VOICES, VOICES EVERYWHERE!

National Parish Voice has identified four U.S. regions for purposes of affiliate coordination, communication efforts and future regional definitions and representation:

WEST
Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska

CENTRAL
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio

SOUTH
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida

EAST
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia

VOTF West
REPORT from VOTF president Jim Post on his visit to
Seattle, WA August 3-4, 2003

I had the good fortune to visit the Pacific Northwest in early August, when the weather was splendid and the interest in VOTF running high.

Eileen Knoff, regional coordinator, and Catherine Smith, president of the Puget Sound VOTF, organized a wonderful two days of activities.

On Sunday, I spoke at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on the topic, "The Future of the Laity: Collaboration, Consultation, and Partnership." Nearly 200 people attended (forsaking a sunny Sunday afternoon!) The session also featured comments from a number of lay women and men whose experiences illustrated various aspects of local lay involvement.

The Archdiocese of Seattle has a rich history of active lay involvement in the governance and guidance of programs. Dennis O'Leary and Mary Santi, representatives from Archbishop Brunett's staff, participated in both Sunday's public conversation and in a special meeting on Monday to review local procedures for dealing with sexual abuse cases. VOTF representatives and archdiocesan staff discussed the mechanisms for addressing these issues as they arise, and implementing effective programs to prevent future cases.

The visit was capped off by a first year anniversary dinner on Monday night at the parish hall of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Nearly 40 VOTF leaders from Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho gathered with local leaders of SNAP and supporters to give thanks for the commitment of so many people to addressing the sexual abuse crisis and to renewing the Church.

Throughout the visit, the phrase "dialogue process" was used to describe our activities. In retrospect, we seemed to be engaged in one continuing conversation about the crisis, our response as Catholics and as human beings, and the good will that must be nurtured among laity, clergy, and bishops as we seek to repair the Church.

Voice of the Faithful has a purpose and a place at the table in the Pacific Northwest. The commitment of the laity, clergy, and Archbishop Brunett to active lay involvement, justice for survivors, and seeing the Church renewed, is a positive model for other dioceses.

We should all give thanks for the inspired work of the women and men of the Pacific Northwest for their leadership in this important mission.

VOTF Central
VOTF Northern Illinois
Submitted by Terry O'Connor Terry offers here what he calls a "60 second report on VOTF in Northern Illinois."

• Winnetka group claims its voice on the North Shore as a new affiliate is announced at Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka. We are also please to announce that St. Francis Xavier parish is in the final stages of establishing their voice in the western suburb of La Grange. For those who have contacted us in the past for information on VOTF in the Winnetka or LaGrange area, please contact us at this time so we can introduce you to your neighborhood VOTF coordinator.
• For the latest news in the growth of VOTF in Illinois, visit the affiliate web page and check us out. While your there PLEASE also sign up for VOTF, if you haven't done so under the new system.…we need your name to keep growing and to reach our goal of continuous dialogue in our Church.
• Rumor has it that VOTF in the Joliet Diocese plans a major step in networking their local diocese. Their objective appears to be centered on better communications and dialogue with their bishop. More details to follow as they develop.
• Rumor also has it that VOTF in the Archdiocese of Chicago is working on improved communications with their cardinal; however, there are no details to report at this time.
• The Rockford Diocese continues to expand its membership as it begins to talk about the local issues in its diocese. Their membership drive remains focused in the Fox Valley region, and in the city of Rockford and its surrounding area, while local strategies are being worked out.
• If you had a chance to visit the Irish Fest in Milwaukee, you also may have had the opportunity to attend Mass with the delightful Milwaukee Archbishop, Timothy M. Dolan at the Fest…. Having done so, you may have returned home and noted on the late news, the associated press release indicating -"More than 160 priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee have signed a letter arguing that married men should be allowed to enter the priesthood." I mention this not as an issue, but as a process to watch and support. Many believe this is the sign of how positive change will take place with support from priests of integrity. In a separate article from MSNBC, "The priests hope the letter will prompt a dialogue about the issue of optional celibacy because of the shortage of priests, said the Rev. Tom Suriano, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Whitewater." The Rev. Robert Silva, president of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, said he would request that the letter be discussed by the Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry, a subcommittee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• Interestingly, the same Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan will chair that committee, beginning in November, Siva said. Archdiocesan spokesman Jerry Topczewski said, " Dolan did not attempt to stop the priests from circulating the letter. Topczewski also did not expect any fallout for priests who signed the letter.

