The Contribution of Voice of the Faithful to the Catholic Church,

2002-2006

James E. Post, President
Voice of the Faithful
March 8, 2006

Remarks to members of Boston VOTF Council at
Our Lady Help of Christians RC Church, Newton MA

Two years ago, I received a letter from Fr. Robert Casey of Nevada, a retired priest, thanking us for the work of Voice of the Faithful. His letter included some words of inspiration of which I am especially fond: “Would that 40 years from now Voice of the Faithful will be very much alive and be as a candle shining through darkness.” I wrote back and said that I intended to share his sentiment with many Catholic clergy and laity. In so doing, I hoped that his wish could become our reality and that Voice of the Faithful would become a “candle shining through darkness.” Tonight, I thought it fitting to use that theme in my last public talk as president of Voice of the Faithful.

When Voice of the Faithful was formed more than four years ago, we stood almost alone in calling for accountability in the Catholic Church. Today, many groups and many Catholics are demanding accountability from a Church that has yet to recover from the worst scandal in hundreds of years.

The John Jay study that was commissioned by America’s Catholic bishops, and the grand jury reports in Boston, Philadelphia, Long Island, Arizona, and elsewhere, use language that echoes the concepts we introduced.

Like Voice of the Faithful, these reports call for “accountability,” “openness,” “transparency,” and “the sunlight of truth.” They urge real reform and an end to the secrecy, clericalism, and authoritarianism that contributed to the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

What does this mean?

First, it means that the ideas that are the underpinning of Voice of the Faithful have become part of the mainstream of Catholic social thought in the United States. What seemed frightening, even dangerous, to assert in the face of fierce institutional opposition, has now been widely accepted as the truth—some would say the prophetic truth, guided by the Holy Spirit. The truth is simple: Our Church lacks moral integrity when it fails to be accountable for the actions of priests, bishops, and laity who sexually assault innocent children and adults. There is no excuse for these crimes!

Second, public acceptance of these ideas means that our detractors have become less relevant as the truth pours out in a flood of revelations that cannot be “explained away.” As the John Jay study confirmed in 2004, four percent of all Catholic clergy over the past half-century were the subject of sexual abuse allegations by over 10,000 victims. That study documented that a staggering $572 million was spent to settle cases, treat abusers and pay attorneys. Today, in 2006, we know that those costs actually constitute a multi-billion financial obligation of the Catholic Church.

In the face of these truths, our mission to provide a voice for lay participation in Church governance—and our goals of supporting survivors, priests of integrity and structural change within the Catholic Church—have become moral imperatives, without which the Church will continue to decay.

During the life of this movement, we have learned what it means, and what it takes, to be American Catholics who believe in morality, accountability, freedom and individual conscience. We have found the courage to speak truth to power; to awaken from passivity and acquiescence; and to accept our baptismal responsibility to reform and repair our Church, which is falling into ruins all around us.

Between 2002 and the end of 2005, more than 200 Voice of the Faithful affiliates were formed worldwide. We have built an organizational infrastructure where nothing existed five years ago. We have sponsored dozens of educational conferences; hundreds of lay spirituality gatherings, workshops, vigils and witnesses in support of survivors; and numerous sounding boards to facilitate priest/parishioner dialogue. We have motivated tens of thousands of Catholics to add their voices to ours in petitioning the Pope and the bishops for accountability and reform. We have demonstrated that the Catholic laity is here to stay.

St. Francis once urged his discouraged followers, “Start by doing what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Against all odds, Voice of the Faithful has succeeded in our mission to do the seemingly impossible. We have helped thousands of Catholics to stay in the Church and to cling to the hope that our broken Church can be repaired from within.

Most importantly, we have helped give a voice to the voiceless. In so doing, we have already made a difference. We have already changed the Church.

Our Lady Help of Christian’s

Our Lady’s is hallowed ground in the movement to bring accountability and justice to our Church. This is where we voted to call on Cardinal Bernard Law to step aside as archbishop of Boston (December 11, 2002). Here is where we struggled to establish the procedures and processes of the first VOTF Council. Here is where we listened to learned speakers and heard the stories of survivors. Our Lady’s is where I first met Gary Bergeron, Bernie McQuaid, Olan Horne and other heroes of David France’s book (and movie), “Our Fathers.” This is where we held a “four-sided table” meeting to thrash out governance issues that facilitated the birth of the National Representative Council. And this is where the people of God defended and fought for Fr. Walter Cuenin, a pastor whose priestly integrity and honor outshines that of the entire cast of characters at the Chancery.

