Sins & Silence
Letters to the Editor
TH critics' 'compassion' hollow

By Sheila Dreckman
Telegraph Herald [Dubuque IA]
March 24, 2006

http://www.snap-greatplains.org/dubuque/My_Homepage_Files/Page4.html

[See the main page of the Sins & Silence series for links to all the articles and letters to the editor.]

Another letter to the editor condemns the TH for "repeatedly plastering the stories of sexual abuse by priests on the front page day after day."

The same old rhetoric comes forth in the letter: The writers of these letters claim compassion for the victims—but please don't tell us about it. We don't want to hear.

I'm sorry, but such compassion is meaningless.

Actually, when I think about it, this attitude is the same attitude the bishops had in covering up the abuse: We mustn't say anything because it will cause loss of faith in the laity, so let's just ignore it for the greater good.

Where is the greater good now?

Another writer last week said, "It's only 1 percent of the priests." Only? Does she not realize how many contacts with children that involves? What if it were only 1 percent of the teachers, day care workers, police officers? (If my calculations are correct, it is closer to 6 percent.) [The 1 percent claim also appears in a letter by Guy Woodward.]

But to answer the writer who does not see any benefit to these stories in the TH, the answer is simple: It must not happen again!

So I say, hurrah for the TH. Keep up the good work.

Sheila Dreckman
6956 Dutch Hollow Road
Potosi, Wis.