Affiliate News

VOTF Central

VOTF Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN
Submitted by Jack Manley

"Sex Abuse in The Catholic Church: Healing The Hurts in All of Us" - The event, sponsored by Voice of The Faithful- Twin Cities, was held recently at The University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. The three-hour program drew over 90 people and included an address by A. W. Richard Sipe*, a panel including Sipe, two therapists familiar with clergy abuse, a victim/ survivor and an apology service for those hurt" by sexual abuse or exploitation by a priest, deacon, nun or other vowed religious or lay employee of the Archdiocese and also their families". A reception closed the event. Archbishop Harry Flynn of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did not respond to a written invitation.

Sipe's talk "The Blessings and Curses of Forgiveness" had as its central theme forgiveness and healing, principally forgiveness of sexual abuse by priests, bishops and religious including 10 steps that can lead to healing. The full text can be found on his web site, www.richardsipe.com/lectures/

The panel fielded questions from the audience for over an hour. The questions dealt with a variety of topics from what signs or signals indicate there might be a problem and how do you help a victim to what is the story on the statute of limitations. The apology service included music by a harpist, scriptural readings and individual apologies delivered in the name of the Catholic Church. The apologists included priests, nuns, a Christian Brother (FSC) and lay people. More than twenty people went forward to receive apologies.

[*Richard Sipe is a psychotherapist and former Benedictine monk and priest. For more than 30 years, he has been engaged in research on the institution and practice of priestly celibacy.]

VOTF Cleveland/Akron, OH
Submitted by Tom Byrne

Fr. Donald Cozzens addressed the Cleveland First Friday Club on Nov. 4 on "Church Structures and the Abuse Crisis." Exploring beyond a theme he has talked about previously, the medieval structures of our institutional Church, he provided the Milwaukee Archbishops' story as understandable in light of Archbishop Weakland seeing himself as "lord of the manor." But we are not serfs, and Cozzens underscored the outstanding educational level of American laity. Fr. Cozzens noted that our lay voice needs to engage the hierarchy, not confront them. He cited 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein who once referred to a street preacher in England: "If he really meant what he was shouting, he wouldn't be speaking in that voice."

Holding his new book Faith That Dares To Speak, Fr. Cozzens implored us to continue the dialogue on the issues in our Church today.

VOTF Dayton, OH
Submitted by Kris Ward

Judge Michael R. Merz, a Daytonian, who is one of the four new appointments to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board, was the guest at the November meeting of the Dayton Affiliate. The meeting took place just days before Judge Merz was introduced to the body of bishops and attended his first National Review Board meeting.

Judge Merz told the affiliate a letter from Jim Post acknowledging his appointment to the National Review Board was the first letter he received and the Dayton Affiliate's meeting was his first public appearance as a National Review Board member.

Judge Merz answered Dayton Affiliate members' questions for an hour an a half. He told the affiliate he would consider it his "support group" and added, "and that means giving me a swift kick if you think I need it." He provided all affiliate members with his email address saying he welcomed the members contact with him.

The Dayton Affiliate is also planning for a parish financial accountability seminar. Talks are underway with the University of Dayton and two national accounting firms.

VOTF South

VOTF Nashville, TN
Submitted by Jim Zralek

Our group elected new officers: co-presidents Elizabeth Warren and Anita Sheridan; Vice-president Florene Johns; and sec/treasurer Barbara Frazier.

We are beginning recruitment for new members by each present member promising to have one-on-one conversations with interested people.

We are planning a speaker event for January 2005. Our next meeting will be January 12, 2005 at 6:30 pm at St. Ann's on Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, TN. Anyone wanting more information, please contact Elizabeth Warren at elizabethswarren@comcast.net

VOTF East

VOTF Scituate, MA
Written by Roger Twyman and submitted by Kathy Cerruti Contact: dkcerruti@comcast.net

"It's none of your business," said his Irish grandmother when asked by the priest in the confessional why she missed Mass the previous Sunday.* And so it went in Father Timothy Joyce's talk on Celtic Spirituality at the St. Mary of the Nativity Parish Hall, Scituate on Thursday, November 11th. It was an evening of serious discussion of the origins of Celtic spirituality punctuated by tales of Irish folklore, family traditions and practices, and shared experiences. The stories had many in the audience laughing, smiling, or nodding in recognition of familiar themes.

Father Joyce talked about the conditions that formed the Irish psyche. He talked about the love and esteem Irish society bestowed on artists, poets, and musicians. He told about Queen Elisabeth I's efforts to eradicate Celtic culture by making her first targets of suppression the story tellers, poets, and musicians. The deep attachment to the land and to the melding of the land with the spiritual was integral to the history of the Celtic people: "thin places" like mountain tops and ocean tides that help us understand more fully the wonders of God's creation; "thin times" were illustrated by describing old Irish wakes, where family and friends gathered to help the deceased make their journey to the other side a comforting transition.

His stories and anecdotes had a serious intent - to portray the history, development, and growth of Celtic spiritual practices. From the early days of St. Patrick in the 6th century to today's Irish Catholics, Father Joyce took the group through the travails of the Irish people. Slavery, destitution, suppression, and abject poverty were all part of the Irish experience. He reminded the listeners of the fact that the experience of inner city blacks is still colored by the experience of their ancestors as slaves; America's new wave of immigrants are following a path that should be very familiar to the Irish, who have succeeded in overcoming the curse of discrimination. And he exhorted the audience to take up Christ's call to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted.

