"Two Families Seek Church Accountability in Abuse Cases"

"Relatives of Slain Men Fault Lack of Safeguards Against Troubled Priests."

Source: Alan Cooper, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, November 14, 2005; Ao3.

"Sally Ellison does not have an appointment with the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.

"She is not even a Catholic.

"But she is flying 900 miles from her home in Wisconsin to Washington today for a meeting of U.S. bishops, and she thinks they should hear what she has got to say."

Her message? In her own words we are told:

"Because of their negligence, my son is dead.

"I think that's pretty good reason for them to listen to me, don't you?"

So, what happened?

"After an unusual hearing last month, a judge in Hudson, Wis., ruled that a Catholic priest, the Rev. Ryan Erickson, probably murdered James Ellison, 22, and Daniel O'Connell, 39, on Feb. 5, 2002.

"The troubled and troublesome priest, who had a penchant for real handguns and for pretending to shoot people with his thumb and index finger, avoided prosecution by hanging himself from a rectory fire escape last year [2004]."

The positive side to all this?!

"Of more than 11,000 cases of child sexual abuse by about 5,000 U.S. priests that have been reported by U.S. dioceses, the Erickson case is the only one that ended in a double murder and suicide."