Letter from VOTF president Jim
Post
MAKING A DIFFERENCE ONE YEAR AFTER OUR CONVENTION
Dear Friends,
One year ago this week - at our first national convention
on July 20, 2002 - VOTF truly became a beacon of
hope
and energy to Catholic lay people. Over the past
year, the Internet (www.votf.org) and international
media
coverage connected tens of thousands of people who
would otherwise feel isolated and without hope.
This past
month, for example, I was in Australia, where they
are forming three new VOTF affiliates. Another
is being
formed in New Zealand. VOTF brings hope in distant
places to Catholics who have despaired of being
to able to
influence the way their Church behaves. The voices
of the faithful are being heard.
LESSONS LEARNED
VOTF was founded by people like you, who are determined
to make a difference and to affirm the role of the laity
through our mission, goals, and activities. Throughout
the turmoil of the past year, we have remained committed,
and we have learned some important lessons:
Change is difficult. Many fear that faith is at risk
when discussion of change, loss of trust, and renewal
occurs. VOTF's focus has always been to reform human
aspects of our Church, not the divine. The crisis is
attributable to faulty human administration, not faulty
faith. Yet many priests, pastors, and bishops who have
spent decades in a culture of deference find it difficult
to listen to angry Catholics, to discuss their ideas,
and to commit to change. Bishops still prefer closed
meetings with a few select friendly laity. Thankfully,
a few have begun to take small steps in new directions
to increase dialogue with all God's children. But the
pace is slow and frustrating.
Delay is unacceptable. Dioceses have
proceeded very unevenly in their efforts to implement
the Charter and Essential Norms for the protection of
children and young people adopted by American bishops
seven months ago. Response to survivor abuse has been
worse. Some legal cases have been settled, but hundreds
- perhaps thousands - remain unresolved. Justice
delayed is justice denied.
The Catholic Church in North America is not a healthy
institution. In many dioceses, key performance indicators
highlight significant institutional failure:
- Attendance
at Sunday Mass has dropped to some of the lowest levels
ever recorded (e.g., 15% in Boston in 2002).
- Weekly
collections are off by 15-20% percent in many dioceses.
- Catholic
philanthropy for major diocesan and national campaigns
is down in many places. Rarely are "growth in giving"
data shared.
- The
Vatican has suffered financial losses, with a $15
million deficit in 2002, attributable, in part, to
reduced giving from major donor nations.
- Catholic
school and parish closings are rising across the nation.
- The
morale of Catholics of all ages is in decline. Young
Catholics, in particular, are disillusioned with a
Church that will not be open, inclusive, and welcoming
to all.
- Vocations
continue to decline - young men and women are simply
not being called to an institution that desperately
needs priests and women religious.
Are these signs of failure "God's
will," as some members of the hierarchy would have
us believe? Or are they signs of human failings of our
hierarchy that active participation by Catholic laymen
and women, collaborating with their priests and bishops,
can help reverse?
ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN
Newly appointed bishops, such as Bishop Michael Sheehan
of Phoenix and Archbishop-designate Sean O'Malley of
Boston, must energize, engage, and provide creative
inspiration to Catholics. No bishop can heal a diocese
alone. These bishops also have the opportunity to be
leaders of meaningful reform in our broken American
Catholic Church. And so, we believe bishops must:
- End
the confusing and divisive bans of organizations of
committed lay Catholics like Voice of the Faithful,
and welcome all Catholics onto Church property for
meetings as well as worship.
- Address
the money issues:
- Open
the books through public audit, so that all can
know exactly where the dioceses stand.
- Use
the expertise of lay Catholics to manage financial
challenges brought on by settlements and declining
financial support from the laity.
- Create
an accountable, transparent Church that people
will want to support financially.
- Model
the Church you want to create:
- Humble.
- Spiritual.
- Cooperative.
- Pastoral.
- Inclusive
and open.
- Listening
to all - clergy, survivors, laity.
- Bring
justice for survivors.
SURVIVOR JUSTICE BEYOND SETTLEMENTS
All sexual abuse cases nationwide - indeed worldwide
- must be settled fairly, and quickly. But settling
cases is the beginning, not the end of the process.
Survivors of clergy sexual abuse range in age from teens
to senior citizens. None will escape the psychological
consequences of being abused. As a practical matter,
the Catholic Church will have the survivors of clergy
sexual abuse in our midst for at least six or seven
decades. How will the Church evaluate, adjust, and continue
programs that reach out to survivors of abuse? The living
Church needs to keep drawing lessons from this experience.
South Africa cannot forget its legacy of apartheid;
the Catholic Church cannot forget its legacy of clergy
sexual abuse.
A "DIFFERENT" CHURCH
The Church of the future must be different. New insights
must be derived by examining the failures in human administration
that led to this fiasco in the world's longest-operating
institution. The Catholic laity's pent-up ideas, concepts,
and experiences are ready for this challenge. It will
take years to sort out the resentment, anger, and passion
for change. But we must start somewhere - and soon.
Every bishop must open his mind and heart to the laity's
contributions.
A FOUR-SIDED TABLE
Bishop Michael Sheehan of Phoenix and Archbishop Sean
O'Malley of Boston are in the vanguard of a new generation
of American bishops who will have the opportunity -
and responsibility - to guide the Catholic Church of
the 21st century. The first piece of furniture they
and their fellow bishops should purchase is a four-sided
table, with room for clergy, survivors, laypersons,
and the bishop to talk openly and honestly about the
community and the Church.
There is no other way for a bishop to follow St. Francis'
mission: "Repair my Church." We must all work
to repair the Church. That is why Voice of the Faithful
was created and why we urge all members to put faith
into action. St. Francis offers us another thought as
we assess the daunting challenges ahead: "First,
do what is necessary, then do what is possible, then
you are doing the impossible."
Sincerely,
Jim Post
Voice
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