By Bernie Tafoya
WBBM
November 14, 2007
http://www.wbbm780.com/George-Is-New-Face-Of-Catholic-Church-In-America/1211582
Cardinal Francis George says his job as the newly-elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is largely a symbolic one but it will make him the point man, the spokesman for the Catholic Church in the United States for the next three years.
George spoke with WBBM's Bernie Tafoya.
As he has here in Chicago, Cardinal George, and the bishops' group, will continue to deal with the priest sex abuse crisis. A report is due in 2009 on what caused priests to molest children.
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Preliminary results of that study were given to bishops this week during their meeting in Baltimore. Cardinal George says the preliminary results seem to indicate the majority of sex abuse incidents involving children were happening at a time when there was an increase in child sex abuse in society in general.
The cardinal says he doesn't "know whether that's good or bad. In one way it puts it into context and in another way, the tragedy about sex abuse by priests and bishops is that we are held to a higher standard, rightly so, because of more trust, greater betrayal of trust".
He goes on to add, "you can't draw immediate conclusions from what they're saying so far but we've got a lot of things to think about".
The study is being done by Fordham University and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
The cardinal could not comment with knowledge about a Sun-Times report yesterday on a letter he reportedly sent to the parents of a priest sex abuse victim who is now an adult.
That letter was sent months ago. In it, the paper says the cardinal called legislation allowing sex abuse victims to file lawsuits long after the statute of limitations expires something that is "not about the safety of children", but about "money".
The cardinal said he'd like to see the letter and the context in which any of those statements was made. He says the Chicago archdiocese has always settled out-of-court with priest sex abuse victims, with cases going back to 1937.
Meanwhile, he says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during his three-year term as president will start a new effort to strengthen the institution of marriage.
A Conference press release says the program, "For Your Marriage", will provide couples with the "spiritual and practical tools they need to overcome real-life obstacles".
Cardinal George says it's the "family that creates society", and that if that's weakened, "we're all in trouble and it's been weakened over the last decades".
Cardinal George is the first cardinal in 36 years to be elected president of the conference of Catholic Bishops.
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