Urgent: Nate's Mission is headed to Rome
Dear Nates Mission Supporters,
We have some exciting news to share with you regarding Nate’s Mission’s role in the global fight for accountability and reform within the Catholic Church.
Recently, leaders of Nate’s Mission were asked by the international Board of Directors of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) to take on a leading role in a crucial global media and messaging campaign set to take place in Rome and Geneva from September 28 to October 7. This campaign is timed to coincide with Pope Francis's worldwide Synod on the future of the Church, and its purpose is clear: to demand zero tolerance for abuse and the transfer and concealment of sex offenders within the Catholic Church.
Nates Mission, a Wisconsin-based project of ECA's US section, is honored to be chosen as a model for training survivors and advocates worldwide in their own countries and local communities.
Peter Isely, Program Director of Nate's Mission and founding member and spokesperson for Ending Clergy Abuse, speaks to media at a protest in Rome in Feburary 2019.
ALESSANDRA TARANTINO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A major press event is scheduled two days before Pope Francis elevates 21 bishops to the rank of cardinal, just before the Synod begins. At this event, we will present a comprehensive report on how these bishops have handled abuse cases. We will demand that Pope Francis refrain from elevating any candidate proven to have covered up sex crimes within their diocese or religious order. One prominent figure in this regard is Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández of Argentina.
What's deeply concerning is that Fernández, who has been implicated in covering up priest sex offenders, was appointed by Pope Francis to oversee the Vatican office responsible for investigating clergy sex abuse cases worldwide. This appointment undermines our collective efforts to bring abusers to justice and prevent future abuse.
Along with our global community of survivors and advocates, we will present this evidence to the United Nations in Geneva, seeking the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's intervention to protest Fernández's appointment by the Vatican.
Monsignor Victor Manuel Fernández, Archbishop of La Plata, after a Mass at the Cathedral in La Plata, Argentina.
NATACHA PISARENKO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
These events in Rome and Geneva are just one piece of ECA’s Global Zero Tolerance campaign taking place in the crucial week leading up to the pope’s Synod. As we march, protest, and participate in a vigil for survivors, including Nate Lindstrom, we stay true to Nate’s mission that what happened to him would never happen to another child - in Wisconsin and across the world.
We invite you to be a part of this important week as we take a monumental stride towards an abuse-free Church. Your support and solidarity are invaluable in helping us ensure accountability, protect survivors, and prevent future abuse within the Catholic Church. Your contributions will help to provide for our travel expenses as we undertake this crucial mission.
Please stay tuned for updates and consider contributing to our campaign to make a meaningful impact on this pressing issue.
Together, we can be the catalysts for change and justice.
In solidarity,
The Nate's Mission Team
P.S. Please share this email with your friends and family to broaden our support network and amplify our impact.