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LEMONS TO LEMONADE: THE STORY OF VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL
James E. Post
President, VOTF
Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Chapter of the
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Cambridge, MA
December 9, 2003 ______________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your generous introduction. I cannot help but realize that there are places where I might not be introduced in such positive terms. Happily, the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP) is filled with people of diverse views on the many issues and challenges of our times.

As we look at the current political, social, community, and religious landscape to the election of 2004, we are participating in the “grand democratic experiment” we call America. Our efforts are creating the “social capital” that Robert Putnam, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexis de Tocqueville described in various ways over three centuries. The unifying theme is engagement in issues that matter.

And, fundraising professionals are engaged!

Your commitment to helping others is one reason that I am honored to speak to you tonight. The difference you make through your work enables non-profit organizations of all sizes and shapes to meet real needs. Let me offer a public “thank you” for making Massachusetts a true “common wealth” of talent and opportunity.

My second reason for accepting this invitation is that I am hoping to pick up some tips. After all, you are the “pros.” The advice of savvy professionals is always valuable. So, I hope you will let me pick your brains tonight. (And I have some VOTF colleagues in the audience tonight – members of our development committee- whose task is to bring back one good idea.)

THE VOTF STORY

We at Voice of the Faithful are not as sophisticated in our fundraising endeavors as many of you. But we do have story to tell. Margot Biggin has invited me to share it with you tonight.

A few days from now (12/13/03) will mark the first anniversary of Cardinal Bernard Law’s resignation as Archbishop of Boston. Even the casual observer recognizes that the Archdiocese of Boston is very different today than it was one year ago.

Last week (12/1/03), Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley announced that the Archdiocese of Boston would sell the “Residence” and 28 acres of land on the Chancery campus in Brighton. The proceeds of this sale will pay a portion of the $85 million settlement of more than 552 sexual abuse cases. (The remainder is expected to come from two liability insurance policies.) Looming in the next few months is the pain of parish closings – perhaps as many as 40-60 churches will be closed and communities disrupted as a process of “rationalization” begins.

This matters for two reasons. One reason is found in the numbers: More than 40% of the population in eastern Massachusetts is nominally Catholic – more than 2.2 million women, men, and children (although Church attendance is only 15%).

The second reason is in the work of the Church. The Catholic Church is a major social service provider in the Commonwealth, with important roles in health care, housing, care of the elderly, immigrant services, community development, and more. Many lives are touched by the work of the Church.

The role of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts is both history and future. I believe we are seeing a historic shift -- and refocusing -- of the role of the Catholic Church in Boston. That shift is taking place because of the events of the past two years.

That is where Voice of the Faithful enters the picture.

On January 6, 2002, the Boston Sunday Globe carried a page 1 story about the forthcoming trial of John Geoghan, a defrocked priest who was alleged to have sexually molested dozens of children over a thirty-year period. Geoghan’s record was known to leaders in the Archdiocese of Boston, including Cardinal Bernard Law. Law supervised a relocation policy that moved Geoghan and other predators from parish to parish, often one step ahead of the law and an outraged community. Still worse, the Archdiocese concealed these personnel actions and often used to deceit to maintain the cover-up.

Historians and scholars argue the clergy sexual abuse scandal precipitated the worst crisis in the Church’s 500-year history in North America. The sexual abuse crisis had deep roots, but was not a highly visible controversy until 2002.

Although a number of high profile cases took place in the United States between 1985 and 2000 (e.g., the criminal case against Fr. James Porter in Fall River, Massachusetts), they did not command public attention or generate widespread public pressure for reform. Things began to change when the Boston Globe published its “Spotlight Team” investigative reports regarding the administrative handling of Fr. John Geoghan, a Catholic priest who had molested more than 100 children over the course of nearly 30 years. The Globe reported on a collection of Church documents that Massachusetts judge Constance Sweeney had ordered the Archdiocese of Boston to release to plaintiffs (Geoghan victims) as part of a pre-trial discovery process. The Globe had requested court permission to review the records; Judge Sweeney approved the request. The secrets surrounding pedophilia and child abuse that had been so successfully kept out of public sight were about to become very public knowledge.