Isn't that what we all want, just to talk things over and be part of the process. I think the above is a step in the beginning phase and process of healing. The next step is to sit in on the meeting and help out in the discussion. Peace be with all of us.

VOTF Cleveland, Ohio
Submitted by Tom Byrne (too late for the August issue, but the details remain worthwhile.)

August 18, 2003 - The Cleveland affiliate of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) will sponsor a Mass of Healing at 12:00 noon on Sunday, August 24, 2003, at Padua Franciscan High School, 6740 State Road, Parma, Ohio. Reverend Walter Dolan, OFM, will be principal celebrant. A panel discussion featuring child sexual abuse experts and victim advocates will follow the Mass.

Thousands of people have come forward in the last two years to reveal that, as children, they were sexually abused by priests. "Many are still emotionally crippled by the shame that destroyed their childhood", according to Tom Byrne, coordinator of the Cleveland VOTF affiliate. "We want victims to know that their fellow Catholics are aware of their suffering and that we care".

The moderator of Sunday's discussion will be John Seryak, M. Ed., a teacher with Revere Schools in Summit County. Seryak, author of Dear Teacher If You Only Knew… has spoken on child sex abuse at universities and conferences around the country. Panelists will include Barbara Blaine, founder and national president of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP); Dr. Maryhelen Kreidler, University of Akron nursing professor and child sex abuse therapist; Margaret Grant, director of the Victims Resource Center of Laurelwood Hospital, part of University Hospitals Health Services; Victoria A. Didato, director of the Child Sexual Abuse Institute of Ohio; and Fred and Kay Starr, parents of a victim.

VOTF Dayton, Ohio
Submitted by Kris Ward

Insistent on beginning the Dayton Ohio Affiliate of Voice of the Faithful with prayer in a sacred place, the co-founders of the affiliate, Kris Ward and Mike Knellinger, battled through resistance from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for six months before a launch event of VOTF on April 3.

The evening began with a prayer service "A Church Lamentation" in the Immaculate Conception Chapel of the University of Dayton, the 10th largest Catholic university in the country. Through its president, Daniel J. Curran, the university has become a collaborator with Dayton Affiliate Voice of the Faithful.

With a continued refusal to allow Church property to be used for the open conversation that immediately followed the prayer, the meeting was held at a nearby hotel.

Jim Post, president of Voice of the Faithful and David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), were the guest speakers to for an audience of 170 people.

We held three meetings off Church property on April 24, May 8 and May 22 before the co-founders met on May 25th with Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. At that meeting the Archbishop informed the co-founders he would announce on June 11 at an archdiocesan meeting of priests that he no longer opposed Voice of the Faithful meetings on Church property and he would allow individual parish pastors to make their own decisions. The Archbishop had given his permission in March 2003 for Voice of the Faithful to meet on parish property in Cincinnati, the seat of the 19-county diocese.

Dayton Affiliate Voice of the Faithful met June 13, June 27 and July 10 at St. Charles Borromeo with Monsignor Lawrence Breslin in attendance. Monsignor Breslin has been a strong supporter of VOTF. Also attending the June 27th was the pastor of two other parishes in the city.

At the July 10 meeting, the co-founders were elected co-chairs. Bill Wabler was elected Treasurer and Dottie Key was elected secretary. We voted to send a letter to the Archbishop asking him to name the "fewer than five priests" he acknowledged at a March 2002 press conference to have credible allegations made against them and who had been transferred to other assignments without any contact being made by the archdiocese with the civil authorities. The letter also asked for details on the archdiocese's financial support of priests who are removed from ministry, and the status of the canonical process of removal from the priesthood of an archdiocesan priest, Father Kenneth Schottmyer, who was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor. Dayton VOTF made a decision to stay together as a single group and hold meetings in a number of parishes until there was enough strength in a single parish or parishes to begin Parish Voices.

On August 14 Dayton VOTF met at Incarnation Parish, the largest parish in the city, with the pastor, Father Lawrence Mierenfeld, in attendance. The Archbishop responded to Dayton VOTF's letter advising he could not name the fewer than five priests "yet" because of legal considerations. He provided some details about financial arrangements but could not give details, he said, about the status of the canonical process of the removal of Father Schottmyer. The August 14 meeting was the largest to date.

