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VOICE
OF THE FAITHFUL: REMAINING A VOICE OF HOPE
Thomas Doyle - February 7, 2006
I have spoken at many VOTF gatherings since July, 2002.
At all of these I have stated my conviction that Voice
of the Faithful is a manifestation of the movement of God’s
Spirit, a source of hope for the Church as Body of Christ
and a powerful promise of justice for the countless men
and women sexually, emotionally and spiritually abused
by the institutional Church. I have said these words with
conviction and in total honesty. I can still do so since
I believe that the stresses, challenges, disagreements
and even discouragements of the past four years have been
inevitable. We are living in the midst of a period of profound
change and growth for Catholicism and for organized religion
as well. Not only are we living in the midst of this change
but we are agents, essential to the process and upon whom
the future is dependent.
I have been deeply involved in the clergy sexual abuse
phenomenon since 1984. For me these two decades have been
a time of intense pain, deep disappointment, anger, confusion,
painful enlightenment and most important, hope. The pain
has come from the continuing revelation that the institutional
Church is deeply wounded. The defensiveness of many in
the clergy and hierarchy is perhaps grounded in a threatening
fear that the institutional ecclesiastical world that they
knew appears to be damaged beyond repair. The wounds inflicted
by clericalism, obsession with power and the constant appeal
to misplaced orthodoxy will not heal with a resultant return
to the days when the words of a 1906 encyclical issued
by Pius X were a reality:
This church is in essence an unequal society, that is
to say a society comprising two categories of persons,
the shepherds and the flock....These categories are so
distinct that the right and authority necessary for promoting
and guiding all the members toward the goal of the society
resides only in the pastoral body; as to the multitude,
its sole duty is that of allowing itself to be led and
of following its pastors as a docile flock.
The horrendous revelations of widespread sexual abuse
by clergy and even more horrendous revelations of equally
widespread cover-up and enabling by the hierarchy have
forced many in the Church to wake up and reluctantly realize
that the model of Church championed by Pius X in 1906 was
a major barrier to the growth and health of the Church
as Body of Christ. We had lived our lives in the shadow
of the Kingdom of God on earth, blinded to the fact that
this poetic description masked a monarchical structure
that was essentially responsible for the emotional and
spiritual devastation of hundreds of thousands of our brothers
and sisters in Christ.
From the shock and anger of the tsunami of the Boston
revelations in 2002 came the inspiration to a small group
of deeply faithful Catholics that something must be done
and what was done is Voice of the Faithful. I’m quite
sure that no one envisioned where that meeting in Wellesley
would lead them and where it would lead all of us. As I
have met with, spoken to and listened to VOTF members around
the U.S., and now in Ireland, I have been deeply moved,
impressed and in awe of the faith of all. I have learned
that lay men and women often have a clearer understanding
of the meaning of “Church” than most clergy
and hierarchical leaders appear to have, based on the events
of the past few years. I have also been inspired by the
commitment and willingness of many to take the terrifying
risk of challenging the ecclesiastical system that has
controlled us through fear and secrecy for far too long.
Voice of the Faithful is at a crucial point in its life.
Since the clergy sex abuse scandals came to light clergy,
lay and religious voices from throughout the Church have
cried for change yet there must be a way to take the hopes,
aspirations and frustrations and turn them to action. The
institutional Church is long on words….speeches,
decrees, pious exhortations and the like, but far short
on effective action.
The bishops of our country have deluged us with apologies,
promises, procedures, policies, committees and boards in
response to the outrage over their cover-up of clergy sex
abuse. They have tried to shift the focus from themselves
to the perpetrators, their critics, the media, the lawyers
and even the victims as the source of the discontent, but
the reality has remained clear. There is something radically
wrong with the way power and authority are exercised in
the Catholic Church. The monarchical model is not working.
In spite of the mistaken impressions some may have, the “scandals” are
far from over. The recent events in the archdiocese of
Chicago and diocese of Joliet are stark proof that at least
some of the bishops still don’t and can’t “get
it.” In Los Angeles the Cardinal Archbishop spends
well over half a million dollars a month paying attorneys
to continue to create roadblocks to prevent victims from
receiving justice in the courts. That money, plus the other
untold sums paid out to public relations firms, is money
given by the faithful. In Iowa the institutional Church
is fighting hard to prevent the many victims of several
priests from having a day in court. The bishops may apologize
and promise that it won’t happen again, but it is
happening. Look at Chicago and know that what has erupted
there is not the last chapter of the story.
Voice of the Faithful is now at the point of its national
elections. Jim Post has done a remarkable job over the
past four years. His balance, eloquence, insight and above
all, courage, have been a major force in guaranteeing that
VOTF does not slide beneath the surface. The national leadership
is crucial.
