Letter to USCCB

SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
P.O. Box 6416,
Chicago, Illinois 60680-6416

July 13, 2004

Msgr. William P. Fay, General Secretary
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017

Dear Msgr. Fay:

Enclosed you will find a letter which was delivered to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

For the protection of all children, we insist that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) take a much more dedicated and passionate position to protect children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults from rapists and molesters who hide behind and are protected by the myriad orders of religious orders of women and men.

All orders of religious men and women in the United States are located, and operate within the dioceses of the Bishops and Cardinals represented by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. These orders operate with the invitation and blessings of their respective Bishops and Cardinals.

The purposes of USCCB are: "To unify, coordinate, encourage, promote and carry on Catholic activities in the United States…" We firmly believe there can be no higher agenda for the USCCB than to protect all children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults from the sexual rape and molestation by criminals of any religious order.

Further, we insist that in order to protect all children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops take leadership to include all religious groups in the United States in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Per USCCB information, "The charter specifically created the Office of Child and Youth Protection and assigned to it three central tasks:
· To assist each diocese and eparchy (eastern Rite Churches) in implementing "Safe Environment" programs designed to ensure necessary safety and security for all children as they participate in church and religious activities,
· To develop an appropriate compliance audit mechanism to assist the Bishops and Eparchs in adhering to the responsibilities set forth in the Charter, and
· To prepare a public, annual report describing the compliance of each diocese and eparchy to the Charter's provisions

It is naïve to expect that the Office of Consecrated Life in Rome will be seriously responsive to criminal sexual assault committed by women and men of religious orders and then immediately commit to the protection of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults in the United States and elsewhere. Such a belief is unlikely to be realized and is not supported by the Vatican response to the sexual abuses of priests and the cover-up of a number of Bishops and Cardinals.

"The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is an assembly of the hierarchy of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands who jointly exercise certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States. The purpose of the Conference is to promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind, especially through forms and programs of the apostolate fittingly adapted to the circumstances of time and place."

It is well beyond the time and place to include all religious communities in the United States under the principles of protection and directions found in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

We ask you to take these steps immediately not only for the children of the United States but so the USCCB can be a model of protection for all vulnerable children, teenagers, and adults in God's community.

We ask you to be so kind as to forward a copy of this letter to the individuals carbon copied below.

Sincerely, (and all victim-survivors of nun sexual abuse),