Priest abused Children, ages 5-11, last year (2007)

Syracuse Diocese priest accused of abuse in Montgomery County Posted by jcrocker February 27, 2008 Syracuse, NY -- A priest of the Syracuse Diocese has been charged with felony sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child in Montgomery County. The Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, was suspended from ministry early this year for incidents unrelated to sexual abuse, said Danielle Cummings, assistant chancellor and diocesan spokeswoman. She said she could not discuss specifics, but confirmed that Broderick was disciplined for "lack of pastoral judgment." Cummings said she and diocesan officials learned today about Broderick's arrest on Monday. State police in Fonda say Broderick engaged in inappropriate sexual contact last year with at least four children, ages 5 to 11. The victims' family told investigators Broderick was considered their spiritual adviser. Broderick was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of second-degree sexual abuse, all felonies, and four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He was arrested at Holy Name of Jesus Academy in Massena. Cummings does not know the nature or duration of Broderick's relationship with the school. No one answered the phone at the school tonight. Broderick is a native of Endwell and was ordained in 1989. He served at St. Joseph, Camillus; Our Lady of Sorrows, Vestal; and St. Malachy, Sherburne. It's not clear where Broderick has been living since his suspension. Cummings said the diocese received no previous complaints accusing Broderick of sexual abuse. The Syracuse Diocese has removed 23 priests from ministry since 2002 as a result of credible allegations of sexual abuse. About 100 people have accused 50 local priests of sexual abuse since 1950. Diocesan investigations have cleared nine priests.

Donald J. McGuire S.J. Officially defrocked

Vatican defrocks convicted priest Donald McGuire
By Karoun Demirjian | Tribune reporter
February 23, 2008
A Jesuit priest convicted of molesting students at a Chicago-area Catholic school in the 1960s was officially defrocked Friday.

Donald J. McGuire has been permanently removed from all clerical functions, said a statement from Rev. Edward Schmidt, the head of the Chicago order of the Society of Jesus to which McGuire belonged.

"We are outraged and saddened that any abuse ever took place," Schmidt said. "[McGuire] has terribly abused the trust [the victims], and we, put in him. And the church, by the action taken today, has demonstrated that same belief."

McGuire, a popular priest whose accolades included being a spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa, was convicted in 2006 of molesting two students from Loyola Academy in Wilmette in the 1960s.

Calvert Hall College High School fights extension of statute of limitation

MARYLAND
The Jeffersonian

Catholics fight bill on abuse

Calvert Hall on e-mail campaign

by Bryan P. Sears
February 21, 2008


A bill that would extend the statute of limitations on sexual abuse
lawsuits is drawing opposition from the head of Calvert Hall College high
school.

Del. Eric Bromwell, a Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would give
people alleging sexual abuse more time for filing lawsuits.

Opposing the bill is Brother Benedict Oliver, the president of Calvert
Hall, which has not been immune to the allegations of child sexual abuse
that have hit

the Catholic Church nationwide.

Bromwell, who graduated from Calvert Hall in 1994, said people who are
abused "should be able to seek justice."

The bill does not target any religious institution, but Bromwell, who
represents the 8th District, including Perry Hall, Parkville and Overlea,
said the only

open opposition has come from Catholic organizations and institutions,
including Calvert Hall.

Bromwell said he has nothing but positive feelings about his time at the
school.

"I love my experience at Calvert Hall and encourage young people to
attend," he said. "But there were people there when I was who were
convicted of

abuse. I knew people who were abused at Calvert Hall."

Bromwell co-sponsored a similar bill three years ago. The lead sponsor of
that measure has since retired and Bromwell said he wanted to continue to

champion the issue.

Under current law, alleged victims have seven years from the day they turn
18 years old to file a civil suit charging sexual abuse.

Bromwell's bill would extend the deadline to 32 years or age 50.

Additionally, other alleged victims, regardless of age, would have until
Dec. 31, 2009, to file a certificate of merit with the court. The
certificate would have

to include a statement from the alleged victim's attorney and a
psychiatrist or psychologist who reviewed the case and concluded there was
a reasonable

cause for filing the suit.

The bill would also cap damages at $1 million plus legal expenses.

Oliver has e-mailed several former and current Calvert Hall students about
the bill. He did not return a call from a reporter seeking comment.

