CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Published February 25, 2006, 3:25 PM CST
An advocacy group called for Cardinal Francis George to resign Saturday in the wake of reports that the top official of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago ignored for months a review board's advice to remove a priest accused of molesting three boys.
An archdiocese spokesman said Cardinal George acknowledges the church-appointed review board gave the advice, but the recommendation was informal. The cardinal will not step down, the spokesman said Saturday.
The review board's recommendation to the archdiocese came in October, months before the January arrest of the Rev. Daniel McCormack and his removal from St. Agatha Church on Chicago's West Side, said Diane Jackson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Saturday's call for Cardinal George's resignation was the first time the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has called for a cardinal or a bishop to step down, said SNAP President Barbara Blaine.
"The national leadership of SNAP has never taken this extreme position before and obviously we don't do it lightly," Blaine said. "Cardinal George has been secretive, deceptive and irresponsible."