Catholic Organization Issues Demand Letter to Archdiocese and Vatican

Below is a press release regarding a Demand Letter that was recently sent to the Ardiocese of Los Angeles and The Vatican demanding full disclosure and an accounting of the finances relating to the Church's handling of the sex abuse scandal.

(PRWEB) February 21, 2004 --Catholics for Truth and Transparency Issues Demands on the Vatican/LA Archdiocese.

Catholics for Truth & Transparency (CTT) -- a Los Angeles-based non-profit association of concerned Catholics and friends, whose membership includes lawyers, physicians, and businesspeople, among others -- has presented a detailed set of demands on the Vatican and the LA Archdiocese, in general demanding full disclosure of all the facts and circumstances surrounding the sex scandal and its cover-up that have shaken and demoralized the Church since 2002.

CTT is demanding, among other things, that the LA Archdiocese declare openly that the Churchs Canon Law, Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, which regulates the handling of complaints of sexual abuse be declared void and of no effect in California or any other United States jurisdiction where priests are mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse. The Canon Law under attack requires priests to report child abuse to the Vatican alone and to otherwise maintain secrecy while the Church conducts an investigation. CTT says this is illegal and tantamount to a criminal conspiracy.

In addition, CTT is also making several demands which are designed to create transparency in the financial affairs of the LA Archdiocese, noting that the Churchs recent claims of a financial crisis are not credible. It has requested detailed documentation as to the source and destination of funds solicited for charitable purposes so as to know how much of the Churchs resources have been diverted to defending or covering up or investigating priests accused of sexual abuse. CTT notes that this is a matter amenable to redress through the equitable power of the courts pursuant to various statutes including the California Business and Professions Code §§ 172000 et seq., in order to prohibit these unlawful activities from continuing in California.

CTT gave the Church ten days to respond to its letter. The organization is prepared to proceed to Federal District Court to end once and for all any confusion the Church may have regarding allegiance to its canon law or the California Penal and Civil Code.

CTT is quite serious that if its demands are not met that it will proceed to court -- probably in the Federal District Court for the Central District of California -- to address these matters.

Although it was the intention of CTT not to release the letter until the ten day response period mandated by the letter had expired, a full copy of the letter was apparently leaked, and the full text is now circulating the net and can be found -- among other places -- at:

http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/

Contact:
David Martin
323-936-9956