Press Releases
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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 […]
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News Release — Church Reform Group Identifies Serious Flaw in Bishops’ Clerical Abuse Report
NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 3, 2011 – A serious flaw exists in the John Jay College report on the causes and context of the Catholic Church’s worldwide sexual abuse scandal, according to the worldwide Church reform group Voice of the Faithful. The report was made public earlier this year, and the VOTF board of trustees recently […]
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Voice of the Faithful National Statement — Finally Accountability for a Bishop
NEWTON, Mass., Oct. 14, 2011 – Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese were indicted today by a Jackson County, Missouri, grand jury for failing to report child abuse, the first time a Catholic bishop has been indicted on such a charge since clergy sexual abuse of children was first made widely known […]