EAST LYME (CT)
The Day
By BETHE DUFRESNE
General Assignment Reporter/Columnist
Published on 8/2/2005
East Lyme — Charging that their bishop won't listen to them, Voice of the Faithful members went public Monday to declare their unhappiness with the way the Roman Catholic Diocese is protecting children from sex abuse, and to present their own plan.
Safeguards promised in the wake of a nationwide scandal over sex abuse by priests and church coverups have not been fully implemented here, Robert Marrion of East Lyme said at a press conference called by the southeastern Connecticut chapter of VOTF.
Marrion said VOTF had tried and failed to engage the Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, Bishop of Norwich, on this issue and concluded that “the Bishop's lack of leadership in making this crisis a top priority is clear.”
An example was cited by Kay Isleib, a child advocate for the St. Agnes parish in Niantic, who said some parishes have gotten exemptions from providing sex abuse prevention programs. Instead, said Isleib, parishes have been allowed to turn that responsibility over to public school programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE.
What's missing, said Grace Marrion, Robert's wife, is the Christian imperative. Public schools can't include prayer, she said.