Press Releases
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VOTF National Statement — Voice of the Faithful Agrees Conspiracy Memo in Priests’ Case “Shocking”
NEWTON, Mass., Feb. 28, 2012 – A newly discovered memo proves Philadelphia archdiocesan officials engaged in a conspiracy to cover up clergy sexual abuse in 1994. The memo also proves the Catholic Church reform group Voice of the Faithful’s long-held contention that Church hierarchy have covered up clergy sexual abuse to protect the Church’s reputation…
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Voice of the Faithful National Statement — Catholic Church Reform Movement Voice of the Faithful Cautions Hierarchy
World’s Catholic Church leaders meet at Rome Symposium on Clergy Sexual Abuse Feb. 6 NEWTON, Mass., Jan. 24, 2012 — The Roman Catholic Church has yet to develop an effective worldwide response to clergy child sexual abuse, even though widespread abuse was evident by the mid-1990s, exploded into crisis in the United States in 2002…
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National Statement — After 10 Years of Clergy Sexual Abuse Headlines Voice of the Faithful Sees No Certainty Children Are Safe
NEWTON, Mass., Jan. 5, 2012 – More than 130 people had come forward to tell their stories of childhood sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priest Fr. John Geoghan, reported The Boston Globe on Jan. 6, 2002. Over the next decade, around the world and as recently as last month in The Netherlands, came revelations that…
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Emily & Rosemary Fund for Women in the Catholic Church Awards $5,000 to Former Michigan Teacher
NEWTON, Mass., Dec. 21, 2011 – A Michigan teacher fired from her position at a Catholic elementary school has been awarded $5,000 in the fourth round of grants from the Voice of the Faithful’s Emily & Rosemary Fund for Women in the Church. These grants support women who have lost employment in the Catholic Church…
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Voice of the Faithful Repeats Calls for Transparency & Accountability as Dutch Report Widespread Clergy Sexual Abuse
NEWTON, Mass., Dec. 20, 2011 – Another chapter in the horrific story of worldwide Roman Catholic clergy child sexual abuse began Dec. 16 when a commission established by the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands released its report. “In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, clerics who perpetrated sexual abuse on helpless children could do so first…
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News Release — Irish Audits Show Clergy Sex Abuse Won’t Stop Without Accountability, Independent Review
NEWTON, Mass., Dec. 1, 2011 – For 36 years, leaders of six Roman Catholic dioceses in Ireland not only mishandled clergy sexual abuse and were not held accountable for abetting abuse, but also failed to establish reviews totally independent of Church influence, according to Voice of the Faithful’s reading of reports by Ireland’s National Board…
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Assessing the New Missal Translation
After more than a year of objection and resistance from English-speaking Catholics, including several bishops and many liturgists and translators, in Advent 2011 the Vatican imposed its new translation of the Missal for regions where English is the predominant language. Here’s a compendium of reflections published in preparation for the new translation: Fr. Anthony Ruff,…
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VOTF National Statement — Young Girls Again Are Prohibited from Serving Mass
NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 23, 2011 – Young girls have been prohibited from serving Mass by the pastor of Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Arlington, Va. In 2006, even as he relinquished a long-standing practice that excluded girls from altar service, Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde authorized diocesan priests to continue to exclude…
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VOTF National Statement — The Catholic Church, Penn State and Rampant Child Sexual Abuse
NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 17, 2011 — The recent grand jury account of child sexual abuse at Pennsylvania State University are as sickening as grand jury accounts of similar abuse by Catholic clergy in Philadelphia, Ireland, Boston and elsewhere, and the fact that the crimes were covered up is just as criminal, according to the worldwide…
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VOTF National Statement — Nothing Has Changed at Vatican as Cardinal Law Leaves Basilica Post
NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 21, 2011 – Nothing in the Vatican’s response to clergy sexual abuse has changed with the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law from his post as archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, according to Voice of the Faithful, the worldwide Catholic Church reform movement. At the epicenter of the clergy sexual…