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	The Priest Scandal ... By Michael Sneed Chicago Sun-Times March 1, 2006 http://www.suntimes.com/output/sneed/cst-nws-sneed011.html Dateline: Ash Wednesday -- Watch for two groups of Catholics to get off their kneelers today and take a stand. *First up: A group of Catholics from St. Francis Xavier Church in LaGrange are conducting a candlelight vigil "to call for a change in the way the Church handles priest sex abuse," said parishioner Lisa Krepps. "We will petition the cardinal to appoint a lay council for review of all clergy molestation charges and to amend the [U. S. Conference of Bishops] charter so that there's a penalty for any supervisor who fails to remove a credibly accused priest," Krepps told Sneed. The move is in response to Cardinal Francis George's decision not to follow the advice of his review board to remove the Rev. Daniel McCormack last October. McCormack was charged in January with multiple counts of abuse. "Cardinal George has already apologized for not removing Father McCormack earlier," said Krepps. "But we believe in moving forward. The rally is called 'Pro-tect our children, save our Church.' "It's just a small step," she added. "I love my Church and I don't intend to leave it. But if we don't protect our children, we won't have a Church in the future to protect." Second up! "We are here. The people in the pews are coming forward for the safety of our children." Thus wrote the local chapter of the powerful Voice of the Faithful, a lay Catholic watchdog group, in a letter to the cardinal demanding that all guidelines for monitoring and/or removing an accused priest and the criteria used in making such decisions be published on the archdiocese's Web site. *Why? Revelations of the past week "appear to signal a return to the pre-Dallas pattern of protecting an alleged priest-perpetrator and the institution while endangering children," according to the letter. *How: "The consultants have been chosen by and will be paid by the archdiocese. The credibility of the study would have been enhanced if the consultants had been selected by an independent group such as the National Lay Review Board." *When: The group expects a response in two weeks. "This is no time to put new wine into old wineskins," the group states. Amen. Hair scare ... Sneed's got a great idea for a contest. *During their tenure in office, who used the most cans of hairspray on their lacquered coifs? ex-Gov. Jim Edgar or Gov. Blagojevich? Answer: Puleeeeze. Bye-bye Berghoff ... A trip down memory lane: Yah! It wasn't the wiener schnitzel (Sneed tries not to eat veal, aka baby cow) I remember, or the less-than-appetizing sausages at the legendary Berghoff restaurant, which closed its doors Tuesday. *Gulp! What I clearly remember were the days women weren't permitted to drink at the Berghoff bar, which gave male reporters a leg up when covering the nearby Federal Building beat back in the 1960s. *Gulp, again: We finally were permitted to belly up to the bar for a cold St. Patrick's brew in 1969 . . . and, as I recall, it was the first and one of the last times I did. A Crowe call ... Fire 'em? Now comes word via the Big Apple press that Nestor Estrada, the hotel clerk who had a phone thrown at him by actor Russell Crowe, was fired just before Christmas. A call to Estrada's attorney was not returned. Spin cycle ... Watch for Dave Bayless, former head of Chicago Police News Affairs under top cops Terry Hillard and Phil Cline, to join PR firm Res Publica Group as a vice president. Bang. Bang ... Vice President Dick Cheney's quail-hunting incident has given rein to free enterprise: A "You Don't Know Dick" doll, complete with shotgun and grimace, is being hawked for $29.95 by HeroBuilders.com. There ya go. Sneedlings ... Today's birthdays: Robert Conrad, 71; Harry Belafonte, 79; Ron Howard, 52; Phil Krone, 65; Roger Daltrey, 62, and Don Lemon, priceless.
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