Bishop Accountability
	Letter on Priests' Activism By the Sister of a NY Survivor January 21, 2004 From my standpoint as the sister of a survivor, any collective action on the part of priests regarding their rights and grievances has to be placed in the context of broader issues: (1) justice for victims/survivors, (2) the establishment of a just, effective, transparent process of dealing with abuse and its effects, and (3) steps toward authentic reform of governance that includes the involvement of all Catholics, lay and clerical. If the NY priests are pressuring the Cardinal only in terms of their own rights and grievances and are doing so in ways that are self-serving and harmful to victims, then I cannot support them. If their demands center on the protection of priests and the re-assertion of the clerical status quo, then I cannot support them. If they oppose full transparency in the process and the direct involvement of lay people, then I cannot support them. The priests who signed the letter want a meeting with the Cardinal. Cardinal Egan meets a least annually with all the priests of the diocese and I know for a fact that he has had repeated private meetings with at least one of the accused priests. Yet, Cardinal Egan has refused absolutely to meet with any victims or their families. These priests are speaking collectively about the need for dialogue. Yet, to my knowledge, the priests of NY have not collectively spoken out in support of victims; they have not collectively made public their concerns, let alone their remorse, for the harm done to victims and their families; they have not addressed, collectively, issues regarding their own responsibility and accountability. Even on a private level, very few priests in the diocese have been willing to contact my brother or my parents to express pastoral, personal concern. While the rights of priests may well be being ignored in the NY diocese, the fact is, priests have rights according to canon law, rights that victims/survivors do not have (e.g., the right to canonical representation in a canonical trial). We need to retain clarity regarding who the real victims are. If priests want to act collectively in response to the sexual abuse scandal, they must do so in ways that promote justice for victims of sexual abuse. Short of this, their cause lacks moral legitimacy.
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