The Freedom From Religion Foundation and the FFRFMCC Bring Campaign to Stop Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse to Chicago

Through the help of a generous donation from a Chicago-area individual who was abused as a teenager by a Catholic priest, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and its Chicago chapter (FFRFMCC) have brought a campaign to call for a stop to child sex abuse by clergy to Chicago.

Our initial attempts to run full page ads in Sunday editions of both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times was thwarted by the two media companies’ management, who had rejected our paid advertisement.  The ads were suggested by the FFRF/FFRFMCC member who had donated a large sum of money which he had received as part of a settlement with the Catholic Church for the abuse he suffered.  The timing was to have been scheduled at the beginning of National Catholic Schools Week (January 28 – February 2), an annual initiative by the Catholic Church to increase enrollment of grade school students into its school system.  The ad encouraged people to “Stop Ignoring the Headlines” and to reconsider entrusting the care of their children to an organization that, for decades, has been responsible for protecting priests and bishops who have been accused of sexually abusing children.

The rejection of our ad by both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times confirms the power of the Catholic Church to silence its critics.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor states, “The ‘look the other way’ deference the Church has continually demanded and received — from congregations, media, police and courts — is the very reason why so many horrific crimes against children have occurred and gone unreported and unprosecuted in the first place. The Catholic Church remains a virtuoso in silencing not only its critics, but its hundreds of thousands of victims — including one Chicago-area victim seeking to spare future children similar abuse.” 

FFRFMCC Executive Director Tom Cara adds, “It is tragic when a major metropolitan’s two largest newspapers elect not to publish a public condemnation of an organization’s horrific crimes. Our ad is a plea for help from a victim, and it is being ignored in order to protect the offenders.”

But, the censorship by Chicago’s two major daily newspapers did not put a halt to the efforts, as the FFRF and its Chicago chapter understood the importance of bringing this message to Chicago.  The full page print ad was accepted by the Chicago Reader, a weekly newspaper with a distribution of approximately 50,000 readers, and appears in the publication’s January 31st, 2019 edition.  The ad in the Chicago Reader lists a series of actual media services headlines about the ongoing revelations of massive priestly abuse of children and the subsequent Church cover-up, urging readers to stop supporting the world’s largest and most powerful religious institution.  Click here to view the ad.

In addition, 11 digital billboards will run from January 31 -February 10, 2019 in Chicago locations.  The electronic billboards simply state, “It’s Time to Quit the Church.”  Finally, a 20′ x 60′ printed vinyl billboard will appear at the Kennedy Expressway and Edens Expressway junction for four weeks, from February 11 – March 10, 2019.  This billboard will state, “Value Children over Dogma.  It’s Time to Leave the Catholic Church.”

For those who would like to contribute to this and other future FFRF advocacy campaigns, please consider a donation to the national Freedom From Religion Foundation.  Click here for more information.