Possibly following the example of the open letter to the NCRV, two Dutch Catholics, Eric van den Berg (information scientist) and Frank Bosman (theologian) have published a press release in which they express their concern about the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Their initiative is called ‘Wij blijven katholiek’ (‘We remain Catholic’) and stresses the importance of trying to resolve the crisis by not leaving the Church, as a fair number of people have done in recent weeks.
Read the (Dutch) letter here, and sign it.
I signed it because I think it’s a good way of balancing the very skewed media reporting, and the vocal minority that uses their leaving the Church* as a way to protest. I also really appreciate the express desire to remain loyal to the Church, and await the conclusions of the independent investigation proposed by the bishops.
*Leaving the Church is not as easy as it sounds. Sure, the administrative side is quite normal – just a matter of removing one’s information from the books. But the sacraments can’t be removed. Once baptised or confirmed, always baptised or confirmed. And that is something many people forget.
In Caelo et in Terra 