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=> Re: Catholic Church at its BEST

Re: Catholic Church at its BEST
Posted by Tony (Guest) - Monday, October 17 2005, 1:58:58 (CEST)
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The things they should have done, the things they should have seen, these are the pebbles these people can never seem to shake out of their shoes.

One day, long into his own search for answers, Billy thought to question his and Steve's youngest brother, a man of few words. The littlest Sanchez had been so small when Hagenbach was in their lives. But anything was possible. Months later, his little brother told him that something had happened when the priest was staying at the Sanchez house. When Barbara Sanchez went shopping, Hagenbach preyed on a 5-year-old.

So how many more are out there that we don't know about? And what is the church doing?" Barbara Sanchez asks. She says the question keeps her up nights.

After the news from Boston broke and before he told a soul his secret, Cisco had a similar fear, for children. Hoping to help stop future abuse, he wrote a letter to "Esteemed Cardinal" Mahony that told a secret he said he'd kept for 18 years for fear that "God would punish me for talking."

"After Mass and greeting the congregation, Father Hagenbach would return to his room, where I would be watching television and eating chocolates. He would sit next to me and begin to kiss me on my lips," Cisco wrote, beginning a graphic description of the abuse.

He said he had forgiven Hagenbach. Then he made his demands. He asked the cardinal to publish the names of accused priests. He asked him to give those names to law enforcement. He also asked that abusers be defrocked.

"I implore you for the sake of God, his Holy Church on earth and the lives of innocent children all over the world, do something NOW!" he wrote before signing "Yours in Christ" above his name.

The church's response was dated the day before the cardinal met with Billy. It was not particularly personal. It was not from Mahony. And, although it expressed "deep sorrow," it did not hold the church responsible for Cisco's suffering.

In fact, the gist of the letter from Msgr. Craig A. Cox, then the archdiocese's vicar for clergy, was that the church had not received a complaint about Hagenbach until 2001 [from Billy], and that because the priest was dead, he was beyond punishment.

"I am grateful that you have also come forward, so that we can know the truth and learn from it," he wrote.

As for publishing names, Cox said the church had reason not to, in part to help the police do their job without publicity.

Cisco had been waiting expectantly.

"After I got that letter, I was like, these people aren't going to help me. They could care less," he said. "All we ever wanted from Mahony was who, what, when, where and why, not how much. It was never a question of how much."

*

Steve's wife had converted to Catholicism. Now neither she nor Steve believes.

Billy says he has cut out the middlemen: He speaks straight to God.

It hurts to leave the faith you grew up with, but most of the men and their loved ones have done so.

They blame the church's attitude.

Two months after she said she didn't believe his story, Cisco's mother went to him, weeping, begging forgiveness. But she was never the same after. She was wracked not just with guilt but with loathing for the church she had once loved.



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