Accusations Don't Equal Proof

Dear Mark,

I have recently read a number of good and conservative articles about the sexual crisis in the American Catholic Church. I found it depressing and very discouraging. Although I will stay within the church and, hopefully, we can turn this around, the question needs to be asked: Are there 10 good priests in the American Catholic Church?

Please see the article at www.michnews.com, entitled "Priest Accuses US Cardinal of Abuse of Power." (posted in this blog on Dec. 5th 2005)

I have become less tolerant of this and believe that the Catholic laity needs to demand that these people resign.

Jackie Groome


Dear Jackie,

I agree that bad priests and bishops should resign. However, an accusation does not constitute proof. There are wrongs done on both sides as lawyers, hungry for lucre, and newspapers hungry for readers destroy good men on the basis of "recovered memories" and other quackery.

Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Editor's Note: To contact Catholic Exchange, please refer to our Contact Us page.
  Please note that all email submitted to Catholic Exchange or its authors (regarding articles published at CE) become the property of Catholic Exchange and may be published in this space. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and cities of letter writers may also be published. Email addresses of viewers will not normally be published.