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AFFILIATE
News
From VOTF Winchester, MA
Bob Morris
On Monday, May 15, the Winchester Area VOTF celebrated
its fourth anniversary of meeting every Monday evening
at St. Eulalia’s since 2002, with well over 100
in attendance, including eleven members of the clergy.
The first order of business was a presentation to
Fr. Tom Nestor, pastor of St. Eulalia’s, of
donations from the membership totaling $2540, in
appreciation of the parish’s support for our
affiliate. The meeting then continued with an opening
prayer and song led by Sr. Betsy Conway, CSJ. This
was followed by a video entitled “Leadership,
an Art of Possibility.” This video had been
viewed and discussed at a congregation meeting of
the Sisters of St. Joseph, and had been suggested
to us for one of our meetings by Sr. Marie Doyle,
CSJ, one of our most loyal and active members. Unfortunately,
Marie was unable to be at this meeting because of
health issues, but her guiding spirit was felt by
all.
The video, a documentary starring Maestro Benjamin
Zander of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, demonstrates
what can be accomplished when everyone is encouraged
to be their very best---varied voices of a symphony
sounding together in harmony. Following the video,
round table discussions took place, with a priest and
several VOTF members at each table, as well as numerous
religious. We voiced our impressions of the video,
and ways it suggested to us that we, as clergy, religious,
and laity might work together more closely now. The
discussions were full of hope for the future of our
beloved Church.
The meeting closed with a rousing rendition of “Sing
a New Church” lead by Fr. Paul Rouse at the piano.
Refreshments followed, with informal discussions continuing,
as everyone was reluctant to let go of the wonderful
spirit that the meeting generated.
From VOTF Louisville, KY
Vince Grenough
Thursday, May 11, was a remarkable day for Voice of
the Faithful in the archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.
David Clohessy, National Director of SNAP (Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests) addressed a large
gathering of VOTF members and guests in the evening
at the Passionists’ Barn retreat center in Louisville.
David, who was repeatedly sexually abused as a youth
by a priest who also abused three of David’s
brothers, urged us to never give up in our efforts
to protect children from abuse.
He also challenged us not to be naïve in our
dealings with the hierarchy, saying bishops are “unable” to
address this issue adequately. He declared that bishops
have all of the information they need, but they apparently
do not have the will to do everything they need to
do, or to correct one another. David stated that we
are wasting our time if we think we can do or say anything
to them that will cause them to act differently in
any meaningful way. The best way to enable change is
to focus on changing the laws of our States, he said.
The Q&A session after his presentation was challenging
and enlightening.
But what happened earlier in the day was extremely
powerful. At 11:00 a.m. our Pilgrimage of Healing began
in front of Louisville’s Cathedral of the Assumption.
A group of VOTF members, including several survivors,
and David gathered there to grieve over the enormous
harm done to our children and to our Church as a result
of what has happened – and continues to happen.
The group made statements of loving support for victims/survivors
and prayed for their healing. We also prayed for our
bishops and priests that they might be compassionate
and pastoral in all of their dealings with those who
have been harmed by Church representatives.
The Pilgrimage of Healing that day included visits
to three other important landmarks in our diocese:
Holy Spirit Church, St. Joseph proto-Cathedral in Bardstown,
and a residential area of the Bellarmine University
campus. These places symbolize all of the Catholic
parishes or other places where sexual abuse of minors
by priests is known to have occurred.
One stop, in particular, was very sacramental – at
St. Joseph Cathedral in Bardstown, 40 miles south of
Louisville. St. Joseph’s was the first Cathedral
west of the Allegheny mountains. For those who do not
know, Bardstown is at the northern tip of the “Kentucky
Holy Land”. Catholics first moved into this three-county,
very Catholic area in order to escape religious repression.
The Holy Land includes Motherhouses of three orders
of Sisters, the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemani, and
many small towns and other landmarks that are named
after saints or have other Catholic references.
Why was this visit sacramental? The pastor, Bill Hammer,
was waiting to welcome us warmly and joined with us
in our statements and prayers. After that, we shared
with him two large maps that two of our members have
been working on for months. One map uses colored markers
to show all of the parishes (75) in our diocese where
abuse by priests (37) has been reported so far. I use
the term “so far” because the map indicates
that many of the abusive priests were transferred to
this rural area. We strongly suspect that there are
victims of abuse there who have not, and perhaps never
will, speak publicly about what happened to them. We
included them and their families in our prayers in
a special way.
The other map depicts the transfers of our diocese’s
four most prolific priest-abusers from place to unsuspecting
place within our diocese. These maps remind us not
just of the places and the numbers but, more painfully,
of the unique, life-long suffering endured by each
one of those who are abused by representatives of our
Church, and then often re-victimized when they tell
their stories to try to protect other children.
May 11 was, indeed, a special day. We trust that what
happened here in Louisville that day will have a healing
and challenging effect on all who love our Church.
For more information about VOTF in Louisville contact
Vince Grenough at vingreno@insightbb.com.
To become a member contact Barbara Williams at barbarakwilliams@msn.com.
The Louisville group meets on the second Thursday of
each month in the Barn, and on the fourth Monday at
Church of the Epiphany. All of our meetings are free
and open to the public. For more information about
VOTF, go to www.votf.org.
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