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I will making contributions to you at SNAP instead of the my church.
God bless you and thank you for all you do.

Thanks, Linda. Hopefully more will respond in kind. My family and I were among the lucky ones, I guess. We never experienced any abuse, and there have never been any cases of abuse alleged in the parishes or schools we attended. That does not obviate our responsibility or our willingness to stand up and demand change in our Church, because it is indeed our Church. If we have to be the leaders who demand change, so be it. So now we demand that the Vatican accept its responsibility and effect the needed change. Protect our children. Remove the bishops who have allowed and empowered these evildoers to damage our children.

Thanks, Linda. Hopefully more will respond in kind. My family and I were among the lucky ones, I guess. We never experienced any abuse, and there have never been any cases of abuse alleged in the parishes or schools we attended. That does not obviate our responsibility or our willingness to stand up and demand change in our Church, because it is indeed our Church. If we have to be the leaders who demand change, so be it. So now we demand that the Vatican accept its responsibility and effect the needed change. Protect our children. Remove the bishops who have allowed and empowered these evildoers to damage our children.

Thanks, Tom for the New York Times article
I no longer am a member of the Church. The reasons for leaving the Church are profound. When a scandal of sexual abuse arose at my daughter’s Catholic grammar school, I was one of those parents to speak up against what happened in the school she attended while other parents remained silent. I immediately took her out of the school for protection purposes then, criticized by my own family members. There was not a moment that I felt to do “nothing” about what was going on. Yes, “jail” the perpetrator and “fire” the accessory for the crime committed. The Church will only change if the members step up and confront the leaders to take action. That said, it’s not enough to pray for the sinners which Pope Francis seems to espouse in his comments on sexual abuse in the Church.

TODAY’S New York times has a great article b y Frank Bruni. Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/opinion/the-catholic-churchs-sins-are-ours.html?emc=eta1

It highlights the least talked about but most salient perspective of “Spotlight”. It was not just the bishops and the Vatican who covered up and looked the other way. We also did. We the Faithful in the pews allowed this scandal to continue by not being vocal enough and strong enough to demand change. And it continues. Francis says that any bishop who has allowed predator priest to remain in ministry should resign. “Should resign”? Francis, you are the boss. Fire them. Take them out of their position of authority, because they no longer can fulfill their role as shepard. Because what they have done is sin against God, the Church, the victims, the family of the victims and all of the faithful under their care. Should resign? NO. FIRE THEM. You have the authority and the responsibility.

Today another diocese in Pennsylvania is in the news for the same reason. We practicing members of the Church demand their removal. Not suggest. Not hope for. DEMAND.

Tom Norris

Congratulations goes out to the Oscar winning movie of the year “Spotlight!” Hopefully, this movie will shed light on the abuse and corruption of the religious leaders of the church who deceived their members. I hope all the victims of abuse can find some peace in knowing that people care and understand the pain they have endured through the years. The message is out. The world knows what has happened to us. It is with this knowledge that we must continue to heal with helping and supporting the victims of these heinous crimes. It took all this time for someone to listen to us, but it happened and that is all that matters. As it is said “the wheels of justice grind slowly, but finally.” I wish all of you peace in your lives.

F***ing priests, they r all guilty, they all know about it, accessory after the fact. Bring them all to justice. Abolish the most richest, most corrupt and evil religion of all times!!

I was abused by Father Logan in Sayville, NY
I never knew this site existed, till this movie

I attended the following schools all run by the Franciscan Sisters from Lemont, Illinois. The schools: a preschool(forgot the name-closed), St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr grammar school( closed) Madonna H.S. ( closed)— before the closures all these schools were in Chicago. Sad to say, I was physically abused by many of these nuns. They terrorized not only me, but other students i.e., pulling hair, bullying, beating with a broom, taped faces to keep their mouths shut, broke glasses, etc. My experience in pre-school and grammar school the words can only be described as “horrible.” I would come home with terrible headaches due to the stress at these schools. My medical doctor placed me on valium. I was only 10 years old! I suffered years with low self-esteem, and felt I was never good enough to do anything. However, with the help of many good health professionals, I was able to overcome the mental disabilities I had to live with at that time and years later. Decades later, I thought about the abusing nuns especially, since the movie “Spotlight” and the book, “Betrayal” shed a light on the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. I am grateful to everyone who gave it their “all” to get the predators prosecuted, and most importantly get the much needed protection for the victims. Even though I was not sexually abused, I feel “all” the victims pain. Hopefully, these horrific events of the past will never occur again. The good thing about turning my life around is that I became a teacher and proud to say I appreciate my students. My faith in the Catholic Church is gone, but not my faith in humanity. I find my Higher Power in the people who help others in pain.