The Geoghan disclosures launched a painful period of awakening for Catholics in Boston and elsewhere. For nearly one year, the story of clergy sexual misconduct provided daily front-page stories for newspaper and television audiences. Geoghan was the first of a series of priests the world would come to identify as sexual predators.

In April, 2002, a second wave of sensational charges occurred when a Massachusetts court ordered the Archdiocese of Boston to turn over the personnel records of Fr. Paul Shanley to plaintiffs’ attorneys. These files revealed a pattern of sexual abuse far more depraved and scandalous than that of Fr. Geoghan. Paul Shanley was a charismatic priest, whose commitment to working with “street kids” made him a local hero in Boston. But his actions also involved the alleged rape and abuse of countless vulnerable children and teens. Shanley was transferred from parish to parish, where he continued to abuse children and attended meetings of the National Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) where he publicly stated that there was nothing wrong when an adult engaged in sexual relations with a child.

The public disclosures prompted Shanley, who relocated to California in the 1990s, to go into hiding. He was apprehended on a fugitive warrant in May and returned to Massachusetts to be tried on criminal charges of child rape.

The Geoghan and Shanley revelations were major turning points in the scandal and produced a wave of responses from officials of the Catholic Church.

On March 9, 2002 (before the Shanley disclosures), Cardinal Law met with 3,000 lay leaders from the parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston. The program for this “convocation” was radically restructured in the weeks before to include major listening sessions in which laity could share their views of the crisis with the cardinal and auxiliary bishops. This event provided the first public forum at which members of Voice of the Faithful stated their mission, goals, and agenda in a statement entitled, “We are the Church.”

In April, 2002, the Vatican summoned nine American Catholic prelates to meet with Pope John Paul II. The news media intensified their coverage and provided major network coverage of the Vatican meetings and the papal statement that descried the scandal.

It was reported that Cardinal Law had offered his resignation to the Holy Father during a private meeting. The alleged resignation was declined, however, and Cardinal Law was instructed to stay the course in Boston. He returned to the city amidst charges that the diocese was facing financial and moral bankruptcy. The anger of local Catholics in Boston was palpable.

In June 2002, Catholic bishops assembled in Dallas for their semi-annual meeting. The agenda was dominated by the sexual abuse scandal. Under Bishop Gregory’s leadership, the USCCB had crafted a statement of principles (Charter) that would guide the Church’s substantive response to the crisis. A policy of “zero tolerance” for child abuse was announced. Media coverage was intense; reporters spoke with the many victims, academic experts, and representatives of Catholic laity groups, including Voice of the Faithful.

The conflict simmered throughout the summer. Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) organized an “international convention” and drew an overflow crowd of 4,200 people to Boston in July. The cardinal was unhappy and two days later issued a statement refusing to accept funds from the group. He also tried to block the formation of more VOTF groups.

As the summer wore on, the rhetorical skirmishes between the laity and bishops intensified. In August, bishops from Bridgeport, CT and Rockville Centre, NY issued orders banning Voice of the Faithful members from using Church property for meetings. The bishops claimed that VOTF members were “dissenters” and had a “hidden agenda” based on the appearance of several controversial speakers at the July convention. VOTF responded that the bishops were “shooting the messenger” and forsaking their pastoral responsibilities by blaming the laity for their own failings.