About a month ago, Oliver and a lobbyist for the Archdiocese of Baltimore
met with Bromwell and asked him not to sponsor the bill, the delegate
said.

Shortly after that meeting, the e-mail campaign began. In one such
message, Oliver encouraged recipients to call Bromwell and Democratic Sen.
Jim

Brochin, who represents the Towson area, and ask them not to sponsor such
a bill.

Oliver wrote that Bromwell and Brochin believe "that the resulting
multiple lawsuits will provide justice to the victims."

Brochin, who has sponsored many sex abuse-related bills since he was
elected in 2002, said he was not going to sponsor a bill to lengthen the
statute of

limitations -- but not because of lobbying from Calvert Hall students and
alumni.

Brochin said he was asked by the bill's supporters to not cross-file it in
the Senate in order to test how much support the bill would receive in the
House.

"I support the bill and would vote for it if it makes it to the Senate,"
said Brochin, adding that a few people had contacted his office to ask him
not to

sponsor such legislation.

Oliver, in his e-mail, wrote that "attempts to provide justice, compassion
and healing to individuals actually and allegedly abused by employees of
the

Archdiocese of Baltimore and/or Calvert Hall have already been made."

Oliver wrote that each victim has received apologies from both the school
and the "highest administrators of the archdiocese."

He added that victims were "offered, and several have accepted, funding
for unlimited counseling by a professional of their choosing."

Oliver said that victims also were offered arbitration with a non-Catholic
judge to arrive at financial settlements that included the payment of the
victim's

legal fees.

It is not clear how many victims there are or how many accepted such
offers.

In 2006, Jerome Toohey, a former priest and head chaplain at Calvert Hall,
was convicted of sexually abusing two boys including Thomas Roberts, an

anchor for CNN. Normally, newspapers to not publish the names of sexual
abuse victims, but Roberts and the other victim, Michael Goles, spoke
publicly

about their cases.

Toohey, 61, of Lutherville, was sentenced to 5 years in jail with all but
18 months suspended.

Roberts said the sentence brought him a sense of relief.

"I'm at peace," he said at the time. "People can learn. To live in the
truth is really nice."

Oliver, in his e-mail, wrote that lengthening the time for filing lawsuits
alleging sexual abuse could have dire financial consequences for the
school.

"Because insurance coverage at the time of the abuse (at least 15 years
ago) was typically limited, Calvert Hall could not now absorb the costs of
multiple

lawsuits and jury-awarded damages," Oliver wrote.

"Besides raising tuition beyond usual percentages, Calvert Hall
undoubtedly would have to reduce or eliminate tuition assistance and
curtail or eliminate

some academic and extracurricular programs. Such measures would result in
a severe, perhaps fatal, decline in enrollment," Oliver added.

Bromwell said he has been the focus of comments in sermons at area
Catholic churches and the issue has tested his faith.

"It's been very difficult over the last three years," he said. "I've heard
from victims about how much this would help. I've heard from opponents
that this does

nothing to help victims and does nothing to protect kids. In this
scenario, I'm going to have to listen to the victims."

More sex abuse allegations against Spokane Diocese boys' ranch

Last updated February 15, 2008 7:42 p.m. PT

More sex abuse allegations against Spokane Diocese boys' ranch
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Three former residents of a boys' ranch operated by the Spokane Catholic Diocese have filed suit, alleging they were physically and sexually abused by priests and a volunteer.

In the lawsuit filed Friday in Spokane County Superior Court, the men accuse Morning Star Boys Ranch of negligent supervision and knowingly allowing employees to sexually abuse residents.

A former Morning Star director, the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, is among three defendants named in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages. Weitensteiner resigned in 2006. He has denied abusing ranch residents.

The plaintiffs are 39, 48 and 55. They allege the abuse happened in the 1960s, '70s and '80s at the hands of Weitensteiner, the Rev. Patrick O'Donnell and an unidentified volunteer employee.

Morning Star spokeswoman Jenn Kantz said the ranch had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on specific allegations. She said the ranch is a safe and therapeutic place today. The ranch south of Spokane has served more than 1,300 boys with behavioral problems over the past 50 years.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal filings that began in August 2005, alleging abuse at the ranch by Weitensteiner, O'Donnell and other staff members. Thirteen former residents previously sued the ranch over claims of abuse.

