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COMMENTARY and More
Discernment in Chicago
from Janet Hauter, VOTF Chicago
There was a great deal riding on our Upper Room discernment
meeting in Chicago (03/05/06) and feelings were piqued as we
settled in with one agenda – whether we believed that the time
was right to call upon Cardinal George to resign. The pressure
from the media and well-meaning people within VOTF was strong
to do so. The question “Where is the outrage?” permeated our
local media and because of that pressure many new faces attended
the meeting. We called for great prayer and discernment before
gathering and began with prayer at the start of the meeting.
We proceeded, as we often do in VOTF gatherings, with rounds
(introductions and response to a question). Our reflection
question was: “What response have you personally felt called
to take through your own prayer and discernment?” Responses
elicited confessions from many that a call for resignation
was the nexus of our discontent. There was concurrence that
such a call was not out of the question and could be exercised
at any moment – that the Cardinal failed by violating Article
2 of the Charter is an uncontestable fact. As one of the chief
architects of the document, he knew that he was violating the
Charter. The issue of “zero tolerance” applies to perpetrators
as well as enablers and there was no question that Cardinal
George is now an enabler. As each of the 18 attendees responded,
there was a palpable shift in responses from controlled anger
to the question “What would his departure prove?”
We spent time addressing the fact that as VOTF Catholics
we chose not to meet anger and arrogance with the same spirit.
We mused about the fact that removal of one offender only kept
conditions the same for his replacement and the problem would
only be perpetuated. While some (outside of our Upper Room)
believe strongly that demanding resignation is a matter of
principle, it only addresses the symptom, we concluded, and
not the root cause. We were trying to keep our “eyes” fixed
on the prize, as Jim Post so eloquently directed us prior to
the meeting. The prize, we concurred, is systemic change. Cardinal
George is only one player in a broken system, broken universally
as well as locally where even the Charter’s author chose to
ignore his own document. Removing one cardinal does nothing
to correct a wrong while our children continue to live at risk.
We arrived at our meeting with potentially 18 different viewpoints
and differing temperatures to our rage. We left calm in the
arms of a discernment process that worked leaving every individual
at peace knowing that the Spirit worked a miracle in our hearts
and in our outcome. Our plan is a simple one:
- Regardless
of whether Cardinal George responds to our letter of Ash
Wednesday, we have a resolve to become very public with our
displeasure
of the events in Chicago calling loudly for reform in a
dysfunctional system where even the authors of documents
violate their
own written promises. Cardinal George will be held accountable.
- We will continue our prayer vigils in Lent to reinforce
the Lenten message of introspection and search for spiritual
guidance to do the right thing focused on systemic change.
Steeped in prayer, our vigils will serve to enlighten those
who are angry with the Church but who are unfamiliar with
the
chronology of our discontent. Our prayer will call for
reform of the clerical system.
- We are in the process of
developing
a late Spring/early Summer event that will galvanize
our position on the Accountability Campaign focused on building
a groundswell
of support from across the Archdiocese to act. A committee
is formulating a plan to be presented at our next meeting
on 4/19. Another committee has formed to handle media releases
and an education campaign requesting Catholics to rise
up and
respond to very specific “mini-actions” that will be available
throughout Lent and beyond.
- We all agreed that we need to
evangelize the VOTF message for reform and engage those
who are disgruntled and have no venue to respond. We are
on the
march to build critical mass. Toward that end, we will
have developed “business cards” with contact information to actively
and aggressively build a base of support.
- Only when we believe
we have Catholics across the Archdiocese knowledgeable
about the failure issues of our “leadership” and a directed venue
to respond in community, will we revisit the
resignation question again. Without a following, a leader
cannot lead!
We are already hard at work on implementing that Spirit-prompted
plan. More to report after our 3/19 meeting.
Prayer distributed by Gaile Pohlhaus during VOTF’s
discernment process:
Let us pray.
Good and gracious God, we thank you for your many gifts to
your Church and your people. We ask your forgiveness for
those times when we have forgotten about you or ignored you
or turned from your way. We turn to you now for help and
direction in how we should proceed in a time filled with
difficulties. We know that judgment is yours alone and we
also know that you have given all Christians the charge to
protect others. We are faced with a dilemma in what is the
appropriate response of a national organization to a local
problem with national implications. Give us the wisdom and
light to come to an action which will be healing and helpful
for all. I ask this, as I ask all things, in the name of
your son, Jesus, through the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
[The following is the letter VOTF Chicago affiliates sent
to Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, prior to the meeting
reported above.]
Dear Cardinal George,
We in Voice of the Faithful are encouraged by the pastoral
initiative you have taken to speak to and listen to the parishioners
of St. Agatha’s and to take public responsibility for your
actions. We recognize the steps you have taken to respond to
the evolving crisis in the Archdiocese, specifically by: 1.
Appointing one person to deal with ALL abuse cases; 2. Hiring
Defenbaugh and Associates to probe classified procedures concerning
the McCormack and Bennett cases, including the lost letter
from the Principal of Holy Family; 3. Hiring Terry Childers,
a social worker at Loyola University, to examine monitoring
practices and to make recommendations; 4. Setting up the procedure
to report all abuse allegations to DCFS, whether founded or
unfounded, whether new or old cases. As you suggested, discreetly
removing a priest from ministry while an allegation is being
investigated would safeguard the reputation of the priest and
the welfare of our children.
The revelations of the past week, however, appear to signal
a return to the pre-Dallas pattern of protecting an alleged
priest-perpetrator and the institution while endangering children.
Only complete openness and transparency can restore your credibility
and our confidence.
Can the Chancellor, who reports directly to you, have the
necessary objectivity and independence to restore the credibility
of the archdiocese? His harsh criticism of fellow Catholics
who showed concern about the recent failure to act promptly
only intensifies this question. Therefore all guidelines for
monitoring an accused priest and the criteria used in making
decisions to remove or not remove need to be published on the
archdiocesan web site.
Likewise, since the consultants have been chosen by and will
be paid by the archdiocese, it is imperative that this investigation
be quick and thorough and the complete reports and recommendations
also be placed on the archdiocesan web site. The credibility
of the study would have been enhanced if the consultants had
been selected by an independent group such as the National
Lay Review Board.
We ask you to follow the pastoral approach of Bishop Skylstad
and support legislation that would extend the statutes of limitation
in all cases of sexual abuse of minors, and by posting on the
archdiocesan web site the names of all known, admitted, proven
or credibly accused perpetrators of sexual abuse (clergy and
religious).
We are praying for you and we stand ready to offer our assistance.
We expect a response within two weeks. This is no time to put
new wine into the old wineskins. If we have courage, this could
be a moment of grace.
Sincerely,
The Chicagoland Affiliates Council
Voice of the Faithful
Chicago West with members from 11 parishes
City of Chicago from 7 parishes
Arlington Heights Area from 7 parishes
Chicago North Suburban from 22 parishes
Chicago NW Suburbs from 18 parishes
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