Throughout his talk, Father Joyce shed an introspective light on current-day Irish Catholic religious practices and mores - the emphasis on rote prayer, unflinching obedience to clergy, and "pay, pray, and obey" attitudes. He believes that these attitudes grew out of earlier Irish affliction and struggle and that they became survival tactics for a displaced people. Father Joyce called for a return to a healthier Celtic spirituality with an emphasis on imagination, discussion, collaboration, and community. He connected Celtic spirituality with the hope and promise of Vatican II in its emphasis on the role of the laity and its call to live the Gospel. Father Joyce noted that both Celtic spirituality and Vatican II have the potential to open windows and breathe life into a wounded Church.

Father Joyce, a Benedictine monk, is the Prior of the Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham. He has written several books on Celtic history and spirituality. The lecture was sponsored by the Scituate Affiliate of Voice of the Faithful and was attended by over 100 people.

[*She had misplaced her false teeth.]

VOTF Winchester Area, MA
Submitted by Bob Morris

The Winchester Area VOTF continued its weekly Monday night meetings in November. Clergy abuse survivor Gary Bergeron spoke on November 8 about his book Don't Call Me a Victim: Faith, Hope & Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church and the T.R.U.S.T Foundation he has established to aid other abuse survivors. Gary's story and hope for the future touched the 60 people present.

The Winchester VOTF is inaugurating a monthly series of faith sharing sessions, in order to fulfill VOTF's mission of being "prayerful people, attentive to the Spirit." The first session took place on November 29. On November 22, Professor Jane Regan of Boston College highlighted for about 50 people the importance of adult faith sharing, and the need for adults to have a place where honest conversations about their faith can occur. Many thanks are due to Bill Murphy for organizing this important program.

We are continuing to sell our Winchester VOTF Christmas cards. All proceeds will benefit clergy abuse survivors.

For information about Winchester VOTF, visit our web-site at www.votfwinchester.org, or contact Bob Morris at rmorrisvotf@aol.com.

VOTF Montgomery County, MD
Submitted by Judy Miller

On November 14, the eve of the 2004 general meeting of U.S. bishops in Washington, DC, nearly 300 Catholic laypersons gathered at a nearby site in Chevy Chase, Maryland to grapple with the manifold issues that remain unresolved from the clergy abuse scandal.

Five local affiliates - Bowie, MD; Greater Baltimore, MD; Holy Trinity, DC; Montgomery County, MD; and Northern VA invited national spokespersons from academia, the lay and survivor communities, and the bishops to address the question "Are the Wounds Healing?" All but the bishops were represented. Bishop Malooly (Baltimore) and Bishop Farrell (Washington, DC) declined the invitation because of weekend meetings in preparation for the USCCB meeting. The purpose of the symposium was to assess the church's progress in reconciliation and healing since the abuse scandal became public in January 2002.

David O'Brien, Loyola Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, gave the major presentation, "American Catholicism: Crisis and Beyond," followed by responses from president of VOTF Jim Post, founder and president of SNAP Barbara Blaine, and pastoral theologian and author Rev. Donald Cozzens.

At the conclusion of the symposium the VOTF affiliates awarded its first Award of Compassion to Mary Liz Austin, founder and president of Healing Voices in recognition of her dedication, devotion and compassion to the survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Healing Voices, headquartered in Frederick, MD is an organization dedicated to providing hope to survivors for healing, and to building a community of caring individuals dedicated to healing the wounds of clergy abuse, advocating for justice, and providing prayerful presence.

Are the wounds healing? After listening to the presenters and to the questions and comments of members of the audience one could conclude that we have a very long way to go in the healing of our wounded Church. However, the symposium did inform us, challenge us and inspire us to continue to be a part of reconciliation and healing within our Church.

Planners of our first collaborative regional initiative felt we had achieved our goal of providing a forum for dialogue, despite the absence of the hierarchy. The event also provided an opportunity for press coverage - CNN and Reuters - and recruitment of new members.

In other news from our region, leaders from the Greater Baltimore-DC Metro region are participating in the Many Hands, Many Hearts initiative along with leaders from the Philadelphia and Portsmouth, VA affiliates and are currently involved in one on one campaigns. Email contact: chuck-judy@starpower.net

VOTF New Jersey
Submitted by Carole Rogers

Our NJ Speaker Series continued this month with a hope-filled presentation by Rev. Eugene Lauer, director of the National Pastoral Life Center. In his talk, entitled "Women and Minorities: Their Impact on the Development of Theology," Father Lauer said that the common denominator of the new approaches to Catholic theology, which began at the time of the Second Vatican Council, is the way they use human experience when interpreting the Word of God. In a talk filled with concrete examples and lightened with humor, he showed that the experience of women and minorities is of crucial importance in a field that had been dominated for centuries by white male celibate clergy.

Also in November, VOTFNJ initiated a new feature in our monthly newsletter. "Unsung Heroes" will introduce a different priest each month-someone who is quietly and with integrity trying to serve the people of God in our dioceses. We hope this feature will let our priests know that we see and appreciate all they do on our behalf.

VOTF NJ members are joining with SNAP members for a Candlelight Vigil on the evening of Saturday, December 4, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ, to show support for clergy sex abuse victims. VOTF members are also making phone calls and sending letters, faxes and emails to their state legislators to urge support for Assembly bill A-2512, which eliminates charitable immunity in cases involving the sexual molestation of a child. Supporters of the bill believe it is very close to passage. Stay tuned for updates! Contact: Maria Cleary, clearymf@optonline.net

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