DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
February 3, 2006
Advocates for survivors of sex abuse by priests came away from an unprecedented meeting with Iowa Roman Catholic bishops Thursday filled with hope and pleased that the prelates agreed to a second meeting.
The groups - Iowa Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Catholics for Spiritual Healing of Grand Mound, and Concerned Catholics of the Davenport Diocese - asked for 15 minutes to meet with the bishops when they were in Des Moines for the Iowa Catholic Conference legislative breakfast. The meeting lasted almost an hour and a half.
"We are very encouraged," said Ann Green of De Witt, the wife of abuse survivor Don Green. "We're not aware of any other place where bishops have sat down with survivors' groups as the Iowa bishops did."
The group met with Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus, Des Moines Bishop Joseph Charron and Davenport Bishop William Franklin. Sioux City Bishop R. Walker Nickless was represented by Monsignor Roger Augustine.