Why Catholics Join VOTF

The following statements are personal reflections from VOTF members. They are not policy statements or calls from the VOTF organization. VOTF encourages the free and safe exchange of views in our journey toward a holier Church.

Jean Westerman, Washington, PA, a parochial school teacher for 2 years, a public school teacher for 25+ years. Recently retired. Part-time instructor at a local community college, grandmother of four children.

Why I joined VOTF:

• I believe wholeheartedly in "Keep the faith, change the church" (VOTF's banner message). Martin Luther tried unsuccessfully to do the obverse of this: Change the faith, keep the church. The result was Protestantism and the massive splintering of churches. I believe the VOTF banner is the correct one and will prevail.
  

• I believe in all three of the VOTF goals (support those who have been abused, support priests of integrity, and change the church).
  

• The time is ripe. In my opinion, this is the biggest crisis in the church since the reformation, and change is just as much needed now as it was then.

• Sexual molestation is a heinous crime against innocent children. I have 4 grandchildren, ages 1,2,3 and I want them to be able to be Catholic without being abused.
  

• Is the hierarchy of the church Catholic? (maybe only partially, they have forgotten the laity). VOTF is trying to make this forgetfulness known.
  

• Blaming a 6-year-old child and his parents for being negligent when being sexually molested by a priest (the article was in the Boston Globe) raises my blood pressure to astronomical levels. How could a church official ever say this?
  

• I am tired of hearing that sexual molestation among Catholic clergy should be swept under the carpet and it is un-Catholic not to do so. Dissent is very much needed in a church that must change, or drastically lose its viability more than it already has.
  

• Women who feel called to the priesthood are being denied the chance to do so by a church hierarchy that is not open to the Holy Spirit's call within the laity, especially among women.
  

• St. Francis answered the Holy Spirit's call to repair the Church by forming the Franciscan order; Catholics today can help repair the Church by joining VOTF.
  

• I am a sincere Catholic parishioner. I go to Mass every Sunday and am a dedicated C.C.D. teacher in my Church. I believe that God calls me to be a VOTF member and to work toward change in the church under the VOTF banner.

Susan Scully Troy, Boston, MA
I was only holding on by my fingertips. The question most frequently asked me in the past 10 years has been, "Why do you stay?" or "How can you stay?" And I was running out of answers. It wasn't my faith that was being questioned by myself and others, but my choice of Church in which to express my faith. For not only was I a Catholic, but a Catholic woman, and a Catholic woman who had graduated from a Catholic theological school with a Masters of Divinity. Why stay somewhere where you are really not welcome? Love of church. As contradictory as that seems, I find I am not alone in that finding. Thousands of Catholics are joining VOTF because they want to stay, even though so much about the Catholic Church feels alien to them right now. And they want to stay in a church that truly reflects their Christian beliefs: radical love for the other, inclusivity, humility, joy and hope.

At the very first gathering after Mass at St. John's, when I sat and heard others speak their pain, and anger, and frustration and sense of betrayal, it was suddenly as if I could come home. I was not alone. My truth was a shared truth, beginning with the shocking revelations about the crimes of John Geoghan and the shocking truth of his multiple reassignments by Boston's Good Shepherds. The hideous betrayal of children in the name of protecting the good name of the church and its priests was the final outrage. We had to take the church back from those who had redefined "church" in terms of power and authority and obedience. It wasn't the church that I heard Jesus Christ proclaim in the Gospels, actually, it was the extreme opposite. I am a spiritual director. I listen to people who want to talk about their faith, their understanding of the divine, of God. They have taught me so much: that God is present to each of us, without membership in a church. The church is a means of recognizing and responding to God in action in our world. If that doesn't happen, there is no point to church. A church that enables pedophiles to prey on our children has lost its way, entirely. I want the church back. As we say in our opening prayer at each VOTF meeting, echoing the words of the official church documents of Vatican II, "We are the Church, We are the People of God." Surrounded by so many faith-filled people at VOTF, the truth of these words seems to have found its moment once more.

Terri Daxon
This is the Catholic Church's 9-11. I became interested in VOTF because our blessed Church needs help - from all of us in the pews. I also feel betrayed by so-called men of God who deceived us and committed crimes both against God and the state. Two of the deviants once served as associate pastors at my parish (at separate times). Both heard my confessions and gave me guidance — too bad they didn't follow their own advice.

It's time for us in the pews to demand a say in who leads our parishes, help conduct background checks on incoming priests and others in parish leadership and better training for our church leaders. They should talk to the Boy Scouts, who have a good program to teach leaders and parents how to be aware of child abuse and how to avoid circumstances that could lead someone to accuse you of abusing a minor. They also screen leaders for past abuse, even though that is not foolproof in case the person has never been caught before.

Donna Salacuse, Concord, MA
I reacted to the crisis of pedophile priests with disbelief and disorientation. The further revelations of the hierarchy's mishandling of the crisis - their lack of a pastoral not to mention moral response — have left me shattered. I joined Voice of the Faithful because it is a moderate group of concerned Catholics who have taken a stand against the abuse of children by priests as well as the culture of secrecy in the Church that allowed the abuse to happen. Together we reach out to those who have been abused. We seek to help them and in some way to make up for the suffering that they have endured. We look to a time when the moral leadership in our Church will be restored.

Voice of the Faithful has brought hope to me that the laity will assume the role given it by Vatican II and stand together with the clergy as Church. The laity represents a vast resource of talent and energy. We seek our rightful place in the Church so that together we may deal with the challenges facing us. We must never again be the mute "people in the pews."