Critique of "Voice of the Faithful" [What Faith Are They Trying to Keep?]

HYANNIS, Massachusetts, NOV. 19, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Several priests in the Diocese of Fall River recently sent out a pastoral letter to parishioners, to clarify the nature of Voice of the Faithful, a group that gained attention in the wake of the clergy sex-abuse scandals. Here we reprint the letter.

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A Pastoral Letter From Your Priests

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In recent days, several parishioners have asked us for clarification about the group called "Voice of the Faithful," which is trying to make inroads on Cape Cod and within our Diocese of Fall River. Because we think that many parishioners beyond those who have approached us might have similar questions, we thought it would be appropriate to respond by means of a parish letter.

Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) was founded in the basement of a Wellesley church in January 2002 by those who wanted to express their concerns about the clergy sex-abuse scandals. Over the course of subsequent months, many good Catholic lay people, who were horrified (as were we!) by the scandals, joined the group as a means of expressing their justifiable outrage and firm commitment that this dark page in our Church's history must never be repeated.

When VOTF had its first major convention in Boston on July 20, 2002, many of us followed it closely to try discern its spirit. We were saddened to see the direction it took. The star speakers that day were well-known and oft-quoted critics of the Holy Father who publicly dissent from the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. There's a truism that you can often learn a lot about someone from the people with whom he chooses to associate. The same goes for VOTF, the leaders of which, of course, invited and paid for these speakers to come to address those at the convention.

When faithful Catholic clergy and lay people criticized what was coming out of the convention, spokesmen from VOTF publicly stated that the group does not take any formal positions on the controversial issues being advanced by several of the convention speakers and VOTF members. But this is not sufficient. It is impossible for a group that wants to be authentically Catholic not to take a position on issues such as the ordination of women, sexual morality, abortion, and the divine foundation of the papacy -- all of which the Church has taken a position on. Not to take a position on such issues is to take a position; one cannot be both "agnostic" and "Catholic."

In short, because VOTF has given no indication that it fully supports all the defined teachings of the Church, we have grave misgivings about it and cannot recommend it to you.

As your priests, our foremost duty is to teach and defend the faith that has been handed down to us by Christ through the apostles and their successors. This is the Church's treasure and is the source of our unity as disciples of the Lord. The Church is not a society of independent thinkers with equally-valuable opinions, but the community of believers founded by Christ that remains faithful to His voice and follows His teaching as it has been handed on to us faithfully by the Church he founded. To be truly Catholic, you can't pick and choose some truths to follow and others to ignore. Embracing the Catholic faith means embracing all of it.

We have particular concern for those Catholics who want to remain faithful to the Church who now belong to an organization that calls itself Catholic but refuses publicly to embrace authentic Catholic teaching. VOTF says its motto is "Keep the Faith; Change the Church." But if the leaders of VOTF are unwilling to assent fully to Catholic teaching, what faith -- Catholics could legitimately ask -- are they trying to keep? And if organization is not really keeping the Catholic faith, then its proposals to "change the Church" should be viewed by faithful Catholics with justifiable suspicion. We encourage faithful Catholics who belong to VOTF to demand that the leadership of the organization explicitly avow Church teachings. If the leaders are not willing to do that, then we urge faithful Catholics to leave the organization.

The burden of proof is, of course, on VOTF to demonstrate its complete fidelity to Church teaching, by dissociating itself completely from groups and individuals that are obviously in dissent from Church teaching and gladly and willingly affirming their Catholic faith in all the defined teachings of the magisterium. No organization could never honestly claim to be the voice of faithful Catholic lay people without doing so -- as several parishioners, angry that the group claims to speak for them, have pointed out to us.

Until such time that VOTF demonstrates a transparent faithfulness to the teachings of the Church, no priest who takes his responsibility before God seriously to promote, preserve and defend the faith would countenance allowing the group to use Church property for their meetings. The people of ancient Troy learned a valuable lesson once and pastors would be derelict in their duty to do otherwise. We love you and love Christ too much to do otherwise.

If you find some of the statements of Voice of the Faithful to be attractive, we want you to know that we do, too. For instance, we agree with several of the organization's stated objectives:

1) We all support those who have been abused and want to prevent any recurrence of abuse.

2) We all support "priests of integrity" (although you might find it interesting that no priest from any of the parishes on Cape Cod present at our last meeting stated that he has received any sign of support from VOTF, which makes one wonder whether for VOTF this is just a paper objective).

3) We agree that there is a need for "cultural change" in the Church, if we define cultural change to mean a transparently greater cult (worship) of Christ among all of us in our daily decisions. The scandals resulted from the failure of priests to be faithful to Christ and to their promise of celibacy and of bishops to protect the flock from wolves in shepherd's clothing. But this grew within a general culture that was taking its moral obligations before God less seriously. Truly positive change will be directed toward a culture of greater fidelity to Christ in all the persons and activities of the Church.

4) We agree that there is a need for greater education of the laity in the teaching and ways of the faith, which is why, over the course of this year, we will be doing an extensive adult education series and why we have already started discussion sessions for parents of those in our CCD program and school.

5) We also welcome and strongly encourage a greater lay involvement in the mission of the Church, bringing Christ's teaching and love as leaven into our world.

In all of these areas priests and laity are already working together and, with God's help, bearing much fruit. If these were the only objectives of VOTF, the organization would not be objectionable.

The reason why VOTF is controversial, however, and why we cannot support it or recommend it to you is because VOTF has given indications by its deeds that its objectives transcend these publicly stated ones. By its failure to subscribe openly to the whole deposit of faith while at the same time publicly associating with groups that oppose the faith, VOTF has done nothing but strengthen suspicions that, while appearing to promote dialogue and cooperation, it actually promotes an agenda in conflict with the teachings of the Catholic faith.

