REGIONAL
NEWS
Marian Walsh legislation
gets a boost from Boston Area VOTF: Yesterday, Boston Area VOTF members
participated in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the
State House hearing on Bill 1074; the bill, authored by Massachusetts State
Senator Walsh, would require religious organizations to disclose financial
information now required of all other nonprofit organizations. A summary
of the bill and links to current press coverage follow:
ST.BERNARD'S, NEWTON -
Joe Drake; MARY IMMACULATE, NEWTON - Arthur McCaffery; ST. FRANCIS XAVIER,
BOLTON - Sharon Shepala; ST ALBERT THE GREAT, WEYMOUTH - Sharon Harrington;
Colin Riley; ST. JAMES, WELLESLEY - Paul Hughes, Phil Connor; LONGMEADOW
- John Bowen; ST. SUSANNA’S, DEDHAM - Fr. Steve Josoma, Don Pachuta (Norwood);
ST. ANSELM’S, SUDBURY - Bill Bonner, Jim Walsh; STEERING COMMITTEE - Dorothy
Kennedy, NATICK; Ed Wade, GLOUCESTER, CAPE ANN and John Hynes, CANTON.
Part of the press
kit assembled by the National office includes the following
summary of the legislation under discussion:
The legislation would require
religious organizations to:
- File annual financial
reports with the Attorney General;
- File certificates of
solicitation with the Attorney General;
- File a corporate certificate
with the Secretary of State; and
- Require all public
charities to list each parcel of real property owned anywhere as part of
their annual financial report.
The legislation will assist
the Attorney General in his historic responsibility to represent the public
interest in the proper use and solicitation of charitable funds, which includes
the responsibility to ensure that charities are meeting donors’ expectations,
that charitable donations are not diverted or wasted, and that charities
are acting as responsible stewards of their assets. It will also provide
more accountability to the public – assisting them in making choices about
which charities to support.
Law review articles show
that prior to the 1950’s, most state Attorneys General did not supervise
or regulate the administration of public charities by statute. When existing
regulatory schemes were enacted, religious organizations were generally exempt
for political reasons, but “neither reason nor common sense can justify making
one class of public funds accountable and another exempt.” See 105 U. Pa.
L. Rev. 1044 (1957).
[This legislation has
the support of the MA Secretary of State, 11 state senators, and 22 state
representatives.]
VOTF Bridgeport, CT is
poised for “takeoff” on a Convocation-generated initiative. Tony Wiggins
reports:
The Bridgeport, CT. VOTF
Board met and agreed on an "action" item as a result of attendance at the
Indianapolis Working Groups. The Bridgeport Board's "action" item was to
concentrate on National Proposal #6 advocating election of bishops and bishops
councils. The proposed action would involve a "simulated bishop election." This
would be a dress rehearsal, should our diocesan bishop’s seat become vacated.
The purpose would be education of the laity, as well as identifying practical,
down to earth steps to be taken, when the future Church approves election
of bishops by laypersons, priests, deacons, and religious.
The Bridgeport VOTF Board
named a skeleton committee of three board members for this action. Less than
a week later, at a general meeting of our affiliate, nearly 100 of our members
voted overwhelmingly in favor of going forward with this action.
Our committee, chaired
by Peg Mooney and Joe O'Callaghan, has planned to kick off our Simulated
Bishop Election Campaign at our early September monthly meeting, holding
a prayer service, followed by open discussion of the action project among
members, and closing with the whole group "commissioning" the committee in
its duties.
The "Diocesan Synod Committee" was
enlarged to eight people at this meeting and is scheduled to meet this week
to put together a plan and timetable.
“Twist of Faith” is
playing nationwide: For Illinois, Oregon, Indiana, Missouri and Washington
show times and locations, click
here.
