeler
Baltimore, Md

Bishop Thomas Kelly
Louisville, Ky

Cardinal Bernard Law
Boston Ma

Bishop John Leibrecht
Cape Girardeau Mo

Bishop William Levada
San Francisco Ca

Bishop William Lori
Bridgeport Conn

Bishop George Lucas
Springfield Il

Bishop Robert Lynch
St Petersburg Fl

Cardinal Roger Mahony
Los Angeles, Ca

Bishop Adam Maida
Detroit Mi

Bishop Henry Mansell
Buffalo NY

Bishop Theodore McCarrick
Wash DC

Bishop John McCormack
Manchester Nh

Bishop Patrick McGrath
San Jose Ca

Bishop John Mc Raith
Owensboro Ky

Bishop Carl Mongeling
Lansing Mi

Bishop Anthony Milone
Great Falls Mont.

Bishop Manuel Moreno
Tucson Az

Bishop James Moynihan
Syracuse NY

Bishop Robert Mulvee
Providence Ri

Bishop George Murry
St Thomas US Virgin Is

Bishop James Murtaugh
Palm Beach Fl

Bishop John Myers
Newrak Nj

Bishop John Nevins
Venice Fl

Bishop Thomas O’Brien
Phoenix Az

Bishop Raymond Pena
Brownsville Tx

Bishop Michael Pfeifer
San Angelo Tx

Bishop Daniel Pilarczyk
Cincinnati Oh

Bishop Anthony Pilla
Cleveland Oh

Bishop Ricardo Ramirez
Las Cruces, Nm

Bishop Daniel Reilly
Worcester Ma

Bishop Justin Rigoli
St Louis Mo

Bishop Thomas Rodi
Biloxi Miss.

Bishop Frank Rodimer
Paterson Nj

Bishop Placido Rodriguez
Lubbock Tx

Bishop Robert Rose
Grand Rapids Mi

Bishop Sylvester Ryan
Monterey Ca

Bishop Roger Schwietz
Anchorage Al

Bishop Michael Sheehan
Santa Fe Nm

Bishop Richard Sklba
Milwaukee Wi

Bishop John Smith
Trenton Nj

Bishop John Steinbock
Fresno Ca

Bishop Phillip Straling
Reno Nv

Bishop Walter Sullivan
Richmond Va

Bishop Arthur Tafoya
Pueblo Co

Bishop James Tamayo
Laredo Tx

Bishop James Timlin
Scranton Pa

Bishop Donald Trautman
Erie Pa

Bishop Kenneth Untener
Saginaw Mi

Bishop Willaim Weigand
Sacramento Ca

Bishop Donald Wuerl
Pittsburgh Pa

Bishop John Yanta
Amarillo Tx

Bishop Paul Zipfel
Bismarck Nd

Incredible isn’t it?

108 Cardinals and Bishops transferring and or covering up abuse for 5,148 abusers resulting in 11,750 pedophile victims – both USCCB statistics - and NO ONE in the CHURCH did anything about it!.....including the nitwit Pope, John Paul.

Do you really believe that Christ would have countenanced the diatribe that has thus far emanated from the Bishop’s conference? I think he would be turning over the tables and throwing the rascals out……to paraphrase Matthew 21:13. Sound familiar?......rascals who allowed this to go on and who now duck responsibility.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. This scandal, the cover up, the lack of accountability in the leadership from the top down...no firings, no demotions, no dismissals....well it simply takes your breath away because in any other company, corporation, organization in other words the real world...they would be gone with this record!

Frank Keating, retired Governor of Oklahoma and former Chairman of the National Review Board, resigned from the Review Board over frustration arising from the refusal of the Bishops to cooperate, citing their preference to deny, hide, obfuscate, suppress names of offenders, resist subpoenas, noting that the Bishops listen too much to their lawyers and not enough to their hearts.

Former White House Chief of Staff and U.S. Rep. Leon Panetta, a California Democrat who served on the Review Board and was one of those who met with Cardinal Francis George commented on the continuing abuse allegations arising out of the Chicago Diocese stating at a news conference, "it confirmed for me what is at the heart of this pedophile priest problem, the Catholic hierarchy's failure to understand the seriousness of the crisis”.

George’s response? According to three sources contacted by Sun Times reporters, that when the members of the Review Board met with George, he issued a warning, “you will be the downfall of the church!” The group was dumbstruck. “The bishops and priests have failed to deal with this scandal” Panetta told George. “The healing process could not begin, Panetta said, unless the church acknowledged the problem”.