The Grassroots

The conflict percolated through September and October, with several more bishops (Camden, NJ; Newark, NJ; Brooklyn-Queens, NY) banning Voice of the Faithful from using Church facilities. Still, the group’s membership continued to grow. Voice of the Faithful claimed 1,000 members in the spring of 2002. By June, the number exceeded 13,000. In July, at the time of the convention, the number was 19,000. By October, the group reported more than 25,000 supporters, with most connected through its web site www.votf.org

The inability to use Church facilities for meetings was an impediment to local groups. In October, Cardinal Law rescinded a ban that had been imposed by one of his auxiliary bishops on a Voice of the Faithful affiliate in North Andover, Massachusetts, but left in place a ban the use of Church property by any newly formed VOTF group. VOTF national leaders continued to press for a complete end to the bans, claiming that they were divisive and fundamentally immoral, denying the very parishioners who bought and paid for these Churches the right to use the space for discussing how to respond to a great crisis. The bishops were unmoved.

Priests Awaken

Priests also became empowered through the events of 2002. The Boston Priests Forum (BPF) became a vehicle for priests to express their concerns. As the months dragged on, the Boston Priests Forum developed greater cohesiveness and a more coherent voice. Finally, in December 2002, after the third round of revelations, 58 Boston area priests, led by individual members of the Forum, signed a letter calling on Cardinal Law to resign. This unprecedented act proved to be the shock that stirred the Vatican to finally accept Law’s resignation.

The Archbishop Resigns

Cardinal Bernard F. Law was the most powerful bishop (archbishop) in the American Catholic Church at the beginning of the 21st century. By many standards, he was one of the leading prelates of the worldwide Church. But throughout 2002, his credibility plummeted as the scandal unfolded. His decisions showed him to be complicit in the reassignment decisions, with evidence that he personally knew of John Geoghan, Paul Shanley’s and others’ history of child abuse allegations.

On November 26, 2002, Cardinal Law held his first face-to-face meeting with Voice of the Faithful leaders. He talked about archdiocesan policies to protect children and several times reiterated his personal commitment that justice would be done to resolve old cases, as well as protect against future harms. One week later, however, on December 3, 2002, documents were publicly released from the more than 10,000 pages of records the archdiocese had turned over to plaintiffs’ attorneys under court order. These disclosures were devastating and marked the third great turning point in the scandal.

The records revealed shocking accounts of more priests abusing boys, girls, young women, and adults. Unlike the Geoghan and Shanley cases, where the evidence was confined to the actions surrounding a single priest, the new documents revealed a wider, more pervasive cover-up. The calls for Cardinal Law’s resignation escalated. Within a 10-day period, unprecedented actions took place to convince the Vatican that Cardinal Law could no longer lead the nation’s 4th largest diocese.

The Cardinal traveled to Rome on December 9th, ostensibly to present a plan to Vatican officials that would have the Archdiocese of Boston voluntarily declare bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy law. Such an action would place all claimants into a single pool and force movement toward a so-called “global settlement” of hundreds of pending lawsuits. The Vatican provided no official opinion on the proposal, but newspaper accounts suggested that Vatican officials were troubled by the precedent-setting effects of such action.

Behind the scenes, other decisions were being made. Cardinal Law huddled with Vatican insiders. Early in the week, it seemed that he might survive the pressure to resign. By mid-week, momentum had shifted and the resignation script was choreographed. On Friday, December 13, 2002, Pope John Paul II personally accepted Cardinal Law’s resignation. Bishop Richard G. Lennon, an auxiliary bishop in Boston, was named Apostolic Administrator to oversee the affairs of the archdiocese of Boston. The news spread around the world: America’s most prominent Catholic Church leader had been forced to step down because of his mishandling of the sexual abuse crisis. The crisis had reached its most dramatic and public moment. The ripple effects would continue for years to come.

Four Phases of VOTF Fund Raising

VOTF did not start with a business plan. In fact, we were several months into the process before money was mentioned and fundraising discussed. Once it was, of course, we developed a sophisticated strategy – we passed the hat!

One of our members had a nice looking fedora. We commandeered it for use at one of the meetings and it worked – we collected $300. This approach worked quite well and enabled us to cover our expenses with little difficulty. We named the hat owner our treasurer (he was also a partner at a large consulting firm) and developed the next stage of our strategy.

