The religious orders of men, the Jesuits in this case, are no better in the honesty, accountability and transparency departments than the bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States.,”This is a response to Eric Lombardi's Oct. 31 online-exclusive column, "Lack of action in Jesuit sexual abuse case speaks louder than words."

The religious orders of men, the Jesuits in this case, are no better in the honesty, accountability and transparency departments than the bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States. The Rev. Edward Schmidt, head of the Jesuits' Chicago Province, said in an earlier statement that the order learned of the allegations against the Jesuit McGuire on Oct. 12, but waited five days to notify law enforcement. This is not acceptable.

Schmidt can say with a straight face that, "we abhor any kind of abuse," but only recently ordered McGuire to "stop wearing clerical garb." This is unacceptable. The order received complaints about McGuire as early as 1969, according to trial testimony recently made public. What chutzpah!

Once again, a well-respected religious order has been outed for its handling of sexually abusive and pedophile priests. Why would anyone in their right mind believe anything such a group says? Their actions belie their words. The head of the Jesuits' Chicago Province couldn't say whether Jesuits are seeking to remove McGuire and Knoth from the priesthood. Why not?

The Rev. Kenneth Lasch, former pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Medham, N.J., put it sufficiently when he said of Schmidt, "There's no reason he can't say, and in fact, it's an outrage that he doesn't say." This kind of thing can be expected to go on and on and on unless or until there is a serious investigation.

After that there has to be some recourse to holding these abusers and their enabling institutions accountable for the crimes of the past. It is time to pass civil legislation of the type that the State of Delaware signed this past July 10 that allows for a window of two years for bringing forward past offenses so that victims can have their day in court and the records of complicit institutions can be made public.”,”Catherine Mary Henry is a resident of Havertown, Pa.”

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