From Paul Kendrick - A
small group of VOTF members in Maine who identify themselves as the
St. Ignatius Group organized a press conference at the Diocese of Portland
Chancery on July 26th. A letter, signed by three mothers whose children
were sexually abused by priests, was to be hand-delivered to Bishop Malone – the
bishop was away on vacation. The letter told Bishop Malone to make public
the names of 25 priests who have been accused of abusing minors. The mothers
told the bishop that we can't protect children if we don't know who to
protect them from. VOTF members from Maine and the Boston area (including
Marge Bean, Chairperson VOTF Survivor Support) and other survivors' advocates
attended the press conference. Three press and media outlets provided coverage.
On Sunday, August 7th,
the St. Ignatius group began the first of what may be many weekly vigils
at the Cathedral Church in Portland where the bishop is the pastor. The vigil
will continue each Sunday morning until the bishop releases the names of
all priests who have been accused of abusing minors. Two people will stand
in silent vigil each week.
Meanwhile, VOTF Maine has
had a meeting with Bishop Malone and found points of agreement and hope.
Details will follow in the next issue of In the Vineyard.
The Parish Voice office
wishes to highlight VOTF Spokane, WA.
The following was provided by Val Pember:
- We
have lobbied for new sexual abuse legislation for the past three sessions
and we've gone to Olympia to testify at the hearings many times. The
legislators are slowly seeing the light, because we now have a mandatory
reporting law in effect. It took three years to pass it.
- We
are also working on eliminating the Statute of Limitations on Child sex
abuse. We hope to solidify this bill during the next session of the legislature.
- Among our best efforts
has been a newsletter that has been sent out to over a hundred households
on the West Coast informing them of what is happening, not only in our
diocese but globally, regarding the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic
Church. Many of the recipients send these newsletters on to their friends
and family.
VOTF National applauds
the hard work and growing success of VOTF Seattle.
From Wisconsin: Cecelia
DePrey forwarded
this link on the tragic death by suicide of a much-loved but very private
priest. Several VOTF members wrote of their concern for the loneliness of
many priests’ lives. Their hope is that understanding the challenges of the
priest’s ministry would encourage parish communities to continue outreach
to priests.
From VOTF CT’s
Grace and Bob Marrion, VOTF in East Lyme, CT has taken their story
to the public arena as they struggle for dialogue with their diocesan leadership
- Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, Bishop of Norwich. Click
here. Note: You may need to subscribe to access this story.
It is free and quick.
VOTF Winchester,
MA is selling their original-art Christmas cards again. Bob Morris
writes: “In 2003, our Winchester, MA affiliate designed and produced four
Christmas cards to help benefit survivors. We have raised over $6000 the
last two years, and have donated these funds to provide scholarships for
survivors to attend the annual SNAP conference (2004) and to subsidize
survivors to visit Link-Up's Farm in Kentucky (2005). We are aiming for
$10,000 this year and are asking other affiliates to participate in this
drive.” Contact rmorrisvotf@aol.com
VOTF San Francisco -
As Archbishop Levada of San Francisco, CA was preparing to leave San Francisco
for his new post in Rome as head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, he was served with a subpoena ordering him to be deposed in
relation to clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed by some 250 plaintiffs against
the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., which the archbishop headed from 1986
to 1995. See Catholic
News Service.
From VOTF Brooklyn,
NY comes a note from Ed Wilson: In Brooklyn, we continue to work
with a previously hostile bishop who had banned VOTF in Camden, NJ. We
are making progress on issues where we can and do have an impact such as
parish council formation and training, survivor assistance, parish child-protection
programs, financial accountability, adjudication of cases of accused priests
and, shortly, diocesan-wide lay participation in decisions about parish
and school closings.
CALENDAR Notes:
[Many thanks to the
Boston College office for providing the following information to In the
Vineyard. The details are to be posted on the BC web site this week http://www.bc.edu/church21/]
SAVE THE DATE: Sunday
October 23, 2005 at Robsham Theater, Boston College, MA from 1-5 pm.
