Sins & Silence
Letters to the Editor
Commend TH, don't condemn it

By Hillary Nelson
Telegraph Herald [Dubuque IA]
March 27, 2006

http://www.snap-greatplains.org/dubuque/My_Homepage_Files/Page5.html

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

I would think a community as Roman Catholic as this one would want—if not demand—to know how the Dubuque Archdiocese has dealt with abusive priests.

Instead, letters to the editor characterize the recent Telegraph Herald series as trash that dwells too much on the negative, and even suggest that settlements paid to victims have unfairly punished the church.

Those who choose to bury their heads in the sand are doing their church and fellow Catholics a great disservice. Their religious leaders abused their power to destroy the innocence of their youngest, most trusting, followers. Their church covered up evil for nearly half a century, and yet they think eight days is too long to dwell on the subject?

Their voices should be the loudest in demanding that the truth come out and never be forgotten. Where is the outrage and demand for reform?

"Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he was thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck." (Mark 9:42).

Catholic leaders caused untold numbers of little ones to stumble by violating and silencing them. The burden of proof is on the Church to show that these are truly sins of the past, and I commend the TH for doing its part to hold it accountable. Catholics who care about the future of their faith would be well-advised to do the same.

Hillary Nelson
1880 Bristol Drive