Dayton VOTF meets September 11 at St. Charles Borromeo Parish 7 PM with a presentation on the "History of Structural Change in the Church" by Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Louise Akers, Ph.D.

Dayton VOTF has scheduled meetings in parishes through December and is working on the 2004 schedule. In November, the rector of the archdiocesan seminary will be the guest speaker at St. Albert the Great Parish. Father James Manning, pastor, is a member of the seminary's board.

Dayton VOTF co-founder and co-chair Mike Knellinger stood with the attorneys and David Clohessy on the steps of the archdiocesan cathedral on August 11 at a press conference announcing that six additional lawsuits were filed against Father Lawrence Strittmatter who was removed from active ministry last year. Four other victims had previously filed a suit. The priest was serving in Dayton at the time of his removal. The suit filed racketeering charges against the Archbishop, the second suit in the country to file these charges against a bishop on the basis of failure to supervise.

Dayton VOTF held a special meeting with Mr. Clohessy on August 11. On August 14 Dayton VOTF voted to send a letter to the county prosecutor requesting action on the investigation of a priest, Father Thomas Kuhn, removed from active ministry last year. Father Kuhn's removal was precipitated by the civil seizure of computers from St. Henry's Parish where he was serving as pastor having previously served 12 years at Incarnation.

Dayton VOTF participated in Dr. Jim Muller's visit to Cincinnati on August 8 and looks forward to the October 4 Cincinnati VOTF event with Dr. Donald Cozzens.

Dayton VOTF's Prayerful Voice is working on three additional prayer services. Our Support for Priests of Integrity group is working on a day in October when Catholics in the Dayton area will be called upon to show active support for their priests.

Dayton VOTF continues its media contacts and interviews with local television stations and the city's newspaper regarding the recent removal of three priests, Father Richard Unwin, Father Frank Massarella and Father David Kelley and another priest whom Dayton VOTF believes, based on information from a victim/survivor, is one of the fewer than five priests in the Archbishop's announcement.

VOTF SOUTH
VOTF Louisville, Kentucky
Submitted by Paula Radmacher

Our affiliate began meeting in a snowstorm last winter and we continue to weather events in Louisville.

Our meetings are structured around the three goals. Additionally, we are beginning each meeting with a short educational segment, to remind/inform us of how various aspects of Church governance have evolved over the centuries.

Members of VOTF-Louisville have had two meetings with the Archbishop and his Chancellor: one before the recently announced settlement and one since. The first meeting was to get acquainted, let them know what we are about and offer to work with them for healing in our community. While not closing the door, their responses were cool. The most recent meeting included information regarding new teacher training, which will be conducted by staff from the Center for Women and Families. New standards for ministerial behavior (priests, teachers, employees, volunteers) have been developed and will be in place for this school year. The Archbishop and Chancellor were non-committal about continuing to meet with us.

In June, a $25.7 million settlement of 243 lawsuits was announced. The settlement was in response to accusations against 34 priests and Church workers over a period of 60 years. The funds were to come from unrestricted assets of the Archdiocese and placed in escrow until decisions could be made about how money would be divided.

In July, a conference was presented by Carroll Craddock: Healing and Preventing Wounds of Sexual Abuse in Our Religious Organizations. It was attended by a number of VOTF members who also met privately with Dr. Craddock after the meeting.

In August, Link-Up sponsored a candlelight vigil during the meeting of the National Assembly of Male Catholic Religious Orders here in Louisville. Members of VOTF-Louisville also attended and were able to talk to some of the heads of the various orders and provide witness to our support for priests of integrity.

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Louisville received a letter from the Archbishop in late August outlining a 5-year plan to restore financial stability following the settlement announced in June. Among other things, parish assessments will increase.

Ongoing projects:

• Organizing a healing mass for survivors of abuse
• Conducting a listening forum with priests of the Archdiocese
• Compiling a list of known abusive priests and their current locations

VOTF EAST
VOTF Winchester Area, MA
Reported by Bob Morris

We continued our schedule of weekly meetings this month, featuring four well-attended sessions. On August 4 and 11 we looked at the abuse crisis from two very different perspectives. On August 4, our meeting (attended by about 65 persons) focused on the removal of Rev. Ronald Bourgault of St. Zepherin's in Wayland after an allegation of abuse in 2002, and his reinstatement earlier this year. Attorney Tom Fay, who represented Fr. Bourgault, and Darrell Simpson, a Regional Coordinator for Voice of the Faithful and a member of St. Zepherin's Parish, explained how a rudimentary investigation, conducted many months after the allegation was raised, resulted in the victim acknowledging that the accused priest could not have committed the act in question.

