Correspondence
C O R R E S P O N D E N C E Targeting the 'Times' Your December 19, 2003, editorial ("Waiting") refers to a November 25, 2003, New York Times story about Robert P. Scamardo, formerly general...
...The editorial asks: "How true Scamardo's accusations are about the Galveston-Houston Diocese, and how accurately might they reflect what is still going on in dioceses across the country...
...Continued on page 4) Commonweal 2 January 30, 2004 li;Ff.:A?'Y #iCr~Fi::4S!FA,Fii;+Y~Yr f r.;t;3i...
...Close encounters John Garvey's tribute to Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Anthony Bloom ("Encounters of the First Kind," December 5, 2003) was beautifully writ-ten and deeply personal...
...What is the church's—specifically an ordinary's—role...
...You note that the archbishop is widely respected (which he is), and that the abuse and failure to report did not occur on his watch...
...It is unfortunate that the bishops did not emulate Worcester Bishop Daniel Reilly's genial way out of the domestic-partner and gay-marriage impasse: "If the goal," he said to the legislative committee hearing on be-half of the Catholic bishops of Massachussetts, "is to look at individual benefits and determine who should be eligible beyond spouses, then we will join the discussion...but not to change the public institution of marriage and deny the unique public value of the spousal bond between a man and a woman...
...Nevertheless, it is possible that Pilarczyk agreed to a deal in order to pre-vent other facts from coming to light...
...The family traveled to Spain, France, Austria, and Yugoslavia before settling in Paris...
...Scamardo also chastised a local television station that did a follow-up on the Times article for "failing to acknowledge the positive steps Bishop Fiorenza has taken...
...CATHERINE ENDICOTT Seattle, Wash...
...The forthcoming report from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice will surely cast more light on the ex-tent of the sexual-abuse problem...
...Reading Pope John Paul's letters and encyclicals, I was often confused by his contradictory statements...
...As Scamardo's former supervisors, the bishop and chancellor chose not to violate our diocesan policy of respecting the privacy of lay employees by not discussing employee issues with themedia...
...REV...
...The editorial also notes that "it is a lawyer's duty to represent his client—even the church—aggressively...
...LARRY N. LORENZONI, SDB San Francisco, Calif...
...One wonders if you think there are different standards for "respected" members of the hierarchy or whether all are called to the same level of transparency...
...It did, however, raise questions about the media coverage of the scandal...
...The editors reply: Robert A. Nunz raises all the right questions...
...ROBERT C. RHODES Queens Village, N.Y...
...How is this different from the "hardball" that you complain about...
...He once described himself as technically French, though he said "I belong to the generation which is Russian at heart...
...Increasingly unemployed young people are inheriting their parents' debts and can be expected to someday rebel...
...Scamardo has said that, at least in one instance, he was either misquoted or very much misunderstood by Times reporter Laurie Goodstein...
...I applaud Commonweal for realizing that just be-cause something appears in the New York Times does not necessarily guarantee that it is fit to print...
...The Times story states that following his return to work from residential treatment, Scamardo "felt awkward....While he had been a frequent visitor to Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza's office, now he could not get in...
...Trouble in Cincinnati In your December 19, 2003, editorial discussing the plea by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati to five misdemeanor counts of failing to re-port abuse of children between 1978 and 1982, you hardly mention what was elsewhere reported as a historic, albeit tragic, event...
...F r ,t;~a% CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 2) Bishops & gay marriage Your December 5, 2003, editorial ("Premature Judgments") notes that the U.S...
...Contact us: www.smcvt.edu/gradprograms gradpro grams @ smcvt...
...Conference of Catholic Bishops has endorsed a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage...
...Maybe he wants to keep the liberals happy on social issues and the conservatives happy on sexual issues...
...Goodstein never asked the diocese to respond to the allegation that Bishop Fiorenza had refused to see Scamardo...
...The old vote...
...When she called, she only asked for a quote about "Robert Scamardo as a person and employee...
...June 28 - July 16 FROM JUNE 28 – AUGUST 6 Commonweal 4 January 30, 2004...
...Over 40 years in service to the Academy and the Church C i lia '+Ob c LUCIEN RICHARD, O.M.I...
