Dozens of protestors marched outside the offices of Cardinal Justin
Rigali on Friday demanding the Catholic Church do more to protect
children from abuse.
The noon rally attracted several different
groups who support survivors of sexual abuse by priests.
They were
joined today by a priest and a nun.
Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser
reported from outside the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul that in the
weeks since that second grand jury report on abuse and cover-ups these
groups have gotten quite a bit larger.
The protests seem to be
gaining momentum and getting more and more organized as the number of
suspended and criminally charged priests grows.
Protestors from
"Catholics 4 Change" and "Voice of the Faithful" crowded the sidewalks
outside the headquarters of the Archdiocese at noon demanding an end to
what they say is a cover-up of sex abuse by priests.
"Children must be protected as soon as possible," said Susan Matthews, founder of "Catholics 4 Change."
Buddy
Schmidt from Northeast Philadelphia walked the line, focusing his
attention on Rigali and his handling of the latest priest-abuse scandal.
"The
cardinal is the one concealing the criminal priests, the pedophiles, so
he is the guilty party here. He is the one who has to step forward.
Actually, he needs to step down."
Others called on state lawmakers to pass new laws to protect children from abuse and predator priests.
"One
is to abolish the statute of limitation for sexual abuse, for future
criminal and civil suits," said one woman wearing a billboard sign with
the numbers of the bills in the state legislature.
Many
protestors carried pictures of children , insisting it's time for
Catholics to ban together and force church leaders to protect children
first, not the clergy and the church's image.
"I am horrified and
humiliated to see what our church has not done, how they have covered
this up for so many years," Fr. Michael Lipareli said.
"We should not put up with this cover-up, which is continuing to this very day," said Sister Maureen, another protestor.
Schmidt
also said the church will lose his support on Sunday, saying, "I can't
continue putting money in the basket anymore and support this."
Protestors
said they will continue to pressure state lawmakers to expand the
statute of limitations for sexual abuse of children both on the criminal
and the civil side.
They will continue to be heard and will not go
away.
Both the reverend and nun at Friday's protest said they
would like to see members of the clergy.
They said there are lots of
good members of the clergy who are being painted with a broad brush, and
they'd like to see more of them join in the protests and express their
opinions publicly, Schratwieser reported.