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

For Immediate Release

Remarks by James E. Post, Voice of the Faithful President
SNAP National Conference
Chicago, IL

For Immediate Release
Communications Office
Saturday, June 11, 2005

Good afternoon.

The program says this is a “Welcome”. Well, I think of my remarks this afternoon as an “opening act” for Fr. Tom Doyle who will speak to us later. Believe me, I am honored to be Tom Doyle’s opening act.

I wanted to be here with you in Chicago this weekend for two reasons.

First, I want to say to each of you, as clearly as possible, that we stand together in the fight for social justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Voice of the Faithful and SNAP continue to cooperate in a fight to rid the Catholic Church of one of the great evils of our lifetime –clergy sexual abuse.

My second reason for being here today is to publicly thank SNAP and its leaders --Barbara Blaine, David Clohessy, and the leaders of local SNAP chapters in so many communities across this nation — for your support of Voice of the Faithful.

Your participation in the work of VOTF has made a great difference to us. You have told the story of your experience, an experience that is deeply personal and painful. We know it is not easy to speak about these matters, even to a sympathetic audience, and that makes us all the more appreciative of the trust you have placed in us. Thank you.

You have also helped us mobilize and motivate thousands of people to leave their “comfort zones” and take actions they would not otherwise have done. I count myself among the many lay Catholics who have been inspired to challenge Church leaders, to demand explanation, and to insist on change.

I know that thousands of people who call themselves Catholic have been forced to look in the mirror and ask “Who am I?” If I don't step up, speak out, and do something about this horrible evil, how can I call myself a Catholic, a Christian, a good human being? You have stirred the conscience of Catholics across this nation, and set in motion processes of change that will help us one day achieve justice for survivors and safety for all children and adults in our Church.

We don’t apologize for the Catholic Church. Make no mistake, at Voice of the Faithful we want to change what ails the Catholic Church.

Our Church is still filled with good people who believe that their faith is found, and expressed, in action. Action is directed to help others, to create new ways of serving others, and to assist those in need. There may be fewer people in the Church these days --far too many have left in the past few years, frustrated by the slow pace of institutional change. But many also remain to keep the faith, while trying to change the Church.

Church-bashing is easy sport these days, and I won’t engage in that today. There is far too much embarrassing action by so-called Church leaders to provide fodder for every comedian and pundit in the United States and beyond.

This week’s example of outrageous action by people who just don’t “get it” is the decision of the archbishop of Boston to order the locks changed at Our Lady of Presentation School in Boston, only two days before the end of the school year. The ostensible reason is to “protect the children” by preventing their parents from occupying the school as a form of protest against the decision to close the facility. This lock-out is another public relations disaster, another blow to trust, another reason to be embarrassed as a Catholic.

Amidst this bad news, Voice of the Faithful continues to do something, day by day, that moves us one more step toward reform. We don’t know the length of the journey, but we know the destination. That destination is Church restored to moral integrity, a Church to be proud of, a Church that is doing the right thing in the right way.

Our job is to do something each day to move forward ... to bring justice for survivors, reform to an institutional crying in need, and an end to scourge of sexual abuse. This week, members of Voice of the Faithful have been trying to do some things …

- In Ohio, members are working with SNAP and others to urge legislators to support the roll back of the statute of limitations;

In California, members are pressing diocesan lawyers and bishops to make public the records that tell the true story of how predators were protected and coddled for years and years;

- We are urging the National Review Board to become more effective;

-We are urging bishops to hold one another accountable (or to be embarrassed for not doing so); and on and on.

Next week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be meeting in Chicago for it semi-annual meeting. Among the items of business for the bishops will be consideration of a Revised Charter for the Protection of Children and Young Adults. The bishops are not sharing the proposed revisions, despite a pledge of public openness. Voice of the Faithful submitted detailed comments and recommendations to the bishops in January after receiving a copy of the 94 page Workbook used by their working group. We know the document has been reviewed in the U.S. and the Vatican, and that Cardinal George of Chicago is among those involved in that process. We fear that a watering down of provisions is the likely outcome, given the secrecy and lack of public dialogue.

The so-called Dallas Charter is a milestone in the Church’s response to clergy sexual abuse. It was not a perfect document, but it signaled commitment by bishops to respond more systematically and effectively to the disclosures they faced. Three years later, we fear that the audit provisions, the consultative processes, and the enforcement provisions will be so watered down as to make the Charter less effective, not more effective. That is exactly the wrong way for the bishops to act. Trust in the Church, and trust in their leadership of the Church, is at, or near, an all-time low. Gutting the Charter will serve neither the institutional Church nor God.

Next month, hundreds of VOTF leaders from around the country will gather in Indianapolis and develop the blueprint for the next stage of our organization’s future. We have going through a lot of internal self-study and change of late. It’s the kind of change that isn’t very glamorous or interesting, but it is vital to our longer term plans.

We intend to be around for a long time to come. Our organization and this movement have both come a long way in the past three years. Still, we know the journey ahead is a long one.

The list of things that need to be done is challenging; the hours in each day are too few; and our energy flags from time to time. But if we do one thing each day, that is 365 actions in a year ... if we can get 10 people to do the same thing, that adds up to 3,650 acts of conscience helping to move a world that did not want to know about sexual abuse. And if we can get 100 people to take one action each day for a year, that means 36,500 actions are taken to change the status quo.

Gandhi, a non-Catholic, offered an inspirational message for today’s Catholics: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” That's the message that should inspire all of us, and do so today, tomorrow, and every day.

In July 2002, VOTF held a public convention in Boston. Thousands attended and it was an amazing experience. I said something to survivors that day that I want to paraphrase, and reiterate, today:

“To survivors, I say ... we will probably disappoint you. You must hold our feet to the fire. Do not let us become complacent as things begin to change. Do not let us rest until we can fall asleep knowing that no child - and no adult- will ever again be abused in the Catholic Church.”

We are not there yet. We are not near the end yet. Perhaps, as Winston Churchill said, we may be near the end of the beginning.

What we do know --with certainty-- is that the commitment we have made to these issues, to these needs, and to one another is not a “fair weather” commitment. It is an “all-weather” commitment. And that is the commitment I came to reiterate to all of you today. You are the witnesses to this pledge of support in the fight for justice for survivors, in the fight for reform of the Catholic Church, and in the fight to end sexual abuse.

Thank you.

//end

About Voice of the Faithful: Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) is a worldwide movement of concerned mainstream Catholics formed in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The group's mission is to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church. Its goals are to support victim/survivors of abuse, support priests of integrity, and shape structural change within the Catholic Church in full accordance and harmony with Church teaching. VOTF’s supporting membership exceeds 30,000 registered persons from 50 U.S. states, 39 countries and 207 Parish Voice affiliates throughout the world.

Join us in Indianapolis, Indiana for “The Laity Speak: Accountability Now,” a convocation of Catholic laity, between July 8th and 10th. For more information, visit the convocation web site at: