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	Pope's Letter " Puny Christianity and Blame Shifting" Says NSAC National Survivor Advocates Coalition March 20, 2010 http://www.nsacoalition.org/2010/03/20/popes-letter-puny-christianity-and-blame-shifting-says-nsac/ UNITED STATES -- National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) calls Pope's letter "Puny Christianity and Blame Shifting." NSAC: "Read it and weep." NSAC Asks: "When was it ever right in any time, circumstance, educational setting –particularly Catholic Church schools– to abuse innocent and vulnerable? Why wouldn't Pope, bishops, priests, nuns know this? NSAC calls for re-routing of collection money in US and Ireland and Tax Revolt in Germany where tax money support Catholic Church The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) issued a response today to Pope Benedict's pastoral to the people of Ireland saying simply and directly " read it and weep." "The letter stings with a puny Christianity using holy language to deflect responsibility for the criminal acts of abusing children and the cover up of crimes, " the coalition said. "The people descendant of the great St. Patrick, inseparable with the faith for centuries, and intrepid heralds of the Gospel to many nations are spoken to as though the scandal happened in a vacuum and Pope Benedict and the central government authority of the Church bear no responsibility for the actions of Irish bishops and priests trained, selected, placed and kept in power by the Vatican. "Simply writing the words 'criminal activity' does not mean and should not be confused with the Pope taking responsibility for the cover-up of crimes. " the coalition said. "Like a shell game the letter shifts blame for the crisis on turbulent societal times, bad education of priests and the failure to apply canon law, " the coalition said. Let it be resoundingly asked: When was it ever under any circumstance, time, or educational structure considered right to abuse the innocent and vulnerable, to sodomize and rape them, and to cover up these crimes ? We agree with Pope Benedict that the letter should be read in its entirety and judged in its entirety. As the survivors, the faithful and all men and women of goodwill read it, let is be remembered: • Pope Benedict ran the Vatican office where cases of sexual abuse by priests have been piling up for years • Pope Benedict ran the Munich diocese where evidence has come forward of his knowledge of abuse by at least one priest before he ever headed a Vatican office • the Irish scandal does not exist in a vacuum, it follows the media revelations of scandals in Canada, the United States, Australia and co-exists with media revelations of scandal in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. "The Church has laryngitis in its moral voice and this letter is not the cure" the coalition. "Read it, " the coalition said, "because knowledge is power." " Weep, " the coalition said because: • it does not announce the removal of Cardinal Sean Brady as primate of Ireland • it does not include the acceptance of the resignations offered by Irish bishops • survivors are left without acknowledgement that a Pope who headed the Vatican office where sexual abuse cases have been piling up for decades knew of their plight and did nothing to stop the cover-up and come to their assistance • the Irish faithful and all men and women of goodwill are given an "apostolic visitation" as the answer to a deep seeded culture of secrecy that grievously wounds the innocent and vulnerable • the emphasis is on priests and there is not acknowlegement of abuse by nuns included in the church institutions and included in the Irish government reports. Until and unless there is true and substantial response to the crisis, the coalition urged: • Catholics in the United States and Ireland to re-route their collection money either to the direct suppliers of parish utilities and vendors of parish services bypassing diocesan assessments or give the money to trusted charities • Catholics in Germany to revolt against the use of tax monies to support the Catholic Church (taxes are the way churches are supported in Germany) In making its comments today, NSAC acknowledged the "noble courage" of the survivors that have come forward in Ireland and throughout the world and extended to them its solidarity "most particularly on this difficult day."
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