5. The Diocesan law firm of Egan, Flanagan & Cohen should be replaced.
4. Throw away the Diocesan Playbook which enthrones corporation sole above all else. The Diocese should abandon corporation sole and move toward a federation of individually incorporated parishes and institutions.
3. The Catholic Observer should apologize for its slanted coverage about the settlement to the parishioners and to the Catholic Press Association. It should embrace professional journalism with a renewed commitment to the truth.
2. First, the Diocese should award the latest round of victims additional money to achieve parity with the victims of the first round.
Then, non-monetary demands for victim's rights should be embraced by Bishop McDonnell, especially:
a. - The Bishop should announce that he will not enforce the confidentiality provisions of any prior agreement with a sexual abuse claimant who now or in the future desires to make his/her claim public.
b. - Diocesan representatives should not refer to plaintiffs or other tort claimants and their claims as “alleged” victims, “alleged” survivors, or “alleged” claims.
c. - A list of credibly accused priests who worked in the Diocese should be placed on the Diocesan web site and kept there.
d. - The Bishop should publicize laicization procedures, and publish information about the following defrocked priests of the Diocese: Ronald Malboeuf, Richard Lavigne, Richard Meehan, Alfred Graves, and Edward Kennedy.
e. - The Bishop should disclose specific supervision and support plans for each credibly accused priest to assure safety in neighborhoods where these priests are living. (SNAP estimates that there are roughly a dozen such men living throughout the diocese among unsuspecting neighbors and getting little or no supervision.)
f. - The Bishop should publicly support statute of limitation reform by CORSAL, or explain why he believes it is not worthy of support.
g. - Diocesan financial reform should include:
1. yearly net worth statements in addition to operating budget statements
2. openness and transparency about payments to Bishop Dupre
3. openness and transparency about the "Clergy on Involuntary Leave" category
4. openness and transparency about the "Child Protection" category; for example, Bishop McDonnell should explain why he feels that payments to lawyers and payments for civil settlement costs qualify as "Child Protection"
and...........
1. Bishop McDonnell should establish a truth commission to end the silence about Bishop Thomas Dupre and work toward his rehabilitation within the Christian community.