A side note: Throughout our history, we have tried to raise funds for survivors of abuse, a group that has had too few supporters. Our public advocacy for survivors translated into financial support, as we have often taken up special collections and projects to support survivors groups such as SNAP and The LinkUp.

The second stage of our fundraising involved getting a bigger “hat” – metaphorically. We solicited funds from 4,200 attendees at our Convention in July. We collected $10,000 for Survivors’ Network of Persons Abused by Priests (SNAP) and nearly $40,000 for VOTF.

Third, we developed donor lists from the many attendees and web site contacts. Today, we have lists of donors by size (small and large), zip code, and giving history (repeat givers) plus on-line donations. We recently completed mailings to all donors urging end-of-year giving.

Fourth, we have begun to focus on large donors in Boston, New York, and several other cities. The scandal is national … the work to be done is national … and the support for VOTF is national. We have to broaden the support for VOTF beyond New England.

The motto we have developed in fundraising is “Prepare to be surprised.” Donors have affirmed our work with notes, comments, or testimonials about VOTF’s mission and goals.

Voice of Compassion Fund

In spring 2002, we could tell that angry Bostonians were going to reduce donations to the most important fundraising campaign for the Archdiocese – the Cardinal’s Appeal. At our meetings, we learned that more than 90 percent of attendees planned to refrain from donating to the Cardinal’s Appeal. In the spring of 2002, the Cardinal’s Garden Party –a $3 million fundraising event for Catholic Charities—was cancelled by Church officials because of the drop in public support.

We recognized there would be serious consequences to the 80 programs and ministries --campus ministry, schools, and urban parishes—supported by the Cardinal’s Appeal. By June, we knew that it was running 40-50% below the $16 million goal.

In response, we created a “by-pass” fund, named the Voice of Compassion (VOC) Fund, administered by laity through the National Catholic Community Foundation, that would receive donations and distribute them to the Archdiocese on condition that disclosure and accountability standards were met. If the archdiocese refused, the funds would be distributed to Catholic Charities.

The VOC fund challenged traditional giving patterns in the Catholic Church and on July 22nd, only two days after the VOTF convention, Cardinal Law issued a press release publicly refusing to accept funds from the group. VOTF retorted that the Cardinal’s own behavior was compromising services to the Catholics; it was dubbed “Cardinal Law’s $10 Million Mistake” (Boston Globe, op. ed., August 2002).

In time, the Voice of Compassion Fund distributed nearly $120,000 to Catholic Charities. We believe to this day, that this money that would not have gone to Catholic causes without the by-pass fund.

Conclusion: Broader Themes

Apart from fundraising, there are some larger themes in our story

1. Conscience matters. Sometimes, you simply have to stand up and be counted! Conscience is the essence of “voice of the faithful” – the name itself derives from Vatican II and the sensus fidelium, or sense of the people, that is vital to the work o the Church. We have never had to explain what Voice of the Faithful means or what it is about. That’s a great brand name!
2. Media matters. Name recognition is invaluable. My favorite words are “Voice of the Faithful, the Catholic lay reform group, said today …” We have seen thousands of stories about VOTF, and have worked to shape a public image that is consistent with our acutal work.
3. The Internet matters. Internet – web site visitors are measured in the millions of hits. We can track the pages, content, and frequency of visitors. This is an invaluable source of information about what people seek from VOTF.
4. Catholics want accountability. Laurie Goodstein, religion writer for the New York Times, in an article entitled “Catholics in Survey Seek Accountability” wrote, “Three of every four Roman Catholics who regularly attend Mass say they want their church to be more financially accountable in the wake of its sexual-abuse crisis.” (New York Times, November 7, 2003)

In conclusion, we have tried to respond to a crisis that we did not seek, that was caused by others, and that cried out for a response. My closing thought is simply this: A Catholic activist of another era rightly said: “Know where you stand … then stand there!” That is what we have tried to do with Voice of the Faithful.

Thank you.