From my perspective I believe that VOTF needs to create
the accurate impression that it has resolved any differences
over priorities. The organization was founded precisely
because of the bishops’ collective failure to deal
with the horrendous problem of clergy sex abuse. Support
for victims is central to the credibility of VOTF and to
the Church in general. Why? Because the victims and the
nightmare that made them victims is not another problematic
issue nor is it another group of persons in need of justice.
The clergy abuse victims and the way they are treated goes
right to the heart of the credibility of the Roman Catholic
Church. If VOTF marginalizes both the victims and the issue
then it has betrayed its goals and its mandate but more
crucial, it has betrayed the central mission of the Body
of Christ. The purpose of our Church is not to sustain
a monarchy or pay unending fealty to the papacy and the
bishops. The purpose is to do as Christ did and as He would
do, namely, to give first priority to the marginalized,
defeated and hurt. Those hurt by the clergy abuse scandal
include more than the actual victims. Indeed the entire
Body of Christ has been severely wounded by this organizational
betrayal of trust.
Structural and governmental change in the institutional
Church is intimately bound up with support for victims.
The Church structures themselves will not change because
they cannot change. The institutional leadership firmly
believes that God wants the Church run in a hierarchical
manner. We can achieve all the boards and committees we
want but the bottom line of absolute episcopal leadership
with accountability not to the faithful but to the pope
will remain. If we believe that endless dialogue with bishops,
polite conversations, flowery letters and token membership
on a few boards or committees means effective progress,
then we are sadly naive. A more realistic goal would be
sufficient pressure to convince bishops to cease acting
like feudal lords and begin acting like pastors. Some do
this already, but many don’t. This change in attitude
will not happen if Catholic lay men and women, clerics
or religious continue to act like docile, obedient and
fear-filled children in their interaction with the leadership
of the institutional church. We can be Christian, respectful
and loving and at the same time firm, honest and realistic. Many in the institutional church, lay, clergy and religious,
remain convinced that the institution’s structures
must be protected at the expense of victims of abuse and
others who either have been harmed in some way by the institution
or are dissatisfied with its performance. We must not forget
that the Church is the people, not its buildings, property,
bank holdings or power structures. All of these have a
role in Church life but when they become dominant and cause
us to fall prey to the deceptive equivocations that eventually
lead to the sacrifice of people in favor of things and
power, then we have lost our way.
I would like to conclude with some specific expressions
of hope:
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That the current Voice of the Faithful election identifies
leaders who have experience with the national ecclesiastical
landscape, clear awareness of the present harsh realities
of the sexual abuse scene and a willingness to take the
risks necessary in challenging the hierarchy, the clergy
and even laity to respond to the fundamental obligations
of Catholic as baptized followers of Christ and not servants
of an earthly kingdom.
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That Voice of the Faithful continue to place support
for victims of sexual abuse as a central and essential
priority and that this support be highlighted by listening
and doing and not merely saying.
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That Voice of the Faithful as a national organization
and in its individual affiliates continues to courageously
stand up and actively and publicly support the efforts
to protect children and the vulnerable from all forms of
abuse, not only sexual.
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That Voice of the Faithful members and affiliates
not fall prey to the scare tactics of voices within the
institutional
Church and give unequivocal support to the efforts to change
State legislation by extending Statues of Limitation and
opening up windows of opportunity to victims who have been
denied justice through the passage of time.
The last point is especially important. The institutional
Church will only change when confronted by a power greater
than itself. Were it not for public media scrutiny and
consequent involvement of the civil courts, the institutional
Church would have done virtually nothing in response to
the certain knowledge it had about thousands of cases of
clergy abuse. The changes were not pro-active. They were
a reaction to the two powerful forces of the media and
the courts. Things have not changed that much. Throughout
the United States the strongest opposition to all attempts
to pass child protective legislation is from the State
Catholic Conferences. They use erroneous information and
fear tactics while the real concern is not justice but
preserving the dwindling power of the leadership. Above
all, these counter-measures by the State Catholic Conferences
and their bosses, the bishops, are proof that the scourge
of clericalism is still alive and trying to survive.
Let me close on a note of hope. This whole “thing” is
not a matter of “us against them.” There is
no question of good will among the majority of lay, clergy,
religious and hierarchy. The tension arises from the clash
of ideas as to how things should be done. Many have been
brought up to believe that the only way for the Church
to do business is the way it has always done business......as
a hierarchical kingdom. If we look at the gospel accounts
of Christ’s ministry we know that there is another
way. Perhaps all of this will lead someday to a Church
that is not dependent on power and image and infected with
toxic levels of secrecy and fear to a Church grounded in
equality and mutual respect where the prompting of the
Holy Spirit will be warmly welcomed whether they are received
through the medium of bishops, popes, lay women and men
or children.
VOTF has played an important role in the survival of our
Church. At this time of transition in leadership, I hope
the organization takes this moment to recommit itself to
the prophets who brought all of us together in the first
place.
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