Call for resignation

National Catholic Reporter, August 15, 2003

* As a retired New York City police officer, I find it hard to believe that none of the leaders of the Boston archdiocese who transferred predator priests to other parishes and other states will be held accountable for what sounds like criminal negligence to me. But thanks to Attorney General [Thomas] Reilly's detailed report, the sins and crimes of Boston archdiocesan leaders are now common knowledge.

As a Catholic, I believe it is now up to us. The men who escaped criminal charges because of legal technicalities in Massachusetts were all promoted and many remain in positions of power and honor, like Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., Bishop John McCormack of Manchester, N.H., Bishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, Bishop Robert Banks of Green Bay, Wis....

If these men are not honorable enough--or ashamed enough--to resign their positions, we must hold them accountable and demand their resignations.

Easier said than done? Of course. But we know that Cardinal Bernard Law, after putting the archdiocese of Boston through a year of hell, resigned his position because 51 courageous priests wrote a letter requesting his resignation and thousands of outraged parishioners withheld funds from archdiocesan activities.

Now it is time for Catholics in New York and Manchester and other dioceses led by disgraced leaders to stop contributing money, and it is time for priests in those dioceses to speak the truth to power, just as 51 priests did in the Boston archdiocese last year.

The following line from a June 6 New York Times editorial regarding the resignation of two editors of that paper also applies to the Catholic church: "The welfare of a great institution is always more important than the careers of the people who run it."

EILEEN M. FORD

Rockport, Mass.

* Thank you for putting the information out on the table and saying it as it should be said to McCormack, Daily, Banks, Murphy and Hughes: Do the right thing--resign and don't hide behind the law (NCR, Aug. 1).

These men sully the good names of those righteous, conscious bishops who are holy leaders, and frustrate the laity who want to remain faithful to the church.

NORMA HAWKINSON

Green Cove Springs, Fla.