In depositions, O'Donnell has acknowledged sexually molesting dozens of boys over three decades. He was named in 66 of the 176 bankruptcy court claims alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Spokane Diocese, more than any other single priest. Last year, the diocese agreed to pay $48 million to settle claims of clergy sexual abuse.

A civil lawsuit against O'Donnell by more than two dozen of his accusers was stayed during the three-year bankruptcy proceeding. The trial could be scheduled later this year.

Sex Abuse Scandal Catches up With Religious Orders

Religion

Sex Abuse Scandal Catches Up with Religious Orders
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Father Aaron Joseph Cote denies allegations of sexual abuse.



All Things Considered, December 31, 2007 ·

When it comes to sexual abuse, the religious orders have flown under the radar.

About a third of all Catholic clerics serve in religious orders — they’re the Jesuits who teach high school or the Franciscans who serve the poor.

The sex abuse scandal that broke five years ago focused on parish priests and forced dioceses to push big reforms. But when it comes to religious orders, their reforms are voluntary, and the orders are not accountable to anyone. As a result, abuses may go undetected.

Reporting Only to Rome

Father Aaron Joseph Cote — known as A.J. — is a Dominican friar, part of a religious order founded nearly 800 years ago. As a Dominican, he was entrusted with preaching the Gospel and living a contemplative life — until two years ago, when he was sued for allegedly abusing a minor.

Cote’s case is unusual because, if news accounts are any measure, religious orders have escaped much of the scandal that engulfed the larger church.

In a deposition videotaped in August 2006, Cote looks grim as attorney Jeff Anderson questions him. Anderson represents a young man who accused Cote of sexually abusing him in 2001 and 2002.

Anderson: “Do you have a sexual attraction to post-pubescent adolescents?”

Cote: “I refuse to answer on the ground it may incriminate me.”

Anderson: “Do you know the word ‘pedophilia’?”

Cote: “I refuse to answer on the ground that it may incriminate me”

And so it went for the better part of an hour.

Patrick Wall, a former Benedictine monk, served for 12 years at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. In those years, he heard one confession after another of fellow Benedictine brothers who had abused children. Of 300 monks at St. John’s Abbey, 32 were “perpetrators against children,” Wall said.

Wall finally quit the priesthood in 1998 and began investigating clergy sex abuse for victims and their lawyers.

Wall found no shortage of work: He figures he has investigated two dozen religious orders, ranging from the Franciscans and Dominicans to the Marists and Salesians. Most recently, Wall turned his gaze on Jesuit missionaries sent from Oregon to Northwest Alaska. Last month, the Jesuits settled with more than 110 Eskimos for $50 million.

Wall and others believe the rate of abuse in the religious orders is higher than among the parish priests — although no one knows for certain because the orders are not required to submit their records to anyone in the United States. They report only to Rome. And they are not bound by the charter signed by the U.S. Bishops in 2002 that promised to stop protecting suspected abusers and report them to police.

Wall says abusers from the orders are easier to tuck away. A bishop in San Diego, for example, can transfer a problem priest only so many places. But religious orders are international, which Wall says is convenient.

“You get them out of the state. You avoid any kind of criminal liability because you get them out of the area, so that the statute of limitations can run,” he said. “But you keep them in the family so it just looks like, well, ‘The abbot assigned Father Dominic to St. Augustine’s in the Bahamas.’”

That is pretty much what happened to Father Cote for more than 20 years. Cote denies he has abused anyone, and neither he nor his attorney responded to requests for an interview. In fact, no Dominican official connected to this case would grant an interview — even after several requests over two months.

But videotaped depositions in Cote’s case serve as a rare window into the Dominicans’ world. The depositions reveal a system in which warning signs can go undetected or ignored, and a problem priest can find refuge in new assignments for years.

The First Red Flag

In October 1985, Cote, then a seminarian, led a youth retreat near Washington, D.C.

In a taped deposition last year, Anderson read an assessment from Cote’s file to Father Raymond Daley, who was the leader of the Dominicans in the 1980s. The assessment said that Cote paid too much attention to boys and that he stayed out all night and returned in the morning with a teenager named Will. It said he had two glasses of wine before the service, that his talk on sex discussed oral sex and that he bared his chest during his talk.

When asked if he had any recollection of the assessment, an elderly Daley answered softly, “I do not,” a refrain repeated by Dominican leaders throughout the depositions.