“Voice of the Faithful:
Findings from a Study of a Social Movement within the Catholic Church”
In 2002 a crisis of
historic dimensions was exposed: Catholic bishops in the U.S. were compromised
by revelations of widespread cover-ups of sexual abuse by members of the
clergy. The impact of this scandal was acutely felt in Boston. In response,
a lay-founded social movement calling itself Voice of the Faithful (VOTF)
was formed. Within two years it had spread to all four regions of the country
and to several foreign nations. This symposium discusses sociological findings
about VOTF’s origins, its national membership, persistence, and possibilities
for the future.
A. Lay
Catholic Responses to the Scandal and Cover-up: Class, Education, Age
and Ethnicity
- Why St. John’s of
Wellesley?
- VOTF Founders and
Leaders: A Portrait a.
- Deep Roots in
Catholic culture: The role of Catholic parents and schools b.
- Deep Roots in
American Culture: Professional and Political Ramifications of Being
American and Catholic
- The National Membership
of VOTF: A Portrait
- Comparing VOTF and
the General Population of American Catholics:
Presentations*
Dr. Michele Dillon, University of New Hampshire
Dr. Nancy T. Ammerman, Boston University
B. VOTF as a
Social Movement within the Catholic Church
- The Emergence of VOTF
- The Growth of VOTF
- VOTF in the Context
of the Catholic Church as Institution
Presentations*:
Rev. Dr. Robert Imbelli, Boston College
Dr. Mary Hines, Emmanuel College
C. VOTF and its
Future 2.
- Two Social Movement
Scholars review the findings
Presentations*
Dr. John McCarthy, Penn State University
Dr. William Gamson, Boston College
Rev. Joseph Appleyard,
S.J., Boston College will serve as the moderator. •
- Each presentation
will begin with an overview of the findings by Dr. William V. D’Antonio
and Dr. Anthony J. Pogorelc, S.S. of The Catholic University of America.
VOTF Seacoast Affiliates,
MA continue their Faith Formation series in collaboration with Boston
College. “The Living Christ and We, His Disciples” will take place Sunday
evenings September 25, 2005 to April 9, 2006. Mo Donovan is happy to send
along information and details provided in an excellent brochure. Contact
Mo at maujane@gis.net. Speakers include Revs. Michael Himes and James Keenan
and Dr. Mary Ann Hinsdale.
VOTF Falmouth, Upper
Cape, MA: You’re invited! On September 11, 2005, "The Church of Tomorrow" will
be presented from 1:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Morse Pond School, 323 Jones
Road, Falmouth, MA. The program is a panel discussion made up of clergy,
religious, and laity to discuss roles and relationships in our Church now
and in the coming years as the number of clergy continues to decrease.
The Seminar panel will
include Rev. John O'Malley, S.J., a noted theologian; Rev. Tom Mahoney, a
parish pastor and leader of the Priest's Forum; Sr. Marie LaBollita, a parish
pastoral associate; Pam Chaplain, a lay parish administrator; and Michael
Iwanowicz, deacon at Our Lady of Sorrows, Sharon, MA. All are welcome. Please
join us. For more information, contact cmcmanus2@excite.com
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Fr.
Bob Bowers – Tribute to a Parish Priest
Some 300 people,
mostly members of VOTF, gathered at St Susanna’s Church in Dedham (MA)
on a hot and steamy August night to pay tribute to Fr Bob Bowers. Fr
Bowers’ status as a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston has been endangered
because of his outspoken criticism of the current parish realignment
process. The faithful were there to show their support for his courage
and to honor his achievements.
Master of Ceremonies
was State Senator Jarrett Barrios of Cambridge and speakers represented
the many organizations with whom Bowers works. Included were the Chernobyl
Children’s Project, Por Cristo, the Women’s Lunch Place, St. Catherine
of Sienna parish of Charlestown (as well as the food pantry at St Catherine’s
where Bowers held his last assignment. It was a real demonstration
of the second goal of Voice of the Faithful – Support Priests of Integrity. Submitted
by John Moynihan |
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