On August 25th, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski will succeed Archbishop Robert Carlson as head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Here are some...

• Issues that need to be addressed by
• Questions that need to be asked of

...the new Archbishop of St. Louis.

SPOTLIGHT

By way of background, let me first touch on SPOTLIGHT.

My involvement in the Catholic sex abuse crisis flows DIRECTLY out of the events portrayed in the movie SPOTLIGHT.

• SPOTLIGHT and Me

The end of the movie led, just a few weeks later, to the publication of an article that named my abuser.

The problem is that I suspect people are under a number of misconceptions about the impact the events detailed in the movie SPOTLIGHT had on the Catholic Church as a whole.

Versus just Boston.

Because of how the Catholic Church is organized, the impact of SPOTLIGHT was extremely limited outside of Boston.

• SPOTLIGHT and Since

 That's in large part because the Pope failed to get involved in fixing the Catholic Church and the system as a whole.

What's worse, when something was finally done, namely the passage of VOS ESTIS LUX MUNDI -- which was sold as a survivors bill of rights -- the Pope has refused to enforce it.

So VERY little has changed in St. Louis, at least.

VOS ESTIS

Will the Archdiocese of St. Louis start -- actually -- abiding by VOS ESTIS, the Pope's de facto bill of rights for survivors.

Meeting With +Rozanski

I'd like to meet with Archbishop Rozanski and inform him of the plight and treatment of survivors in ArchStL.

Will he meet with me?

Or will the Stonewalling -- and worse -- continue.

IRCP

Will Archbishop Rozanski commit to the creation of an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program as other Catholic (arch)dioceses have?

Review Board

There are numerous problems with the Review Board of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Including the fact that survivors aren't allowed to speak to it. Will that change?

Abuse of the Abused

Will +Rozanski end the Abuse of the Abused by ArchStL?

Smear Campaign

Will +Rozanski end the Smear Campaign that the Archdiocese of St. Louis has continued to wage against me?

…when asked to comment on O’Leary’s account, “The archdiocese’s record of Mr. O’Leary’s allegations are significantly different; however, due to a court order as well as our own ethical obligation, we are not at liberty to discuss Mr. O’Leary’s case.” Jones also said the information O’Leary shared initially changed multiple times by the time he broke off communication with the Office of Child and Youth Protection.

What About Survivors?

There's no question that Catholic children are safer.

But what about survivors?

Why does ArchStL do NOTHING to help survivors?

Pledge to Heal

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is all-in on the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops Promise to Protect children.

But it ignores -- including on its web site -- the Pledge to Heal.

Promise to Protect is featured prominently. But there's no mention of Pledge to Heal.

Why?

Will that change?