A year after the youth retreat, Cote was ordained and eventually sent to Somerset, Ohio, to oversee two small parishes. His secretary, Jill Sullivan, told NPR that the young cleric instantly captured the hearts of the children. But she soon began to wonder about the youth group he started.

“You never saw any girls,” Sullivan said. “There were only boys. And at a teen youth group, why wouldn’t you see any girls?”

Sullivan started hearing rumors about Cote’s relationship with the boys. And then one morning, she found some papers on her desk — Xeroxes made the night before on the copying machine.

“And I noticed they were of boys, their rear ends, their genitals, and I went to Father A.J. and said, ‘What is this?’ He wouldn’t look at me, and he said, ‘I’ll take care of this. It won’t happen again.’”

Parishioners began to complain about Cote’s conduct with children. According to two parents interviewed under oath, they worried that Cote held sleepovers for boys and might be serving them beer. The parents met with a senior priest in the area, who wrote of complaints to Dominican leaders in New York.

The Dominicans apparently received the letter but now say it is missing. Dominican leaders said under oath they never heard complaints of a sexual nature.

1989: Chimbote, Peru

In 1989, the Dominicans transferred Cote to one of their foreign missions, in Chimbote, Peru.

The pattern began again. Cote launched a youth group for teenage boys, and boys stayed over at the house that he shared with another priest. That priest testified that Cote hugged and kissed the boys with an intimacy that alarmed parents.

Cote favored one boy in particular, who stayed overnight in Cote’s room, the priest said.

The priest said under oath that he reported to the head Dominican in Peru four times. The Dominican leader in Peru — who is no longer alive — wrote the head office in New York that parishioners had witnessed “improper conduct on the part of Father Cote.” But, he added, these complaints were just “hearsay and rumor.”

Anderson, the attorney, asked Father Thomas Ertle, who was the Dominican leader at the time, why he didn’t take action. Ertle said he relied on his fellow friar’s word that nothing was amiss and on the word of Cote.

“He gave me no indication that there was anything immoral in his contact or association with them,” Ertle said of his conversation with Cote.

“And did you rely upon him in Cote’s representation that there was nothing immoral?” Anderson asked.

“Yes.”

Anderson doubts that leaders didn’t know of any sexual abuse or chose to “see no evil.”

“I took the depositions of every official, every provincial and every vice-provincial that presided over A.J. Cote,” Anderson said. “And each of them lied.”

Anderson says the Dominicans are a small order. There are only a few hundred in the U.S. It is a tight-knit spiritual family.

“They live in community, which means they live together, and they report to one another regularly,” Anderson said. “And there is no way that the reports made in Somerset, Ohio, in Chimbote, Peru, and elsewhere didn’t go to the leaders of the Dominican order.”

2000: Germantown, Md.

Soon after the complaints surfaced, Cote asked to leave Peru. Back in the U.S., he moved from one assignment to another for a decade. No allegations surfaced during this period. Then in 2000, Cote landed as a youth pastor at Mother Seton parish in Germantown, Md. There he met 14-year-old Brandon Rains.

Rains testified last year that his friendship with Cote began when Cote “took a special liking to me,” by waving or winking at him from the altar during the Mass.

And Cote eventually spent a lot of time with Rains after his parents learned the boy had begun using and selling marijuana in the ninth grade. Rains’ mother told NPR they felt the only refuge was his church youth group.

“He spent so much time with Father Cote,” she said, holding back tears. “He was like the one safe, positive person in his life that we would allow him to see. Not his friends. We thought that was the source of the trouble.”

She added: “I felt like I just handed him over.”

By midyear, Rains testified, Cote was taking him to a private apartment or hotels to watch pornography. He masturbated in the boy’s presence and persuaded Rains that he should do the same, Rains said.

Rains said Cote did this about 10 times and touched him once.

In August 2003, Rains confided in his parents about Cote’s behavior and filed a report with police in Maryland. His stepfather, Joe McMorrow, says he called the Dominicans, who assured him they would investigate.

“And then, months passed,” McMorrow said. “We had very little contact with the Dominicans; most of it we initiated.”

Something just didn’t seem right, McMorrow said. “One day, I went out on the Web, and I find that A.J. Cote is a youth minister at a Catholic parish in Rhode Island.”