There is a better alternative than VOTF for lay Catholics who want truly to "keep the faith and change the Church" in ways that are manifestly consistent with our Catholic faith. We invite them to become more involved in the mission of the Church here at St. Francis Xavier. We encourage them to join their priests and fellow lay people as together we strive to fulfill the mission which the Second Vatican Council and Pope John Paul II have entrusted to us: to live the faith and thereby, with God's help, strengthen the Church so as to change the world.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Thomas A. Frechette
Fr. Paul T. Lamb
Fr. Roger J. Landry

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E-mail: rogerlandry@post.harvard.edu

Bishop O'Malley is on the verge of letting these guys in the narrow gate. He met with them yesterday and here is the Boston Globe's story on the meeting:

O'Malley to reconsider policies against lay group

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 11/20/2003

Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, saying it is time for healing and reconciliation, said yesterday that he will reconsider the Archdiocese of Boston's refusals to accept money raised by Voice of the Faithful or to allow new affiliates of the lay organization to meet on church property.
O'Malley also told leaders of Voice of the Faithful that he wants to strengthen the role of lay people in administering parishes, and he pledged to make public an audit of the archdiocese's efforts to prevent sexual abuse of minors.
O'Malley met yesterday for the first time with leaders of Voice of the Faithful, an international group based in Newton claiming 30,000 members that was formed last year by Catholics upset by the church's handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis. The private meeting lasted about an hour, and was characterized by a level of mutual respect that was not present at meetings between the lay organization and Cardinal Bernard F. Law, according to participants.
O'Malley's spokesman, the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, used the most generous language ever by a Boston church leader to describe Voice of the Faithful, an organization that around the country has been welcomed by some bishops but banned by others and which has been denounced by its critics as dissident.
"Each member of Voice of the Faithful who came made it very clear . . . that they are faithful, good members of their parishes, and that the people who are part of Voice of the Faithful are not dissidents, people who are not out to spread disunity within the church, but just people who want to help the church move forward," Coyne told reporters after the meeting. "All of us around the table did not see divisions between Catholic and Catholic, but mainly just saw some issues within the family that need to be resolved."
Coyne said that the improved assessment of Voice of the Faithful is possible because of an improved climate at the archdiocese. O'Malley recently brokered an $85 million settlement of legal claims brought by more than 500 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse, and his straight talk, frequent meetings with victims, and steps to resolve the crisis have been generally greeted with good will.
"The circumstances in which we're all living and moving forward as a church have drastically changed in the last six months," Coyne said. "While recognizing that there are still . . . many things to do, that allows for conversation that's open and honest."
Two bishops in the United States have reversed bans against the organization: Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn and Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati. The organization is currently barred from meeting on church property in 10 dioceses, including Fall River, where O'Malley's successor banned the organization as one of his first acts in office.
Coyne did not characterize the likelihood of change in Boston, where Law and Bishop Richard G. Lennon -- the interim leader of the archdiocese after Law resigned -- did not accept money raised by the group and said that any chapter of the group formed after Oct. 13, 2002, would be barred from meeting on church property. "He said that he would consider lifting the partial ban on affiliates in the archdiocese," Coyne said of O'Malley. "He also asked the chancellor to look at the financial structure and setup of the Voice of Compassion fund."
Voice of the Faithful leaders, speaking after the meeting, said O'Malley strongly suggested he was inclined to accept money raised by them. They told him it is painful for loyal Catholics to be barred from using their own parishes for meetings to discuss the state of the church, but said his posture toward lifting the ban is unclear.
Voice of the Faithful has raised approximately $100,000 from people unwilling to give directly to the archdiocese; most of the money has been contributed to Catholic Charities after Law and Lennon declined to accept it.
Voice of the Faithful President James E. Post said yesterday's meeting was "considerably more cordial" than six previous meetings with archdiocesan leaders. He and other leaders of the group yesterday presented a portrait of O'Malley, inscribed with a quote from O'Malley's installation homily and with the prayer of St. Francis, to the archbishop as a good-will gesture.
"We spoke and he listened; he spoke and we listened," Post said. "I think Archbishop Sean has questions that need to be resolved, and of course we would provide that information. We want to get on with it."
O'Malley was accompanied to the meeting by Lennon, Coyne, archdiocesan chancellor David W. Smith, and Barbara Thorp, who is the archdiocese's liaison to abuse victims. Post was accompanied by Steve Krueger, the organization's executive director, as well as by two active members of the organization, Elia Marnik of Reading and Margaret Roylance of Newton. The meeting took place at the house in Brighton formerly used as the archbishop's residence; O'Malley, honoring a pledge he made during the summer, earlier this week moved into the rectory at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End.
"Over and over and over again, everybody kept talking about moving forward, moving towards healing," Coyne said. O'Malley has repeatedly said he does not know much about Voice of the Faithful, which did not have chapters in Fall River or Palm Beach when he was the bishop there. A portion of yesterday's meeting involved Voice of the Faithful members explaining how their group came about, and about its goals, which include supporting victims and "priests of integrity" and helping to shape structural change in the church.

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What's sad is that Bishop O'Malley used to be the bishop of the priests who wrote the letter that is posted on this thread. This comes at a time when VOTF is actually dying out here in Boston - O'Malley has given them new life. Bishop O'Malley also said that he is going to have VOTF work with the deacon who is implementing "Talk about Touching" in the parishes so the program can be installed. So, although he hasn't officially lifted the ban on forming new chapters in parishes, VOTF will be in every parish to ensure an orderly implementation of this horrible program.

We are in deep trouble here in Boston.

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