PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Thomas Fitzgerald
Inquirer Staff Writer
Confronted with the grand jury report finding an "immoral" cover-up of sexual abuse, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has counterpunched with a classic damage-control strategy familiar in politics: two messages, one conciliatory, one tough.
While Cardinal Justin Rigali spoke of reconciliation and reform, the archdiocese's lawyer attacked the findings as a "vile diatribe" motivated by anti-Catholic bigotry.
In the 48 hours after that initial response Wednesday, the strategy has continued in news interviews with Rigali, full-page newspaper ads, and a pastoral letter from the cardinal in the archdiocesan newspaper.
Among the points: the archdiocese has instituted training to prevent abuse; it reports every accusation to law enforcement and has a "zero-tolerance" policy; the grand jury report unfairly made no mention of reforms; the archdiocese was misled because the grand jury was supposed to focus on other denominations, too.
These later communiques have stopped short of accusing District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, whose office conducted the investigation, of Catholic-bashing, while stressing what the archdiocese sees as shortcomings in the probe.