ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
May 7, 2019
Dear Archbishop Carlson:
As you know, next month you’ll reach the mandatory retirement age for bishops. Unless you do something remarkable in the coming weeks, your legacy and obituary will likely cause you, your loved ones and your flock considerable shame, because it will prominently feature the stunningly embarrassing video deposition in which, according to NBC News, you
–claimed you “didn’t know in the 1980s whether it was illegal for priests to have sex with children,” and
–“responded 193 times that (you) did not recall abuse-related conversations from the 1980s to mid-1990s.”
But this dismal performance need not define your clerical career. You can change this quickly and easily. You can act heroically and voluntarily disclose the names, whereabouts, photos and work histories of the 115 church staff who – by your attorneys’ own admission – are accused of sexually assaulting kids.
You’ve kept their identities secret for more than five years. But you can reverse course.
With such a move, you would become a hero to thousands of abuse victims and their families, and to millions of hurting, betrayed Catholics who long to see a church official truly ‘come clean,’ protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded by revealing the identities of those who have or could hurt children.
With this single, simple step, you would likely go down in history as the prelate who, in one fell voluntary swoop, did more to safeguard the vulnerable than any.
On the other hand, you could play it safe, avoid ‘rocking the boat,’ keep these names secret, and do nothing while more children are likely abused and more Catholics are disgruntled or alienated and while our group continues to ‘out’ more and more of them.
In September, for instance, we “outed” nine publicly accused predator priests who spent time in the St. Louis area.
In November, we outed eight more.
In December, the Jesuits outed 17 more.
In February, we outed five more.
In March, we outed another eight.
And now, in May, we’re outing another eight.
Maybe you don’t care about your legacy or reputation or obituary. If so, we applaud you. There are, of course, far better reasons to disclose these accused predators’ names.
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