Via Facsimile & U.S. Mail (Confirmations Available Upon Request)
President George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington DC 20500 Fax: (202) 456-2461
Representative J. Dennis Hastert U.S. Congress, Speaker District Office 27 N. River Street Batavia, Illinois 60510 Fax: (630) 406-1808
Senator Ted Stevens U.S. Senate, President Pro Tem District Office 222 W. 7th Avenue, #2 Anchorage, Alaska 99513 Fax: (907) 258-9305
Representative John A. Boehner U.S. Congress, Majority Leader District Office 7969 Cincinatti-Dayton Road, Suite B West Chester, OH 45069 Fax: (513) 779-5315
Senator Bill Frist U.S. Senate, Majority Leader District Office 28 White Bridge Road, #211 Nashville, TN 37205 Fax: (615) 352-9411 (POSTED ON WEBSITE- Mailed not Faxed)
Representative Nancy Pelosi U.S. Congress, Minority Leader District Office 450 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, CA Fax: (415) 861-1670
Senator Harry Reid U.S. Senate, Minority Leader District Office 333 Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas, NV 89101 Fax: (702) 388-5030
The Select Committee on Ethics U.S. Senate 220 Hart Building Washington, DC 20510 Fax: (202) 224-7416
Re: Request for Immediate Government Intervention, Protections of Children, Adults, Due Process, and Administration of Justice Guaranteed All Americans
Dear Honorable Elected Government Leaders:
As a Catholic wife, mother and concerned American, this letter is sent with the hope that as elected government leaders, you will investigate research and recommend IMMEDIATE federal and/or state government intervention in matters relating to the clergy sex abuse crisis that erupted in the United States in 2002.
The passage of California's SB 1779, also known as California's 2003 Sex Abuse Law, resulted in the filing of hundreds of civil lawsuits by survivors of clergy sex abuse crimes in California courts. The passage of the legislation also included a retroactive filing window for past crimes relating to the sex abuse of children, committed by employees of religious institutions. California's 2003 Sex Abuse Law, like many other landmark government decisions in our country's history, not only returned the administration of justice to hundreds of victims of past sex abuse crimes but today, provides public records that reveal the violations of the privileges relating to freedom of religion in the U.S. Freedom of religion never allowed sex abuse crimes by employees, failures to report sex abuse crimes and/or abusing our country's court system to gain tactical advantage or chill public participation in matters of public safety.
If corrective action is not addressed by elected government officials, with the authority and resources to take immediate corrective action, matters relating to the protections of children and adults will be placed in "limbo", sitting in courts nationwide, awaiting judicial determinations. During these delays, the protections of children, adults, families and mandated reporters will be placed at risk. This is a matter of public safety and corrective action will serve the interests of the general public.
Traditional civil rights include those rights that are secured to individuals and are basic to the U.S. system of government. They include the right to vote and the right to equal treatment, without discrimination on the basis of race, religion or national origin, in such areas as education, housing, employment, public accommodations and the administration of justice. Men who abuse minors are called "Slayers of the Soul". To abuse or neglect a child, or to deprive a child of a separate identity and joy in life, is to commit soul murder. (Soul Murder, Yale University Press, 1989).
As an amateur writer, mother, wife and legal secretary for the past 25 years, my passion for the courage of clergy sex abuse victims, their families and mandated reporters, who made a choice to protect children, before their own career security and ego, has evolved over the past 5 years.
My husband, Michael, is a former Catholic high school teacher and coach, who was forced to make a career change without due process of the law. He will soon complete his Masters Degree in Special Education, his new-found passion. Our children, Nicole, Rachel, Brent and Laurel are a gift to us and all who meet them. We pray our children and the world's children will witness society correcting the wrongs committed against innocent children and families. Without justice, there will never be peace; without peace, faith and our country's laws are empty.
