AFFILIATE
Spotlight – VOTF Brooklyn, NY
Submitted by Ed and Anne Wilson
On balance
the meeting 10/1/05 with Bishop DiMarzio and his committee
went well. We were pleased, and said so, that Bishop DiMarzio,
in stark contrast to the situation in surrounding dioceses,
had reached out to VOTF, among others, for consultation about
serious issues concerning the Brooklyn diocese and our church.
While
we disagreed about some matters (like the selection of a
lawyer to be the first responder on the victim’s hotline)
and on larger issues beyond either his or our ability to
impact (like the credibility of the Philadelphia grand jury
report), we found some interesting common ground.
For one
thing, the bishop is vigorously pursuing the establishment
of effective lay parish councils throughout the diocese.
He has hired an excellent professional to assist in this
endeavor and we have been in touch with that person, with
the bishop’s knowledge.
Also,
in the course of discussing financial matters, we suggested,
in keeping with our second goal, that priests’ pensions ought
to be administered by qualified trustees, independent of
the bishop or the diocese. We were most pleased to learn
that this idea is already in the works and has been referred
to financial professionals. We offered any assistance he
might wish.
We also
raised the issue of the Vatican visitation of U.S. Seminaries
and the much-rumored impending ban on the ordination of homosexuals.
The bishop appeared to take our point that such a ban would
be an unfair insult to many very fine priests, past and present.
We mentioned that a recent news report that major superiors
of religious orders for men were going to Rome to protest
this ban and suggested it would be a fine idea for some bishops
to join them. The bishop replied that he believed that Pope
Benedict, an accomplished theologian, was unlikely to issue
such a blanket ban. He expects something much more nuanced.
Fr. James Massa, a theologian at Immaculate Conception Seminary
on Long Island and a member of the diocesan committee, expressed
confidence that the visitation would include many issues
of which the homosexual situation was only one. He stated
his belief that the problem consisted in cases of a few men
who would be judged not suitable for a chaste life in a community
of mostly males. We replied that some heterosexuals might
also have problems dealing with celibacy and thought it was
unfortunate that archbishop O’Brien had made some rather
unnuanced comments.
The discussion
was wide-ranging and lasted an hour and a half.
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