BishopAccountability.org
	Bishop Needs to Say More News-Democrat September 12, 2008 http://www.bnd.com/editorial/story/469709.html Catholics throughout the Belleville Diocese will hear a letter this weekend from Bishop Edward Braxton in which he apologizes "to anyone who was ever abused as a minor by a priest in this diocese." The letter is prompted by the trial and $5 million verdict recently awarded to James Wisniewski, one of those victims. It's a fine start, but doesn't go nearly far enough. Braxton does not apologize for the church leaders who knew that the abuse occurred, yet did nothing to ensure that it stopped. The bishops who were in charge when priests were moved from parish to parish are not being held accountable, even though they ultimately were responsible. That, more than the abuse itself, has, as Braxton puts it, "wounded hearts, caused anger and frustration, and alienated the clergy as well as laity from the church." Braxton's letter also doesn't address whether the diocese, which fought Wisniewski's lawsuit for six years, will appeal the verdict. We've asked his office that question repeatedly, without a response. Braxton writes that the purpose of his letter "is to simply express my pastoral support to everyone in the diocese in the face of the challenges that past misdeeds place before us today." Fully facing up to the past, holding the people who enabled the abusers accountable and ending the Wisniewski case are some of the ways to support the faithful.
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