Indeed, the Rev. Richard McBrien, a theology professor at Notre Dame, got it right on when he recently said that “survey after survey showed that as much as people were appalled by the behavior of predatory priests, they were more appalled by the behavior of the Bishops in covering it up!” Repeat after me…more appalled by the coverup!

Nowhere is the adage that an organization cannot be counted on to police itself more evident than in the church.

It’s about accountability and transparency….both of which are woefully lacking in the mission of this church….which did nothing to sack its CEOs ie: the transferring Cardinals and Bishops even though the Church knew of the emerging scandal as far back as 1985 after the submittal of the report by Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle.

Recently Rockford Illinois Diocese Bishop Doran, when confronted with the allegations surrounding Harlan Clapsaddle, had him temporarily removed from ministry, sent for treatment and unbelievably put in back in ministry at a Nursing Home, without disclosing to the Nursing Home his past, [ sound familiar ] which was not revealed to the Nursing Home, until two days before Clapsaddle resigned for good. Some management!....and Doran wants Stewardship money from the stockholders?…no explanations?…no questions asked?...and if he doesn’t get, he’ll extract it out of operating funds!

Your efforts to restore Priest morale comes on the heels of the single greatest scandal to beset any institution against a backdrop where not ONE SINGLE transferring Bishop or Cardinal has lost his job, the ultimate in disdain, and is an example of mismanagement at its zenith that would not be tolerated in the public arena, and cries out for accountability at every level not just financial, but in personal responsibility as well by those who transferred rather than managed, who covered up instead of leading by example.
In 1993, a former seminarian reported sexual abuse and exploitation at age 18 by Fr. Michael Yakaitis who was then ( you are going to choke on this ) a “spiritual director” and Dean of Students at St. Mary of the Lake seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.

The student seminarian reported it to seven church officials. COUNT ‘EM 7, including:

• Fr. John Canary former Vicar for Priests and current Rector - St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein;

• Fr. Larry McBrady former Vicar for Priests in the administration of Frances Cardinal George;

• Fr. Gerald Kicanas former Rector - St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein and current Bishop of the Tucson Diocese;

• Fr. Cletus Kiley former Rector - Niles College Seminary and current assistant to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops;

• Cardinal Joseph Cardinal Bernardin; Hope he is working it off in Purgatory!

• Fr. James Presta Rector - St. Joseph College Seminary, Loyola University of Chicago; and

• Fr. Michael Foley former Rector - Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary High School.
None of the above deny it, with Fr. John Canary admitting on February 7th 2005 in an on-air interview with television reporter Jay Levine of WBBM channel 2 Chicago, the earlier reporting of the abuse by the seminarian.

Nothing happened!

I guess the ‘blue code of silence’ not only exists in the police department.
Worse...want to know what Yakaitis did? Introduced the seminarian to pornography and alcohol when the seminarian sought counseling from “this spiritual director” over confusion about his own sexuality - preference included - then initiated the abuse and later to avoid any repercussions “threatened to expose” the seminarian’s sexual preference if he revealed what took place. Yakaitis should have been defrocked! -

but wasn’t that a Church?

In 2000, the former nun principal of Holy Family school in Chicago reported to the Archdiocese that Rev. Daniel McCormack - the recently convicted offender - may have had inappropriate contact with a child in 2000. We may now change “may have” to definitely did!

In 2001 Cardinal Francis George appointed the same Fr. Michael Yakaitis from the above 1993 episode, to be student Chaplin at the University of Chicago’s Calvert House, a Catholic facility for Catholic youth attending the U. of C., without checking Yakaitis’ background which was in the file of the Diocese clearly evidencing prior credible sex abuse allegations, to which abuse, Fr. Yakaitis has since admitted in 2005. Cardinal George and his staff did not even check Yakaitis’ file when sex abuse scandal was on everyone’s tongue! But one wonders why the mope was even still around as a priest instead of being defrocked? The Catholic Church complicit in the Obstruction of Justice…in “aiding and abetting”.

In 2003 Francis George had the Rev. Kenneth Martin living in the Cardinal’s residence next door to an elementary school while “working” for the archdiocese knowing that Martin had previously been convicted after pleading guilty to abusing a boy for 3 years while a high school teacher in Maryland.
In 2006 with the McCormack case, we have an abusing priest who with a Masters of Divinity from the same Mundelein Seminary out abusing boys as late as 2002 when sex abuse was on everyone’s tongue proving* that his urges were far more powerful than his common sense, exposing himself to criminal prosecution when this behavior was such a hot button issue.

