ST. MICHAEL’S VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL
GRATIFIED BY CARDINAL’S RESCINDING OF BAN –
VOTF CALLS FOR MEETING WITH CARDINAL LAW
TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT GROUP

Newton, Mass., – Oct. 12, 2002 – Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a group of over 25,000 mainstream lay Catholics who support the teachings of the Church and who formed in response to the Church's sexual abuse crisis, has learned that Cardinal Bernard Law, in a letter to Rev. Paul Keyes dated October 12, has rescinded Regional Bishop Emilio Allue’s ban against St. Michael’s Voice of the Faithful meeting on church property in North Andover, Mass. However, in a confusing and seemingly contradictory statement in the same letter, Cardinal Law states that “it would be inappropriate for new chapters to use church property until I had received further information about Voice of the Faithful.”

“We are extremely gratified by this action,” said John Vellante, spokesperson for the North Andover VOTF group. “We hope this is the beginning of open and honest dialogue between the church and Voice of the Faithful. At the same time, however, we hope the Cardinal will see fit to allow all VOTF affiliates to meet on their respective church properties.”

VOTF Interim Executive Director Steve Krueger, commented, “Although we appreciate Cardinal Law’s rescinding of this ban, this situation creates several perplexing questions. First, we don’t understand the ‘grandfathering in’ of existing VOTF affiliates, yet the continued banning of future VOTF affiliates within the same archdiocese, particularly since we as Catholics have every right within Church teaching to assemble for the good of our Church.” Krueger went on, “Given the fact that there is a continuing ‘misunderstanding’ of the mission and goals of VOTF on the part of Cardinal Law and the Archdiocese, we don’t understand why Cardinal Law hasn’t spoken to us directly to hear our answers to his questions. To minimize future disruption and pain among our faith family, Voice of the Faithful calls on Cardinal Law to meet with representatives of VOTF without further delay, and not through intermediaries.”

Krueger concluded, “We’re eager to meet with the Cardinal and explain that our mission and goals are fully consistent with Church teachings, and that a group like VOTF is precisely the kind of committed lay group that Vatican II envisioned. To help him understand us better, this week we’ll be sending Cardinal Law and other U.S. bishops a working paper detailing VOTF’s stance regarding our Goal #3, ‘Structural Change,’ which appears to be significant source of concern for the hierarchy. We want to help the Cardinal put his concerns to rest.”