An open letter to Bernard Cardinal Law

February 25, 2002

Dear Cardinal Law,

As you are aware, many people who donate money to the Boston Archdiocese are concerned about how their donations have been or will be used in relation to the sexual abuse scandal. Some past donors have said they will withhold future donations. Other people have said they will support their local parish but not the archdiocese. I have these concerns as well, but realized I do not have enough information to make a sound decision. I want to do what is right, but do not yet know how to do that. Therefore, I request the following information from the Boston Archdiocese.

• A full accounting of all archdiocese funds from 1970 to the present. The accounting should cover all income and expenses, with detailed information about the source or destination of each item. The accounting should be conducted and signed by an outside Certified Public Accountant. If specific line items in the accounting cover payments to sexual abuse victims who have requested anonymity, the line item can state that it is a payment for sexual abuse but omit the victim’s name.
  
  
• A copy of all Boston Archdiocese insurance policies relevant to liability for sexual abuse. Some media reports have suggested these policies are limited to fixed amounts per year or to only certain years. If this is true, then new claims for sexual abuse may not be covered by insurance policies and may force the archdiocese to use general funds for these settlements.
  
  
• A signed statement by an outside CPA about the likely effects of bankruptcy on the archdiocese. You have stated that no donations (other than those earmarked as such) have been or will be used to pay victims of sexual abuse. I am concerned whether this promise can be kept during bankruptcy. If the Boston Archdiocese is running out of money, and all insurance resources have been exhausted, will the archdiocese be forced to spend other funds for these claims? While you have not stated publicly that you are concerned about bankruptcy, this is a realistic possibility given the large number of sexual abuse claims.

Let me stress that I am not saying I will withhold future donations from the Boston Archdiocese. I am asking for a full accounting of archdiocese moneys, however, so that I can make a personal determination about future support. This decision is particularly important to me because I recently made a pledge to your Promise For Tomorrow fund. It is reasonable for me to request information relevant to the use of that money.

Finally, it is important to note that I am not asking for private financial information about someone else or someone else’s organization. The Boston Archdiocese is I and thousands of people like me – all of the people in the Boston area who fund the archdiocese. Our money has paid the salaries of the priests who abused children and the salaries of the archdiocese staff members who protected those priests. We have paid for the insurance policies that have paid the victims. And we have paid for the lawyers who helped keep much of this quiet.

Each of us has a moral responsibility to choose our actions, including where our money goes and how it is used. This is one of the fundamental teachings of Christianity: we each have a responsibility to do what is right and cannot cede that decision to someone else. If we do not exercise this responsibility, we are part of the problem and part of the support system that enables sexual abuse and its painful aftereffects. We need full financial disclosure so that we can make a moral judgment about the archdiocese’s handling of the sexual abuse cases and our future support for the archdiocese.

Sincerely,

Charles Connell

Bedford, MA