I still think it’s funny that a group of 500 liberal Catholics gathering in Indianapolis who have appointed themselves to speak on behalf of all the lay Catholics in the country is being treated by the major media as worthy of coverage and headlines. Voice of the Faithful represent no one but themselves.
Yesterday, they called for tougher laws against clergy who abuse others and bishops who protect them. Yeah, yeah, courageous. Most states have already begun drafting the laws. Never mind that it wasn’t lax laws that allowed this to happen, but lax enforcement of the laws. It’s hysterical that the way the article is written it appears to give credit to VOTF for states passing new laws on this.
They certainly know how to manipulate the media though. One sure way is to advance a dollar amount of staggering proprtions, whether or you can actually back that up with any hard data. To wit, they claimed that legal settlements in American dioceses could reach up to $3 billion. And where does this number come from? We’re not told. They could have pulled this out of thin air (or some other part of their anatomy.) Hey, I can do this too! “The direct costs from the Scandal could reach $50 billion.” Heck, it could reach $100 trillion. It’s not likely, but anything’s possible.