NEWTON, Mass., April 211, 2011 – Voice of the Faithful, the worldwide organization working for Roman Catholic Church reform, views as disgraceful the Vatican’s recent appointment of Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, as special envoy to the bicentennial celebration of the birth of St. John Nepomuceno Neumann taking place in Prachatitz, Czech Republic, on June 18, 2011.
“Like Cardinal Bernard Law, formerly of the Archdiocese of Boston, who was appointed archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome after the clergy sexual abuse scandal drove him out of Boston, Cardinal Rigali is being rewarded instead of being censured for overseeing a diocese harboring such heinous crimes as those reported in Philadelphia by a grand jury this past February,” said Dan Bartley, VOTF president.
In 1851, when St. John Neumann took up his new post as bishop of Philadelphia, his birthday fell on Passion Sunday. Now during Holy Week in 2011, Bartley concluded, we have to wonder what the sainted man, whose piety was renowned, would think of the scandal that occurred during his successor’s tenure.
Voice of the Faithful
Voice of the Faithful is a worldwide movement of concerned mainstream Roman Catholics working to support survivors of clergy sexual abuse, support priests of integrity and shape structural change within the Church. More information is at https://www.votf.org.
Contact:
Nick Ingala, 781-559-3360, 617-291-3495 Cell
nickingala@votf.org