Contact: Suzanne Morse 617-680-2131, smorse@votf.org

Voice of the Faithful
Denver, Colorado

For Immediate Release
Communications Office
June 14, 2004

Remarks of the Executive Director, Steve Krueger

Re: Returning Responsibility to Catholicism and Presentation of Petitions for Reform

Good morning and thank you all for coming to this press conference and taking an interest in the critically important issues that continue to confront the Catholic Church today.

This morning, I am going to speak briefly about returning responsibility in Catholicism – a theme that Voice of the Faithful has been advancing since we ran a full page ad in the New York Times that coincided with the issuance of the John Jay and National Review Board Reports at the end of February and also announce the delivery to the USCCB and His Holiness, Pope John Paul II of our four Petitions for Reform to return responsibility to Catholicism.

First, however, I want to acknowledge the survivors that have come to Denver this past weekend for the annual SNAP Conference. Kris Ward, our National Vice-President, and I had the enlightening opportunity of attending the conference with Kris presenting a keynote speech. We must all never forget that the reason we are here today is because of the unspeakable crimes committed by Catholic clergy and the more egregious failure of pastoral leadership by so many bishops who put their image - and the image of the Church - ahead of the safety and welfare of children. It is important for Catholics and people of goodwill everywhere to know the stories of survivors – the clergy sexual abuse they suffered, the continuing the abuse they suffer from the Church as they seek to ensure the safety of children and justice, and the nature of the life-long challenges they heroically work to overcome. To survivors here today and throughout the world, please know that you are not alone, and your uphill work for justice and to protect children continues to inspire those who know your stories.

Allow me to briefly present a portrait of the situation we find ourselves in today in order to better understand the state of accountability and responsibility in the Church today.

Two years ago, our bishops gathered in Dallas to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The result of that meeting was the issuance of a number of pledges and commitments to survivors, their families, and the Catholic faithful in the form of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. In the Charter, the American bishops acknowledged that secrecy enabled clergy sexual abuse and inhibited healing for victims. They also took responsibility for dealing with this problem strongly, consistently, and effectively in the future. In November 2002 the US bishops agreed to hold themselves fraternally accountable to the pastoral intent of the Charter. One annual audit report – which is more accurately described as a self-report - for compliance with the Charter was issued in January 2004. It contained recommendations one of which called for a “long-term” plan for accountability by the members of the USCCB with the provisions of the Charter or any succeeding documents or programs.” The report concludes: “Failing to create a long-term plan for accountability and response to the crisis of sexual abuse of children and youth would undermine the substantial efforts that have been made thus far. A short-term solution would be perceived as insensitive to the lifelong pain suffered by victims and as showing an unwillingness to recognize that cases of such abuse remain unreported or could occur in the future.”

Then in February of this year with the issuance of the John Jay and National Review Board reports, Bishop Wilton Gregory lamentably declared the crisis was “history” at a point in time when only one bishop, Bernard Cardinal Law, had been held accountable in any way and with the needs of tens of thousands of survivors seemingly pushed aside. That same day the NRB called for “fraternal correction” as one of several means to address the causes of the crisis. Then last month we were horrified to hear that the Administrative Committee of the USCCB was recommending that the audits be cancelled this year. Finally, within the past two weeks it was announced Cardinal Law was being assigned to be the honorary position of archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.

So, what does this portrait look like? In less than three months many of the US bishops had closed their eyes to the clergy sexual abuse crisis and its causes; ignored the recommendations of the National Review Board to create safe environments for children; reneged on their pledges of two years ago to survivors, their families and faithful Catholics; and then announced they would discuss this breach of trust behind closed doors – in secret. And, to highlight the dark shades of this depressing image, the number of bishops held accountable who knowingly allowed children to be sexually abused by clergy had gone from one to zero.

I ask you, is this what accountability or fraternal correction look like to you? Do these actions represent, in any way, the pastoral intent of the bishops’ words in the Dallas Charter? Is this a portrait of an institutional Church that is seeking to genuinely restore the trust it has so irresponsibly and tragically squandered? And, is this the kind of pastoral leadership that can possibly advance the mission of the Church today?

The bishops stated in the Dallas Charter: “We pledge ourselves to act in a way that manifests our accountability to God, to his people, and to one another in this grave matter.” Today, the bishops must realize that Voice of the Faithful, lay Catholics everywhere, survivors and people of good will are also holding them accountable – accountable not only to their words but also to the fulfillment of what our faith offers. Today the bishops must realize that lay Catholics are coming together, and making our voices heard to meet our responsibilities to our Church. Survivors are courageously coming together in growing numbers for comfort, and in some cases survival, but in all cases to do the work that the institutional Church has failed at for them.

Our petitions for reform are a first step for tens of thousands of Catholics to take some action and to acknowledge our responsibility for the future of the Catholic Church. These petitions call on the Pope to meet with survivors and to hold Bishops responsible for their actions; on the Bishops to disclose details of their oversight role in the transfer of abusive clergy; and on the bishops to cooperate with civil authorities to investigate both clergy sexual abuse crimes and incidents of negligence or cover-up by those responsible for overseeing perpetrators.

There is much work to do and it will take years to restore the trust in the institutional Church. We pray for our bishops this day and this week to find the courage to be accountable to their words and responsibilities as pastoral leaders. We also pray that they realize that we have found our voice and we are here to stay. We have learned that silence is what allowed the unthinkable to happen and now our silence is no longer an option.

Thank you.