Angela Bonavoglia is coming to Westchester on April 21 evening at 7:30pm

Angela will give a talk on Women in the Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis. Sponsored by the Voice of the Faithful (Votf) of Larchmont. She is author of one of the best books on Women in the Church: "Good Catholic Girls." There is nothing like it. A very well written and fact filled book. In no book can you find in one place so many details about women in the church. She has interviewed leading Catholic women and ther result are as inspiring as they are revealing. The talk will take Place on Monday Evening April 21st at 7:30pm at the The Larchmont Avenue Church
60 Forest Park Avenue Larchmont, N.Y. 10538 For Info. call Peggie Cashman at
(914-834-2183)All are welcome.

Angela Bonavoglia is nationally recognized for her writing about women’s issues and Catholic Church reform.

In the wake of the 2002 priest sex abuse scandals, Bonavoglia’s article “The Church’s Tug of War,” a lead feature in The Nation, drew national attention to Catholic women’s unheralded roles as the leaders of the progressive Church reform movement in the United States.

Those amazing and courageous women are the subject of Bonavoglia's explosive new book GOOD CATHOLIC GIRLS: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church.

The Pope should be educating the bishops rather than Catholic Universities

Here comes Benedict on his high horse presuming to have the cure for Catholic universities when his bishops have performed execrably in re-sending pedophiles to abuse children and abusing victims again by humiliating them when they are seeking justice and by denying them compensation for ruined lives. The question that Benedict must answer is admission of guilt by priests and bishops in the U.S. did not come until the secular courts forced them to admit guilt and to give compensation for the victims.

In other words they did not admit anything until they were caught. Before the pedophilia scandal broke in full force in 2002 Benedict and the CDF were in full gear on the inquisition given impetus by the document Ex Corde Ecclesia. They succeeded in creating an atmosphere of suspicion and fear on Catholic campuses while they ignored the flagrant abuse of children by priests and bishops which has been known, but not corrected, in the church for a long time.

In 1967 in the Land of Lakes statement, several Catholic Universities declared that the most effective way to run Catholic Universities was to make them truly professional academic institutions which would respect science while maintaining a Catholic ambiance. The key point was that the Universities would be outside the sphere of Vatican influence which was seen as detrimental to the growth of true learning.

Now Benedict is starting down this ugly road again. What he should do is find ways to protect and nourish children which is the first duty of the church.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031304176_pf.html

Pope Benedict is coming to New York and Egan will be the host.

New York is one of the few dioceses which has exercised minimal effort in bringing justice to victims of clergy abuse. The Republican Senate, pressured by the New York State Catholic conference has not even let out the Statute of Limitations bill out of committee. The bill was passed in the democratic assembly. Spitzer had not been helpful on this bill. I imagine he was picking his fight according to his constituents.

BXVI is making a big splash in New York next months and he will be greeted by many victims of clergy abuse. While he has made some strong statements about abuse of children to counter criticism about his lack of concern, he still will be headlined by an Archbishop who thinks the people should not be given a financiall accounting of their money, nor redress for their children who have been abused by his charges.

When Benedict comes into town he should be made aware of his shortcomings in leadership. We might be careful about empty pageantry when justices is not served.

The American Catholic Church still resists statute of limitations.

Commentary - Marci A. Hamilton: Killing abuse suit bill puts children at risk

Filed under: BALTIMORE , Marci A. Hamilton , BA Opinion
29, 2008 3:00 AM (2 days ago) by Marci A. Hamilton, The Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Under pressure from the Catholic Church, Maryland lawmakers shelved legislation to identify predators among us. With HB858, Maryland was part of a national movement to eliminate statutes of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. This bill offered the hope of a “window” to allow claims previously barred.

Our legal system favors predators over the protection of children. By the time victims are capable of coming forward, the law lets predators escape through the statute of limitations — again and again.

Those predators now live and work near — often with — our children, but we do not know who they are because we keep the courthouse locked against victims.

Perhaps even harder to understand, the Catholic Conference of Maryland killed this bill through lies and misrepresentations about its purposes and effects.
Churches recently distributed handouts to area Catholics making outrageous and dishonest claims.