Not the Whole Story

How could this happen?

Father Dominic Izzo, the current head of the Dominican Province, said in his videotaped deposition that he didn’t consider Brandon Rains’ allegation credible.

Anderson asked Izzo what would have made it credible. First, Izzo said, if Cote’s psychological evaluation indicated he was a pedophile. Second, he said, if the police had found concrete evidence of abuse.

“The investigation would have said that yes, this did happen on this date,” Izzo said. “That did not happen. And so we took the advice of professionals.” He said that he sent all the information they had about Cote to the Rhode Island Bishop’s independent review board, and when they did not ask for more information, he considered the matter closed. Izzo recommended Cote be allowed to serve in ministry in Rhode Island.

But Dennis Roberts, the former state attorney general and head of that review board, told NPR he didn’t get the whole story from the Dominicans.

“They didn’t exactly lie to us, but they didn’t tell us the whole truth,” Roberts said.

Roberts’ board gave the green light for Cote to begin ministry in Providence. He said after looking at materials NPR gathered for this story, he was floored by all that the Dominicans had omitted — files from Cote’s seminary days, complaints from Ohio and Peru, the attempts to unload Cote on different dioceses.

Roberts said that his review board had access to all local priests’ files. But with religious orders like the Dominicans, Roberts said, “we don’t have the full package. And therefore in dealing with an issue like Father Cote’s, we really do have to rely on the good faith and forthcoming nature of the disclosures made to us by the order. And here that was not very good.”

In the deposition, Anderson handed Izzo Exhibit 100, a letter dated July 26, 2005. It’s from Catherine Wolf, a teacher in Somerset, Ohio. Wolf wrote that she had just learned that Cote had repeatedly molested a student in the late 1980s. “I believe that Father A.J. is a danger to children,” she wrote, “and should not be allowed to associate with them in any capacity.”

Under the Dominicans’ own policies, they were supposed to report all credible allegations to the police. Anderson asked if Izzo did so.

“Did I supply this letter to the police?” Izzo asked? “No, I did not.”

When asked why not, Izzo said he didn’t recall. “We just didn’t submit it to the police,” he said.

Izzo said he did not consider that allegation credible because it did not come from the alleged victim. He didn’t inform Cote’s parish in Rhode Island, nor did he alert the review board.

Dennis Roberts said he wishes Izzo had.

“What we would have done at that point,” Roberts said, “taking that new information, is tell the father provincial [that] Father Cote was no longer welcome here at that point, [that] the man has to be removed from ministry.”

Cote was just about to attend a church youth retreat in November 2005 when Rains filed a civil suit against Cote and the Dominicans in Washington, D.C. The Dominicans pulled Cote from active ministry.

Four months ago, the Dominicans agreed to settle with Rains for $1.2 million. Based on evidence revealed in the lawsuit, prosecutors in Maryland have reopened a criminal investigation.

2006: Massachusetts

In May 2006 — smack in the middle of the Rains litigation — a woman filed a complaint with the police in Massachusetts.

She claimed that Father Cote had abused her two boys while babysitting. The Dominicans offered their sympathy, but they did not mention this new allegation in their sworn testimony in the Rains suit.

The boys at the time were 4 and 6.

Nun is Found Guilty in Sex Abuse Cases

February 6, 2008 Southwest News-Herald - Oak Lawn, Burbank, Bridgeview

Nun Is Found Guilty in Sex Abuse Cases

By CHUCK SALVATORE

A nun who used to teach in the Chicago area and now resides in Oak Lawn has been found guilty of sexual molestation.

Sister Norma Giannini, 79, was sentenced to one year in prison and 10 years probation on Friday, Feb. 1, in a Milwaukee courthouse after pleading not guilty in November. Giannini was found guilty of having sexual intercourse with two boys who were 12 years old in the 1960s.

During the 1960s, Giannini was a principal of St. Patrick School in Milwaukee. According to reports, more than 160 allegations of sexual molestation happened during the span of four years.

She most recently lived with Sisters of Mercy in Oak Lawn because of declining health.

“On behalf of the Sisters, I express profound regret for the pain experienced by these two men and their families and anyone else touched by this situation,” said Sister Betty Smith, president of Sisters of Mercy, through a released statement.

