Good morning it is a pleasure for me to be here with you today and a deep honor to be here to present the Voice of the Faithful Priest of Integrity award to a man who so strongly represents what we mean when we say a Priest of Integrity.

The history of this award is important and I will just give you a brief overview so that you can better understand how important this is to us. When we established this award in 2002 we took a page out of the standards for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award with the following descriptor: When, at some future date, the High Court of History stands in judgment on each one of us, it will ask, "Were we truly men and women of courage, with the courage to stand up to one's enemies, and the courage, when necessary, to stand up to one's associates."

Our priests of integrity

• Fulfills his calling from God by living his life in the service of others.
• Is marked by a sincere faith, loyal to the vows and promises of the priesthood.
• Speaks and acts his conscience, proclaiming the truth with humility and courage without regard for his own future security.
• Models servant-leadership both in the context of his life and of his ministry.
• Gives credible witness to the truth in both speech and action.
• Strives to promote Christian dignity and the rightful position of the laity in the Church.
• Exemplifies informed, educated, rational and mature obedience to God, His word and the Church.

This is our 4th Priest of Integrity Award our earlier recipients included:
Rev. Thomas P. Doyle O.P, J.C.D. Who we are privileged to have with us here today. Fr. James J. Scahill of Springfield Massachusetts and Msgr. Lawrence Breslin of Cincinnati Ohio.

Today we are here to honor and recognize Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. Bishop Gumbleton was born in Detroit Michigan, entered the seminary at a young age, and went on to study at St. John’s Pontifical Seminary in Plymouth and also the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He has a BA, Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Canon Law. He has been a priest for over 50 years. And retired last month as pastor of St. Leo’s in Detroit where he had been pastor for the past 23 years.

Bishop Gumbleton has long been an advocate for Peace and started the organization Pax Christi.
Today we are here to honor Bishop Gumbleton for his support of an active role for the laity in the church, his extraordinary support of survivors of clergy sex abuse, and for the example he shows each of us in living life with an informed conscience. You will hear more about his ideas for how the laity can and should develop greater roles in the church during his talk this morning on becoming adult catholics.

Bishop Gumbleton was one of the first bishops to speak out publicly about the sex abuse crisis and against the handling of the crisis by the Bishops in 2002. He continued to speak out and in January 2006 Bishop Gumbleton testified in front of the Ohio Legislature pushing for legislation to suspend the statute of limitations for one year to allow victims of sex abuse to be able to come forward. As you know VOTF is currently engaged in the Campaign for Accountability. We have members across the country working to extend the Statute of Limitations and open a window to provide justice for victims. In each state they encounter strong opposition from the Catholic Conference.

In your statement before the Ohio Legislature Bishop Gumbleton, you gave 3 reasons for supporting the legislation: expose abusers who have still not been brought to account, make all those responsible truly accountable, and to restore the credibility of the church leaders.

You went on to say “this may cause pain, embarrassment and sacrifice for our church, especially in the short term. It may cause some hardship for us financially. It might seem easier to keep the evils hidden, to move on and trust that the future will be better. But I am convinced that a settlement of every case by our court system is the only way to protect children and to heal the brokenness within the church.”

It is most appropriate that we recognize Bishop Gumbleton today as we begin the season of Lent. Voice of the Faithful’s theme for this Lent and our current action focuses on our responsibilities as baptized Catholics to form our conscience. When we do this we are driven to action. Bishop Gumbleton is a heroic example of living an informed conscience.

Surely you all will agree, this is a man who when at some future date, the High Court of History stands in judgment, it will say, "he was truly a man of courage, he stood up to his enemies and his associates with courage”.

Bishop Gumbleton you give us hope that others might follow your courageous lead, faith that God is with us and our Church, and thanksgiving for your friendship and support. It is with great humility that I present to you the Voice of the Faithful Priest of Integrity Award.