Dear Suzanne:

There are many people out there who traffic in rumor, innuendo, and gossip about Cardinal Bernardin. Some of this gossip is quite vitriolic, calling him everything from a pederast to a Satanist, and none of if supported by evidence as far as I know.

Cardinal Bernardin was accused, along with some other priests, of molesting Steven Cook. Cook filed an $810 million dollar law suit naming the Cardinal and the other priests.

The "memory" of Cook, however, came into question, even to himself. His so-called memory was gained by hypnosis, which is a highly unreliable technique for this purpose. Since Cook himself could not trust his own memory and had no direct memory of the Cardinal molesting him, Cook recanted his allegations against the Cardinal and removed him from the Law Suit.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) supported Cook's decision and praised his decision to remove the Cardinal from the Law Suit:

"Our hearts go out to Cardinal Bernardin," said David Clohessy, the organization% national director. "We believe Steve Cook did the right thing by dropping his suit if he is unsure of his memories, and we applaud the cardinal's Christian response to this suit and his defending himself while not attacking his accuser."  

Read the whole story here.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

P.S. By the way, many years ago, in the late 1980s or maybe early 90s the Evangelical magazine, "Christianity Today" published a study that found that around 30% of Protestant ministers admitted to sexual improprieties with their parishioners. This is a percentage FAR greater than among priests.