The Sisters of Mercy said previously that Giannini was sent to a treatment facility in the ’90s. She also allegedly admitted to the Milwaukee Archdiocese in 1992 about having sexual intercourse with the two boys.

According to reports, one of the boys was a student of Giannini and allegedly had sex with her around 60 to 80 times. The other victim was a paperboy whose route included the convent where Giannini was living. The second victim said there were more than 100 incidents between him and Giannini.

According to the complaint, Sister Giannini stated, “She believed she was in love with both of them.”

Mary Guentner, Milwaukee director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said that Giannini admitted to the Milwaukee Archdiocese about the sexual abuse that took place, but the Archdiocese never reported it to the authorities. Guentner is not happy with the sentence Giannini received.

“We are glad this is over, but we are concerned that the sentence is different for a female perpetrator,” said Guentner.

According to Guentner, during the trial, the judge had said that what Giannini did was evil and disgusting but only sentenced her to one year in prison.

“Sexual abuse perpetrated by a woman is just as evil as sexual abuse perpetrated by a man,” said Guentner.

Guentner confirmed that in court, Giannini admitted to sexually abusing three other students in Milwaukee and one more in Chicago. The three additional sexual abuses in Milwaukee occurred during the same time period, however it is not known when the abuse of a Chicago boy occurred.

James St. Patrick, 53, and his best friend Jerry Kobes, whom have openly come out as the victims in the case were in court on Friday, reading statements on how this abuse has destroyed their lives.

Giannini was St. Patrick’s seventh- and eighth-grade teacher. He said that the abuse started to occur when he was 12 years old.

According to St. Patrick he filed a complaint with Milwaukee detectives three years ago, and called every week for two years. For two years, St. Patrick said he was given the run around. The former district attorney retired and when a new D.A. was appointed, his case was relooked at.

“My original file was lost, now it seems the former D.A. was for the Catholic Church,” said St. Patrick over the telephone.

St. Patrick is also unhappy with the sentence Giannini received.

“If you look at Fr. (John) Feeney, he received five-years for the same type of abuse. When men sexually abuse someone its rape, when women sexually abuse someone, I don’t know what people call it,” said St. Patrick.

Fr. John Feeney is a former Green Bay priest who was sent to prison in 2004 for sexually abusing minors after being transferred all over the state after allegations arose.

St. Patrick also added that it is unfortunate that sexual abuse by men and women are not looked at in the same way. He also believes that if a man had done to him and Kobes what Giannini did, then it might be looked at as more serious.

St. Patrick said he knows the three other victims who have come out and said they were abused by Giannini. He said those boys were a few grades a head of him but they all knew each other.

As a result of these incidents that occurred years ago, St. Patrick is not a practicing Catholic. Rather, he said, he has his own believes that are formed by his personal experiences throughout his life.

Giannini was principal at St. Clare of Montefalco, 5450 S. Talman Ave., Chicago, from 1983 to 1989. She was also was a teacher and dean at Mother McAuley High School, 3737 W. 99th St., Chicago, from 1972 to 1977. She has lived in Illinois since 1970.

Tom Doyle's Letter and VOTF's response

VOTF, like any organization , has internal conflicts about direction and policy. Progress is difficult when dealing with the giant that the hierarchy is and the natural tendency of people to remain passive. Tom Doyle and others want VOTF to be more radical while others feel that VOTF is too agressive. How much is our opposition to VOTF an act of our subservience to the hierarchy? So it is always a matter of insight and information.

We should not get discouraged with the internal conflicts within VOTF. This is unrealistic, in my opinion. In any human institution there is the same human nature working. Yet VOTF is the most viable, accross the board, reform group of our times and we should work with it rather than to roam into off the cuff criticisms.

No one has worked harder than Tom Doyle in stopping and preventing abuse of children by the clergy. As he frequently points out, if the bishops listened to him from the beginning much abuse would have been prevented and the hierarchy would have saved a lot of money and reputation. At the same time, the counter attack by the bishops and others in the church has taken its toll on Tom. I understand his disillusionment but he should stay within the church and work for reform. Perhaps his wounds are too great for that to happen.

In the midst of all this we must not forget that VOTF educated so many of us into becoming adults rather than Father knows best Catholics. VOTF will have its growing pains but it is our most visible collective voice in letting unruly clerics know that the gospel comes first over privilege and aristocracy.