*The reason to keep these guys out of ministry and away from children and preferably behind bars….they cannot and do not control themselves.

Then on January 28th 2006 his ‘eminence ?’ Francis George publicly commended the principal of Holy Family school for coming forward in 2000 and reporting Fr. McCormack and expressing regret that the archdiocese failed to respond sooner!

These failures to report the abusers, is not a mistake…..it’s a pattern! Indeed the principal before writing her letter had called the Chancery Office to report the suspected abuse and was told not to press it if the parents were not pushing it! Some Church!

The arrogance!…the gall!....with just this past week, goofy Bishop Gregory Aymond, Chair of the U.S. Bishop’s Committee for Protection of Children and Young People, telling CBS News that because Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell was prohibited from wearing ‘clerical attire’ and no longer permitted to serve in ministry; that these two restrictions were a ‘significant consequence and penalty’ for the abuse allegations leveled against him which he did not deny and which were found to have overwhelming credibility. Christ would give him a ‘millstone’ and Aymond, probation!

ransferring Bishops who covered up need to be sacked and Bishops and Cardinals like goofy Francis George who have repeatedly ‘blown it on their watch’ need to resign like Francis Harvey of the Army did, not be elected to Presidency of the USCCB…with the future successor President and nitwit Bishop Gerald Kicanas saying, he knew [pre-ordination] about the three reports of “sexual improprieties” against then-seminarian Daniel McCormack, yet still supported McCormack’s Ordination, saying, “It would have been grossly unfair not to have ordained him.”

Kicanas needs a 5:30 AM blindfold appointment before the ‘ready!...aim!...fire!’squad.

Merz’s predecessor, Robert Bennett former head of the USCCB’s Review Board was quoted acknowledging that many Bishops abandoned their responsibility [ that’s a laugh – how about virtually all ] so why should Catholics now have confidence that Bishops will not do so in the future?

Further evidencing the seriousness of the morale issue, Merz is quoted in Zoll’s piece as saying he learned of one priest who was exercising in a public gym when a passer-by said, “Are you waiting for a boy to lie down next to you?” Even Mahony himself reports that while posting a letter at a mailbox last year, he was apparently spotted and recognized by a local congregant who suddenly and unexpectedly socked him the face knocking him to the ground. I only wish I had been there to implore Mahony to apostolically ‘turn the other cheek’ so I could have delivered a ‘haymaker’ of my own!

Is it any wonder that the disdain and cynicism that exists is a DIRECT product of the magnitude of the scandal and the way the leaders collectively ‘covered up’, abetted and ‘obstructed’?

Still think the Emperor wears no clothes?

Do you still share in the collective ignorance of others like you, denying the obvious fact that this Church and its leadership has blown it? Can’t see the elephant in the room? The obvious truth that this Church has committed through its Pope, Cardinals and Bishops crimes of aiding and abetting, and crimes of obstruction of justice.

If Christ would not abandon the suffering of the cross, neither would he abandon his suffering. No, he forged on…..unfortunately, at our expense and the expense of the Church as a whole!

....................

This Church needs to account to its stockholders and not just financially as I alluded to at the outset….because mismanagement is apparent at every level.

How can anyone sympathize with a Church mired in internal corruption and mismanagement?


This Church is consigned to marginalization in an increasingly skeptical world by a better educated populace of God fearing people who have come to realize that salvation’s destiny is in their hands, not in the traditional drivel marketed by Pope clones walking down the aisle in their goofy mitre hats and carrying crosiers whilst blessing the faithful in their pews…..sprinkling them with the use of a scepter dripping with holy water…..without ever taking responsibility for what has occurred….in other words, business as usual, “bow your heads and….”

Truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it. But, in the end, there it is.

Want to know what Christ is doing about now? He’s sitting with his head buried in his hands atop his lap, slowly shaking his head from side to side, weeping and softly muttering, “I can’t believe they are doing this in my name”!

Sincerely,
Dan Burke
Huntley, Illinois

P.S. Rachel Zoll:

I know you covered the Cardinal Law cover up. How the hell can you accord the actions of Benedict as taking , “…the extraordinary step” when he merely met privately with victims during his April U.S. visit…?”

Benedict didn’t do a damn thing and if truth be told, was the chief villain and Architect in the Church denial. It was Benedict who was the confidant and aide to that doddering old goofball John Paul those past 15 years prior to his death. When The Doyle report, commissioned by the Vatican in the 1st place, and was submitted in 1985, it was guys like Benedict that made the decision not to go forward but to cover up.