In Friday's Letters to the editor
In Friday's Letters to the editor, two takes on Monday's Column One about halting efforts by the Catholic Church to commemorate its members abused by clergy.
Newport Beach's Joelle Casteix, Southwest Regional Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, writes:
When reading about the four or five memorials to the Catholic Church's ongoing clergy sex-abuse crisis, I was reminded of the old adage: "Actions speak louder than words."
Here in L.A., victims weren't consulted when Cardinal Roger Mahony was contemplating a chapel in tribute to abuse victims. Victims weren't notified or invited when the chapel was opened. And we weren't asked or notified when the chapel was rededicated to another purpose.
It reminds me of another Mahony action pattern: when victims, parents and Catholics aren't notified when dangerous men are purposely put in their neighborhoods, schools or parishes.
Mahony loves to talk about healing. But his talk rings hollow when his unilateral, self-serving actions exacerbate wounds instead of relieving them.
But Dave Pierre, of Downey, thinks the Church is the real victim:
Monuments are being built "to provide solace" to victims of abuse by clergy of the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, the author of a 2004 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education has reportedly stated that "the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests."
If she is proved correct, will the L.A. Unified School District put up a monument at the Belmont Learning Center for its victims of abuse by teachers? Or does our media and culture only care about abuse by Catholic priests? Do we really care about sexual abuse at all, or just the vocation of the abuser?
The Times revisits the terror attacks in Mumbai, featuring letters responding to this Op-Ed and this editorial, and airs views on the reshuffling of police personnel on the Westside. Also, readers question Dan Neil's Op-Ed arguing for the nationalization of General Motors and President Bush's proposed rule permitting doctors to refuse delivering treatment they find morally objectionable. Writes Donna Handy of Santa Barbara:
When it comes to women's reproductive health issues, everybody has a conscience and moral rules: President Bush, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, Catholic bishops, the Pope, the Taliban and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. But when it comes to a prescription for Viagra or Cialis, anything goes.
I would just love to find one pharmacist in the U.S. who would refuse to fill a prescription for Viagra or Cialis for a single guy.
2007 photo of Los Angeles' Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels by Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times.
As a survivor of the catholic corporation of Priest Sex abuse as a child. I am here to tell you there are over 5,000 preist across us possible more . The impact of being sexualy abused as a tiny child by a man whom claims to speak on Gods behalf and profess's to be of moral fiber is Devastating and damaging for Life . It is compacted to a more horriffic scale when persons in charge dismiss it as a mere fraction and continue to deni the lay people as well as the survivors respect enough to come clean and release the documents so as to be trasparent . This keep 's The public Dumbed Down with a false idea it is mimimal. When in fact it is not. MY life is forever been impacted with fractured relationships unable to trust those in authority those whom were or are supposed to make me feel secure cause me to cringe with horror . My Sons have been affected by what has happened to me because of my inability to continue in a faith with a once adored belife my faith was raped along with my body my soul was murdered and only at the ripe age of 50 has anyone listened even tho I told as a child. MAHONEY Is directly responsible for the farse having continued for treating the situration as threat to his throne istead of coming clean and releasing documents that would infact help the whole church heal . Instead the delays and leagal tactics of hidding the documents has further victimized us it is a spit in my face and the face of his own church's lay people . Let be honest now no other single instatution has such a pedophile history which repeatedly fallowed the same identical procedure of moving thier criminial 's which are employed by them as the catholic church has. While manipulating the Media Mahoney and his corportation hired a PR agency to assist in making his LOOK- GOOD aprear genuine . It is obvious Not enough has been done and not enough people are outraged by such sadisitic sexual violation of children in our America by catholic Priest or anyone . To many time's there are those whom discount the impact this kind of criminal activity has on our society as a whole .... Remember those children grow up and as adult are now dysfunctional more often than not . Waiting for someone to care enough to stop it all . WIll that be you? Or will you trun your back on our children's future too? DO YOUR PART Change the stature of limitation on sexual molestation of a child and watch how many Priest there really are!
Posted by: Cynthia Falter | December 07, 2008 at 03:57 PM
U.S. Constitution: Fourteenth Amendment — Rights Guaranteed Privileges and Immunities of Citizenship, Due Process and Equal Protection Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Therefore, Proposition 8 cannot be legal and must be declared unconstitutional.
Posted by: Franklin A Weston | December 05, 2008 at 11:05 AM