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Les Femmes 1216 Mill Road Woodstock, VA 22664 Your Excellency: Enclosed is a letter I sent this morning to Mrs. Jennifer Alvaro, Victim Assistance Coordinator, about implementation of the VIRTUS program for adults and children. Some of her comments at the April 21 meeting for DRE leaders have caused grave concern among parents and teachers. Since Mrs. Alvaro is a member of your staff, one presumes she is representing your views and expressing the official position of the diocese. Is that, in fact, the case? Mrs. Alvaro said that with regard to sexual child abuse, homosexuality is not the problem. Do you share Mrs. Alvaro’s view, Your Excellency? Since the current efforts to create “safe environments” is a response to the child sexual abuse problem in the Church, is the diocesan position that homosexuality was not the problem? Do you disagree with the findings of the bishops’ National Review Board that, “[A]ny evaluation of the causes and context of the current crisis must be cognizant of the fact that more than eighty percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature?” Mrs. Alvaro also said, “In fact, children are safer with homosexuals than with heterosexuals." Do you share Mrs. Alvaro’s view? Is the diocesan position that children are safer with homosexuals than heterosexuals? If yes, will the diocese hire homosexuals for positions where they will have contact with our children? Will the diocese allow known homosexual priests to have contact with our children? Will the diocese allow homosexual candidates to enter the seminary? Your Excellency, I’m very concerned about the diocese’s bureaucratic response to the child sexual abuse problem which is relying primarily on secular sociological approaches rather than Church teaching. According to Kathleen McChesney, Executive Director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection, to whom I spoke in March, the bishops’ Charter does NOT mandate classroom programs for children. The Church teaches that this is a parental prerogative. Mindful of parents’ grave concerns over the child sexual abuse crisis, you will understand our desire for clarification of these matters as soon as possible. Thank you for an early response. Please be assured of my prayers during my daily devotions and at the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Sincerely in Christ,
Mary Ann Kreitzer Copy to: |