Letters To the Editor
Send yours to pthorp.ed@votf.org
VOTF member's letter published in the Akron
Beacon Journal, Ohio:
Dear Senators Spada, Jacobson and Fedor,
As a long standing board member of the national non-profit
organization S.E.S.A.M.E. - Stop Educator Sexual Abuse,
Misconduct, and Exploitation, I wholeheartedly support
the passage of SB 17 for the protection of our children.
Child sexual abuse has been and is at epidemic levels
in our United States. Ohio has a reputation nationally
of being a strong state legislatively in regard to child
protection. Still, we know more can be done especially
to protect children in our schools, public and private,
and in our churches and community organizations. Every
adult holding a role of sacred trust, while working,
overseeing, and caring for minors, must be responsible
and accountable for their safety. Thank you for your
endeavor to create legislation to further protect our
children from those who would do them harm.
John M. Seryak, M.Ed.
S.E.S.A.M.E. board member, Author: Dear Teacher,
If You Only Knew! (Adults Recovering From Child Sexual
Abuse Speak To Educator) A suggestion for some humor
in In the Vineyardwas accompanied by the following
list of "catches" from various church bulletins:
- The
sermon this morning: "Jesus walks on water." This
evening's sermon: "Searching for Jesus."
- Please
pray for those who are sick of our community.
- Don't
let worry kill you. Let the Church help.
- For
those who have children and don't know it, we have
a nursery downstairs.
- Next
Thursday evening, there will be try-outs for the choir.
They need all the help they can get.
- The
sermon tonight is on "What is Hell?" Come early and
listen to the choir.
- The
ladies of the parish have cast-off clothing of all
kinds. They may be seen on Friday afternoons in the
basement.
- The
Low Self-Esteem support group meets Friday evenings
at 7 pm. Please use the back door.
From VOTF Worcester, MA Dan Dick:
"If there is one thing that President Bush has got
right, it is recognition of the worldwide drive for
self-determination, democratic processes, and constitutional
government.
That drive is not only being expressed in secular
societies but, increasingly, in theocracies where a
small minority of self-selected males has held power
for far too long. The sex abuse scandals in Roman Catholicism
and in the Greek Orthodox Church, and the archaic and
cruel treatment of women in other traditions reflect
the widening cracks in a system of governance that is
way out of step with where the rest of the world is
rightly heading.
Our local diocese may be awakening to this threat
to its former position of trust and its dwindling authority
over others. The renewed emphasis on the claimed role
of the celibate priest in incarnating the body and blood
of Christ, the exhortations to departed Catholics to
'come home,' and a day-long conference for Catholic
men are reactions to the fact that the structure of
this theocratic church is out of step with the legitimate
strivings of peoples of both genders who demand to be
free of this arbitrary and male- only type of governance.
Those churches and societies who, on the other hand,
welcome democracy and equality of men and women are
thriving. Maybe, one day, the theocracies will see the
light and join the community of the rest of us."
From Margaret Cook:
"I have just finished reading your book Keep the
Faith, Change the Church. It was most interesting
and moving. My husband and I have been Catholics for
84 years each, so we have lived it the way it was and
the way it has become. What it has become is not good.
We have been upset with what has happened to our Church
but, until we read your book, we believed there was
no hope. However, we see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank you. We would like to know more about you and
how to join you."
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