November 10, 2020
Heal Our Church Condemns Hierarchy Following McCarrick Report
We, at healourchurch.org, believe that the recent release by the Vatican of the long awaited McCarrick Report only serves to underscore the absolute need for transparency and reform in the Catholic Church. The shocking and dissolute behavior by Cardinal McCarrick, which was ignored and then covered up by the highest levels of the Church, demonstrates yet again that the hierarchy considers themselves outside the traditional rules of accountability.
As victims continue to come forward in the Seattle Archdiocese, the recurring theme from the chancery that ‘we are doing enough and these are older cases’ has been and is no longer credible or acceptable. The Archbishop’s failure to engage with a responsible lay group like Heal Our Church should concern not only Catholics but the public at large as well. Only through access to the Church files by a lay led group of faithful, which tells the whole story of why this sexual abuse story continues and seeks truth and reconciliation, can the healing begin. The dismissive attitude and disrespect it signals is dangerous and alarming while maintaining the very environment that created and protected McCarrick.
We say ‘Enough is Enough’! The chancery holds those files in trust for us. By denying access they are complicit in withholding the truth and are preventing the faithful from having an independent voice in their Church.
