A Letter to the Archbishop

His Excellency, the Most Reverend Joseph W. Tobin

Archdiocese of Newark

171 Clifton Avenue

Newark, NJ 07104-0500

Dear Archbishop Tobin,

As lifelong, faithful Catholics it grieves us tremendously to write this letter to you. However, in light of the recent revelations regarding Cardinal McCarrick, we feel that this letter is necessary.

We originally did not want to believe that the allegations brought against the Church by investigative journalists in 2002 were true. How could shepherds of Christ’s faithful possibly behave in this way? These allegations stated that high level leaders in the Church were aware of predatory abusive homosexual behavior on the part on numerous parish priests. Instead of reporting such abusers to the civil authorities, these bishops transferred the offenders from one parish to another after “treatment” at miscellaneous psychiatric facilities. The abuse, which primarily began in the 1960s and 70s, continued until the scandal came to light sixteen years ago.

There were many public apologies in front of the cameras and in front of victims groups. Policies and procedures and other bureaucratic maneuverings were established ostensibly to resolve the problem of these predatory homosexual priests. Promises and private pay-outs were made, and the Church moved on.

But it really didn’t.

With the McCarrick revelations, it appears that the entire leadership in the Church is corrupted. To the average layman or laywoman, it now looks as if our bishops, our archbishops, and our cardinals do not really want to solve this problem. They do not want to rid the Church of this evil. Why? After sixteen years they cannot truly plead ignorance, can they? It’s being reported that McCarrick’s revolting lifestyle was an “open secret.” He was promoted from Newark to Washington DC and then elevated to cardinal. He was allowed to stay at a seminary in retirement. How could this have happened? It is also being reported that several priests protested McCarrick’s advancement at every stage and were rebuffed and hushed up.

Why?

Is it that our bishops do not want to do what is necessary to rid the Church of this festering cancer, or is it that they can’t do what is necessary? We’ve also seen it written that McCarrick is one of many, and that many, if not most, priests, bishops and cardinals are prone to blackmail. A cloud of fear has descended upon the Church hierarchy – fear of saying the right thing, fear of reporting what was known by who when it was known, fear of airing out these “open secrets.” Is this the case, Your Excellency? Can it be Church leadership has lost sight of its goal – to shepherd Christ’s people – and has now allowed itself to become complicit in the evil of a minority, if indeed it is a minority?

These are questions the laity want answered, and the longer it takes for honest answers to come forth, the worse Church leadership will appear in our hearts and minds.

It is clear that the evil of sexually active clerics preying upon and abusing those without power must be completely eliminated from the Church, and that our bishops and cardinals must do a complete reversal of their past behavior in order to do this. It may entail mass resignations. It may entail installing a special prosecutor to ferret out these evildoers. But it must be done and it must be done now.

Sadly, it is our conviction that until a visibly authentic change in direction regarding this scandal is manifested, it would be best for us to channel our discretionary charitable giving to other avenues. Until the Church makes progress towards a true repentance – metanoia – in thought, word, and deed to the problem of the McCarricks in the priesthood, until such a time, no further funds will come from our family. We will also encourage other faithful Catholics to divert their giving to more responsible charities to the best of our abilities.

Respectfully yours in Christ,

Mr. and Mrs. Hopper

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Letter to be mailed out and emailed to our Archbishop later today, with our real names of course.

Will post his response, if / when I receive one.

Feel free to customize and copy and send out to yours.