Tomorrow is an anniversary date for Voice of the Faithful. March 9th is the fourth anniversary of the first organized presence of members at a function in the archdiocese of Boston. We sent a delegation of 12 members to the Cardinal’s Convocation at the World Trade Center and they read a statement that included these prophetic words, “We are the Church. … We are the Body of Christ. … We call ourselves, Voice of the Faithful.” The rest is history. The media paid attention, our membership grew, and the downward spiral of Cardinal Law’s credibility accelerated.

Today, our fellow Catholics in Chicago are facing a major challenge to the integrity of their Church. Cardinal Francis George has admitted that he ignored a recommendation from the lay review board and failed to remove Fr. Dan McCormack as pastor of St. Agatha’s RC Church, a parish with a grammar school, after-school programs, and a basketball league. After Cardinal George was notified and failed to act, Fr. McCormack assaulted two more boys. The Cardinal has apologized, but it is not enough. As an architect of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young Adults, he is intimately familiar with every passage in the charter. Cardinal George knowingly ignored the requirements of Article 2 and violated the public commitment given by all of the bishops to the people of God.

It seems to me that “zero tolerance” is not only for abusers; it is also for those who enable the abuser to perpetrate a sexual assault. Enablers are accomplices … they are too often as guilty as the perpetrators.

The darkness surrounding our Church has not disappeared, and, at times, it seems even more oppressive. That is why our candle really matters.

The Future

The year 2006 marks the beginning of a new effort to promote accountability in our Church. Two initiatives are being launched across the nation. One promotes financial accountability through publication of audited financial reports of dioceses and parishes. The second seeks to protect children by holding perpetrators and enablers accountable in our courts and removing the barriers to justice imposed by statutes of limitation. We need both of these things to happen if we are to build a Church of Integrity, a Church of Accountability.

These campaigns will employ the tactics of direct action that have been used here at Our Lady’s and among the vigiling parishes in Boston that have resisted closings with prayerful, committed action. I believe the lessons from Our Lady’s, St. Albert the Great, St. Anselm’s and all of the other vigiling parishes in the archdiocese of Boston will be shared and become models for concerned Catholics in other dioceses.

Of course, we are also leaving a few problems for our newly-elected officers to tackle. Here are some of the criticisms that I’ve had to think about and respond to in recent times:

1. VOTF is too timid.
2. VOTF is too harsh, too shrill.
3. VOTF is composed of dissidents.
4. VOTF has too many apologists.
5. VOTF has too many old people.
6. VOTF is Boston-dominated.
7. VOTF needs more Boston leaders.
8. VOTF is too small to make a difference.
9. VOTF is becoming too large and cumbersome.
10. VOTF is too “grassroot-sy,” too democratic.
11. VOTF is too hierarchical.

In politics, a “centrist” is someone who is being shot at by the left and the right. When that happens, you are doing something right. At VOTF, we really are doing something right!

I hope our newly elected officers ---including Mary Pat Fox, our new president--- will be able to solve all of these problems in the next two years!

Our biggest challenge is to remain strong in the face of adversity. We have already done the impossible. Every day that we exist we defy the odds. Every day we exist is a day that God has given us to do this work.

Conclusion

I think we are in a time of darkness. The candle that VOTF represents is very necessary in today’s Catholic Church. .

VOTF will probably continue to struggle with its internal governance. We find it difficult to trust hierarchical structures, yet we cannot do our work effectively without sound management systems and processes.

Other issues – church closings, gay rights, CC adoption controversy, etc.—will force more and more Catholics to look in the mirror and ask, “What do I believe?”

The masters of disinformation are working for the clerical hierarchy. That is why a clear and reasoned voice of the faithful – the Catholic laity – is vital.

In all of this, good people must – and will – continue to stand up and speak their conscience. VOTF may morph into another form of organization, but it will not disappear because the human conscience will not disappear.

To “keep the faith, we must change the Church.”

Based on all that has happened in the past four years, I would be foolish to make any more predictions!

We are in God’s hands. That is both humbling and inspiring.

Jim Post
3/8/06