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Contact: Suzanne Morse 617-680-2131, smorse@votf.org
An Open Letter to Archbishop Sean O'Malley
Most Reverend Sean Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap
Archbishop of Boston
2121 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02135-3193
Dear Archbishop O'Malley,
We see the arrest of two faithful Catholics on Christmas Eve at Sacred
Heart Church in South Natick as a significant step backward in what we
had hoped was movement in a forward direction toward reconciliation,
healing, and meaningful lay involvement in the Boston Archdiocese. It
is imperative, as pastoral leader of the Archdiocese of Boston, that
you understand the enormity of outrage and sorrow this event has caused.
The action of arresting Catholics on Christmas Eve because they chose
to support their faith community by initiating a round-the-clock vigil
is, in our view, a failure in pastoral leadership. Several Catholic communities
have undertaken vigils to take responsibility for their faith and to
preserve the parishes that have nurtured them. All of the vigils have
been peaceful and, more importantly, have brought these communities together.
It is unnecessary and excessive to call in law enforcement officials
on Christmas Eve, one of the holiest nights of the year for Catholics,
to force two individuals - Anne Green and Leo Ryan - out of a Catholic
parish. Asking to drop the charges against these two Catholics, while
a positive gesture fit for the holiness of the Christmas season, does
not erase the fact that the arrests should not have happened in the first
place. Catholics should not need to worry that their pastor may call
the police on them merely because they have chosen to peacefully disagree
with his decisions or those of the archdiocese. The policy of the archdiocese
with regard to the vigils has been to communicate with these parishes
in a peaceful manner - is it your intention to treat future parishes
differently and to support pastors who call the police to prevent vigils?
The parishes currently in vigil have made good faith efforts to work
with the archdiocese and the External Review Committee to resolve this
current impasse. Furthermore, they have truly become model Catholic parishes,
embodying respectful responsibility for the future of their faith communities
and promoting the Gospel values of our Church. Therefore, the events
at Sacred Heart cause us great concern that these parishes also will
be treated in an unnecessarily heavy-handed fashion. Is it the intention
of the archdiocese to confront faithful Catholics who object to the reconfiguration
process and have chosen to vigil at their parishes? We believe that there
are no circumstances in which it is necessary or acceptable to arrest
faithful Catholics for simply choosing to take responsibility for the
life and future of their parishes.
The Catholics at Sacred Heart, and in all of the parishes in vigil,
are not interested in perpetuating these vigils for the sake of carrying
out a vigil - they only wish to preserve strong and vibrant parishes
for future generations. Arresting Catholics on the evening before the
celebration of our Lord's birth does nothing to promote the Catholic
faith, rebuild the lost trust in the institutional Church, or encourage
the kind of shared responsibility between laity and the hierarchy for
which Pope John Paul II recently called. We ask you to confirm the public
comments made recently that individuals in parishes in vigil will not
be arrested. Finally, we urge you, as we urge ourselves, to work cooperatively
with all Catholics - especially those in closing parishes - to build
a consensus to solve the daunting challenges of the archdiocese.
We pray that this New Year, this time of wonderful beginnings affords
all Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston the opportunity to truly start
anew. We thank Him for giving us another New Year. We thank Him for giving
us another new chance. We hope that all of us in God's Church will not
continue to disappoint Him.
Sincerely,
Boston Voice of the Faithful Council Steering Committee:
Peter Anderson, St. Mary of the Angels, Roxbury
Dorothy Kennedy, St. Anselm, Sudbury
Leslie Dennis, St. Mary's, Charlestown
Linda Gray MacKay, St. Agatha's, Milton
Sheila Connors Grove, Our Lady of Sorrows, Sharon
Darrell Simpson, St. Zepherin, Wayland
Michael Gustin, St. Catherine of Alexandria, Westford
Edward Wade, St. Peter's, Gloucester
John Hynes, St. Gerard Majella, Canton
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