Contact: John Moynihan 617-680-2131, jmoynihan@votf.org

For Immediate Release

Voice of the Faithful Declares Support for Priests Regardless of Sexual Orientation
Urges Membership to Wear Green Ribbons as Sign of Support
Candlelight Vigils Planned for Six Cities

Newton, MA – December 7, 2005 On the upcoming weekend of December 10-11, Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) is asking its members to show their support for Catholic priests regardless of any priest’s sexual orientation. In an e-mail message sent out to its 30,000 members nationwide, the Catholic reform organization called on its membership to demonstrate:

• their support of Voice of the Faithful's second goal - to support priests of integrity, regardless of sexual orientation.
• and their belief that excluding homosexuals from the priesthood is not a solution to the clergy sexual abuse crisis

VOTF members are asked to wear a green ribbon visibly displayed at the Mass they attend this weekend, December 10-11, and subsequent weekends. In addition, VOTF affiliates will be holding prayerful candlelight vigils in cities across the country. Vigils are planned for the following locations:

CA Los Angeles Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W Temple St. 6:00 PM

IL Chicago Chancery Office, 155 E. Superior St. 7:00 PM

MA Boston Cathedral of the Holy Cross, 1400 Washington St. 7:00 PM
Fall River Chancery Office, 423 Highland Ave. 3:00 PM
Springfield St. Michael’s Cathedral, Eliot St. 7:00 PM

PA - Philadelphia Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul, 18th & Parkway 7:00 PM

In the e-mailed announcement of this action, VOTF noted: “As many Catholics have been aware since January 2002, our good priests have been under siege. In February of that year our fledgling organization pledged our support for those ‘priests of integrity’ – we knew our servant leaders by their pastoral presence in our lives. We know them still.”

The organization stressed that “the support of Voice of the Faithful for priests of integrity comes with no ‘asterisk’ – in the wake of the recently released Vatican document on homosexuality in US seminaries, it is time to be demonstrable in that support. We invite you to join a National gesture of our conviction that a vocation to the priesthood is not and should not be restricted by one’s sexuality. As was quoted in the Tablet by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, ‘We should be more attentive to whom our seminarians may be inclined to hate than whom they love. Racialism, misogyny and homophobia would all be signs that someone could not be a good model of Christ.’”

Ray Joyce, Executive Director of VOTF stated: “We are told in Acts of the Apostles that the early Christian community was recognized when observers would say of them, ‘See how they love one another.’ What better time to live that message?”

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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 survivors of abuse, support priests of integrity, and shape structural change within the Catholic Church in full accordance and harmony with Church teaching.