Catholic Lay Group Urges Bishops to Resign

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A Catholic lay reform group in New Hampshire has called for the resignation of the state’s two Catholic bishops because of their mishandling of sexually abusive priests.

The New Hampshire chapter of Voice of the Faithful called on Bishops John McCormack and Francis Christian to resign after a “pervasive pattern of behavior to conceal and cover up their evil actions.”

Both bishops “observed a general disregard for the testimony of sexual abuse victims and an unwillingness to remove predatory priests from contact with children,” said Jeffrey Blanchard, chairman of the group’s steering committee.

Voice of the Faithful is a national grass-roots movement founded a year ago as the sexual abuse crisis erupted in Boston.

McCormack has come under fire for his service in Boston, where he was a top deputy to Cardinal Bernard Law before his appointment to New Hampshire in 1998. Christian has served as auxiliary bishop in Manchester since 1996.

In December, McCormack signed an agreement with state prosecutors that avoided criminal charges but acknowledged “failures in our system that contributed to the endangerment of children.”

In March, McCormack said past efforts to deal with the problem were inadequate and ineffective.