On Monday, August 11, we welcomed Phil and Lauren deAlbuquerque, founders of the Lighthouse. The Lighthouse is the nation's first resource center for victims of clergy abuse, located in East Boston. Phil explained how the idea of the Lighthouse came to him in a dream, and how he used his own assets to pursue that dream. While not himself a victim of abuse, Phil has truly walked the path taken by survivor-victims, and showed us all how the support of survivors is truly the work of God. Phil's warm and open spirit touched many of the 75 persons present that night.

On August 18, about 50 members gathered to discuss the report of Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly on "The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston". Members focused on the question of how we can ensure that such a calamity never occurs again. Ideas developed by members ranged from expanding the reach of the Archdiocese's Virtus training program on abuse prevention, to ensuring that something similar to education on the Holocaust be included in religious education, in order to ensure that this tragic period is never forgotten.

Finally, on August 25, over 100 persons gathered to hear Fr. David O'Leary, Tufts University Chaplain, discuss his book in progress on Boston-area priests. Fr. Dave has interviewed over 130 priests since the onset of the abuse crisis, and is in the process of compiling his wealth of data to compile his book. Fr. Dave fielded many questions about his research, and related issues.

Looking ahead, we want Boston-area VOTF members to be aware of a program we have planned for Monday, October 27. On that evening, four leaders of the Boston Priests' Forum -- Frs. Robert Bullock, John McGinty, John Mahoney, and Austin Fleming -- will be joining us. We will have more details about this program as the date approaches.

VOTF Northern New Jersey Affiliate
Submitted by Maria Cleary

The VOTF Northern NJ Affiliate marked its first anniversary this August and is proud to represent 500+ members from the Paterson, Newark, Trenton and Metuchen dioceses. We look forward to our second year, which will focus on "The Future of Ministry," and we already have a number of wonderful speakers lined up to address this urgent topic.

First on the list is Dr. Dean Hoge of Catholic University who's written two new books, Evolving Visions of the Priesthood and The Future of Catholic Leadership: Responses to the Priest Shortage. We'll also be visited by David Gibson whose book, The Coming Catholic Church has been very positively reviewed.

We have found that the subject of clergy shortages can be an interesting topic for a VOTF affiliate. Our Paterson Diocese, for instance, has projected that in fifteen years, there will be 32 priests to serve 99 parishes. This statistic seems to have caught the attention of the laity who are concerned about the Church for their children and grandchildren. Does your diocese have projections they would be willing to share? And if so, what kinds of plans are being made to accommodate those numbers? Perhaps this is an area where your VOTF affiliate might be able to offer some assistance.

We're also excited to be starting a more active prayer life as a community. A local retreat house has generously offered its facility so that we can plan a regular liturgy, and we're having our first one on Sept. 21. We hope to make this a Sunday practice one or two times a month, and we've been fortunate to have a number of priests offer to help.

And, of course, we've all been working feverishly on our convention. We've been getting together every few weeks at Fordham Prep in the Bronx, New York. Our committee of over 30 people hails from all over the NY, NJ and CT area. We're hoping this will be a real reunion for much of our VOTF family. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Fordham University on October 25!

VOTF Boston, MA - Paulist Center
Submitted by Ron DuBois

We will have our first Paulist Center Voice of the Faithful meeting of the "new year" on Sunday, September 14, after the noon Mass, in the library.

We will be discussing our vision for the coming year, i.e., "Healing the Body of Christ." We will also briefly describe our new organization and our intentions to work more closely with existing ministries at the Paulist Center, especially the Pastoral Council. We plan to have a table at the Community Festival on September 27/28. Ideas are welcome as well as volunteers to "person" the table at the festival.

I look forward to seeing many at our September meeting. This will be a very important year in the history of the Archdiocese, and Voice of the Faithful intends to play an important role in "Keeping the Faith and Changing the Church."

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