VOTF member Julie Rafferty sent a letter to Boston Globe religion writer Michael Paulson urging him to look into the credibility of Chicago’s Cardinal George

I was surprised to read your quote from Cardinal George in today's paper:  "I stated publicly that there was no priest in ministry in Chicago who had against him a substantiated claim of sexual abuse of a minor. That statement was true when I made it and it is true now."’

As you are no doubt aware, Cardinal George protected credibly accused pedophile priests in the Chicago archdiocese as recently as 2006 (Fr. Daniel McCormack and another priest).  A deposition detailing this was released in Chicago a couple of weeks ago as part of a settlement with a number of survivors.  The Delaware priest situation occurred in 2003, I believe.

I think you've got a real story here if you choose to pursue it -- that Cardinal George, the head of the US Council of Catholic Bishops, is still lying and covering up TODAY to the media if he thinks you won't follow-up on the details of what he did when.

There is a movement afoot in Chicago and nationwide to have Cardinal George removed.  The Boston Globe has a history and tradition of being at the forefront of unearthing this kind of cover-up for all to see in Boston.  Now we see that the head of all the bishops nationwide is also in big-time denial. I hope you will follow-up on this story.

Below are links that you may find helpful:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cardinal-george-abuseaug17,0,3082885.story

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_/ai_n26695747

http://www.archchicago.org/c_s_abuse/
Deposition081208/statement.htm
(link to deposition itself)

http://www.votf.org/change/index.html

Julie Rafferty