...In the United States, medical care consumes more than 14 percent of our Gross Domestic Product, an amount equal to the total economy of booming Ireland...
...Scamardo told me that he later in-formed a Houston Chronicle reporter that Fiorenza never made him feel unwelcome or refused to see him...
...Missfelder advocates curtailment of hip operations for the elderly and of other hugely expensive procedures for those over sixty-five, many of which could be unnecessary for the patient, but profitable for the orthopedic surgeon, the hospital, and the medical bureaucracy...
...Re: Andrew Lustig's article on Medicare costs versus other social needs ("In Denial," December 19, 2003...
...Had we known the substance of the allegations contained in the story, we certainly would have responded with the facts...
...Newspaper and TV accounts cannot, by their very nature, tell the whole truth...
...Without greater transparency, however, the suspicion will loom that minimizing costs and protecting the institution will supersede "a full return to the promise of the gospel...
...Should the lawyer control the process or the bishop (as Archbishop O'Malley did in Boston...
...Guess who gets the goodies regardless of merit, and who may soon find themselves the target of a generational rebellion...
...Eventually, with the help of my ethics professor, I came to understand that the pope adheres to an essentialist philosophy on sexual ethics and a personalist philosophy on social ethics...
...Cafeteria Catholic...
...C O R R E S P O N D E N C E Targeting the 'Times' Your December 19, 2003, editorial ("Waiting") refers to a November 25, 2003, New York Times story about Robert P. Scamardo, formerly general counsel for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston...
...July 19 - August 6 Ti eti PHIL KEANE, S.S...
...Study in Vermont...
...Elderly & in the way...
...Young Anthony was a stateless refugee until 1937...
...Does the bishop act like any other manager or is he held to a different standard...
...ROBERT A. NUNZ Los Alamos, N.Mex...
...Bloom's father was a member of the Russian Imperial Diplomatic Corps and his mother was the sister of the composer Alexander Scriabin...
...When Scamardo informed the bishop that he needed to take a month off for residential treatment, Fiorenza offered to pay his full salary and benefits and continued to do so for the nearly three months Scamardo was in residential treatment...
...July 19 - August 6 RAYMOND PATTERSON July 19 - August 6 ROBERT KINAST July 26 - August 6 ~Yii~ir.'tLE>~•t:[;?iri:eXi:k'X'i~,;j SAINT T MICHAEL'S '&% COLLEGE GRADUATE THEOLOGY AND PASTORAL MINISTRY fhe LESLIE HOPPE, O.F.M...
...Francis Dorff's letter to the editor (Correspondence, December 5, 2003) on Pope John Paul's personalist philosophy reminded me of my recent studies in theology...
...Shouldn't Catholics expect their leaders to follow deposed National Re-view Board chairman Frank Keating's advice that they listen to their faithful rather than to their lawyers...
...ANNETTE GONZALES TAYLOR Houston, Tex...
...At the time of the revolution, his father was serving in Persia...
...Subsequent to the plea, more suits have been filed (about old cases), and victim groups have been critical of the archdiocese's approach to the statute of limitations...
...The writer is director of communications for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston...
...June 28 - July 16 l h~ rr0 WILFRID HARRINGTON, O.P...
...Those who are interested in learning more about this remarkable man might wish to read his testimony in We Believe in God (Westminister Press) edited by Rupert Davies, and an interview with him that serves as an introduction to Be-ginning to Pray (Paulist Press...
...A December 27, 2003, article in the New York Times reports on Philipp Missfelder, a German youth leader who claims that there is a "systematic abuse of Germany's welfare rules...
...June 28 - July 9 Join us for either two-week or three-week courses...
...His reason for doing so still isn't clear to me...
...BETTY A. THOMPSON New York, N.Y...
...The editorial did not suggest that Archbishop Pilarczyk or any other church leader was above such scrutiny...
...This summer...
...edu 802.654.2579 • fax 802.654.2610 RICHARD HARDY June 28 - July 16 MARY ELLEN SHEEHAN, I.H.M., S.T.D...
...the young don't...
...In fact, Bishop Fiorenza was very concerned about Scamardo...
Vol. 131 • January 2004 • No. 2
