That we might meet the release of the NRB’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice Study with as much understanding as possible, VOTF offers the following links for background information and education.

• usccb.org – Read the Charter, Norms and Audit summaries
• snapnetwork.org and thelinkup.org offer survivor perspectives and analyses
• www.cin.org – the Catholic Information Network lists all of the documents of Vatican II. Click on “Documents” and select The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium); also, the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity.
• bishopaccountability.org – tracks the facts on bishops’ past and present handling of clergy sexual abuse of young people
• Watch the next VOTF quarterly for a re-cap
• VOTF Officers Jim Post, Kris Ward, Sr. Betsy Conway and Ann Carroll share their perspectives on the importance of the upcoming 2/27 study release:

VOTF Officers Address the Import of the
John Jay College of Criminal Justice Study

VOTF president Jim Post

On February 27, 2004, the USCCB National Review Board will release the John Jay College of Criminal Justice “Study of the Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in the United States.” This "50 year retrospective study" will aggregate data from every diocese in the United States. It is likely to be the most comprehensive report to date of national statistics related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal. The report is expected to include new estimates of:

• The number of priests against whom allegations have been made;
• The number of victim/survivors; and
• The amount of money spent by dioceses to settle sexual abuse cases.

It is widely expected that the numbers will be greater – perhaps much greater – than any previous estimates. Voice of the Faithful must prepare for the release of this report in several ways.

• We are recruiting a national team to shape our response to the report;
• We will be developing national and local communications plans for February 27th;
• We want to actively work with affiliates to develop follow-up action plans (e.g., healing services, survivor support actions, dialogue initiatives, calls for accountability, and more).

In creating a team of affiliate volunteers and national office staff to shape our response to the John Jay study, we are seeking volunteers from across the country to create a team of affiliate volunteers alongside National office staff to assist in this effort. If you, or someone from your affiliate, are willing to take an active role in shaping and implementing this effort, please contact VOTF Vice President, Kristine Ward at krward@votf.org.

We need your assistance to help all Catholics, and all Americans, understand the magnitude and implications of this information. The potential significance of this report cannot be overstated.

Fifty years of cultural and administrative practice will be revealed in the John Jay Report. The credibility of our Church as an institution and as a repository of values will be challenged. Our challenge is to find ways to discern and incorporate the lessons of this terrible and tragic crisis into the living Church of the 21st century. As one member recently said, this entire experience must be about "prayer and practice." This is an opportunity to put faith into action.

Please remember that even if every action taken by the bishops, clergy, and laity works perfectly, and no child is ever again abused in the Catholic Church, survivors of abuse will be living in our midst for decades to come. It is entirely possible that some of the youngest victims, who are only in their teens today, will live to see the twenty-second century.

Thank you for your assistance and commitment to this important effort.

VOTF vice-president Kris Ward

February 27 is a day for us to bear witness.

It will be a painful day for us and for all of the Church. Its litany of numbers will stand surrogate for the lives touched, altered, weakened and lost because of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.

It will be a day of lamentation throughout the land. We and all of the Church will have to look squarely at the ugliness and sorrow of the aggregate toll of crimes hidden for 50 years. It will be like looking at the crucifixion.

We cannot allow a yearning to rush to the powerful central tenet of our faith, the Resurrection, to tear us away from looking at the horror of the crucifixion. The numbers will tell a dreadful story. Like those who sat opposite the closed tomb on Good Friday and endured through that long Saturday before the first Easter Sunday, Voice of the Faithful first bears witness. Then, we must be clear to the bishops and to all of our Church this tragedy in our times cannot be boxed and shelved on February 28 because it is judged finished and fixed.

Voice of the Faithful pushes out into the deep where the Lord tells us not to be afraid. It will take the voices, prayer and action of all our affiliates – those formed, those forming, and those to come – to anchor the call for accountability and to build from the ashes of falseness a Church of truth and trust.

VOTF secretary Sr. Betsy Conway

Even before the John Jay report is released we know already the devastation we have experienced within the Church as the abuse and the cover up have been revealed. We know already that the Church is not well. As when a family member is not well, you do everything in your power to make things better. The report may overwhelm us once again. But rather than feel powerless we must do everything that is in our power to make things better. That is our call as people of faith.

I know that what we can no longer be is silent and passive. I believe that we are called to be Christ's voice and hands and feet – more visibly, more audibly and more prayerfully.

We have platforms for action in place within VOTF working groups and among the affiliates; we have the resources to educate ourselves; we know that many may feel powerless – the survivors, many priests and the laity – and we know we must continue to reach out to all of these and each other.

I pray for wisdom and courage for all that is ahead of us!

VOTF treasurer Ann Carroll

I await the release of the John Jay report with trepidation. It is anticipated that the John Jay report will confirm what many of us have already begun to learn: The crisis in Boston can not be dismissed as an isolated event; the abuse of children and the subsequent cover-up by the hierarchy occurred on a massive scale.

I dread seeing, in black and white, that thousands of children were victimized. I’m also concerned that, because the report will show only summarized totals (and not, diocese by diocese, nor parish by parish information), some might gloss over the obvious: These are not some faceless statistics, they are about people’s lives. And in addition to every victim/survivor counted in the report, there are tens of thousands of parents, spouses, children, friends, relatives, etc. whose lives have also been inexorably affected.

An agonizing consideration in all this is how many children might have been spared, if only our bishops had behaved differently. How is it possible that these men, disciples of Christ, could have thought secrecy and cover-up rather than the protection of children, was their pastoral mission?

As we know from Fr. Tom Doyle, (winner of VOTF’s Priest of Integrity Award at the July 2002 convention), by the mid-1980s the bishops were well aware of the crisis, yet it appears very little was done. In the past two years there has been significant progress, as evidenced by the adoption of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and the creation of the National Review Board. But merely having processes and policies in place does not create change -- there must be an unremitting willingness to bring it about. Has the culture of the hierarchy changed sufficiently?

Will truth and justice resonate in bishops’ words on February 27? More important, will the actions they take be commensurate with the profound harm that was done?

It seems fitting that the report will be released on the first Friday in Lent. Lent is a time of penance and sorrow, and certainly there will be much to grieve on February 27. During Lent, I hope all Catholics will take the time to talk to their friends, relatives and neighbors about the John Jay Report. As you reflect on what has transpired, consider whether the words and actions to date have been sufficient, or is this a case where the magnitude of the tragedy calls out for greater action? And if greater action is justified, what will each of us commit to doing, in fulfillment of our baptismal promises, to bring about the change that is needed?

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