Contact: John Moynihan 617-680-2131, moynihan_john@hotmail.com

For Immediate Release

Voice of the Faithful calls for appeals to any church closings nationwide, full financial disclosure and greater laity involvement as a result of the Vatican decision regarding church assets in Boston.

August 11, 2005 – Newton, Mass. – Voice of the Faithful is taking three steps in response to statements made by officials in the Archdiocese of Boston regarding the Vatican’s decision to overturn the Archdiocese’s planned disposition of assets from parishes who have appealed their closings to the Vatican.

• At a national level Voice of the Faithful is advising all parishes nationwide who are told that they are to be closed that they should file an appeal to the Vatican. Filing appeals may be necessary to preserve their options and rights, based on what officials of the Boston Archdiocese have said. This is particularly important in dioceses such as the Archdiocese of New York where closings are expected to be announced this fall.

• In Boston, we are calling on the Archdiocesan Parish Reconfiguration Fund Oversight Committee chaired by Voice of the Faithful National Chairman David Castaldi to review the decrees for all of the parishes closed as part of the Boston configuration process. We are calling on the committee to hire its own, independent canon lawyers to determine whether there were defects in all of the closure decrees, or just those from parishes that filed appeals. If these defects were in the decrees of all similar parishes, we call on the Archdiocesan committee chaired by Castaldi to consult these canon lawyers to determine whether all such parishes now have the right to help determine how the assets of those parishes will be used as well.

• In Boston, we are calling on the pastors of the involved “welcoming parishes” to determine what rights they have under Canon Law and to consult with the finance councils in their parishes before responding to requests from their bishop.

“We believe the best way the Church as a whole --and the priests at welcoming parishes -- can achieve the greater good for the Church is by involving the laity in decisions to be made about how the assets of these parishes will be used,” said VOTF National Executive Director Ray Joyce.

“It seems reasonable to consider that this new Vatican position could apply to all similar geographic parishes that were closed, and that the laity of each such parish must be involved in deciding what happens to such assets,” said Joyce. “We think it is extremely important to ensure that all remedies have been exhausted to protect the rights of those in the parishes that have been or will be closed.”

“We feel this way not because we believe that no parishes should have been closed in Boston,” Joyce continued. “Rather, because we believe the process was seriously flawed, and the laity has a right to provide greater input into closure decisions and how the assets of closed parishes are to be used. We hope that the Church will develop better ways to conduct a parish reconfiguration in other dioceses where closings are being considered. We believe greater financial transparency before reconfiguration begins, and greater lay involvement during the process is vital for reconfiguration to work in any other diocese.”

“This latest revelation demonstrates how important it is for the Archdiocese to reveal all of its finances, and provide complete financial disclosure and accountability of all its assets to Catholics in the Boston archdiocese.”

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About Voice of the Faithful: Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) is a worldwide movement of concerned mainstream Catholics formed in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The group's mission is to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church. Its goals are to support victim/survivors of abuse, support priests of integrity, and shape structural change within the Catholic Church in full accordance and harmony with Church teaching. VOTF’s supporting membership exceeds 30,000 registered persons from 50 U.S. states, 49 countries and more than 200 affiliates throughout the world.