There is only
one Light
An "American catholic church" of the type VOTF espouses (despite its transparent remonstrations) is, in the end, God made in the image of man.
Dear
Dr. Mondello,
I am a Catholic which means I try to follow the doctrine taught to me by the
nuns of the Society of the Sacred Heart and the Jesuits of Boston College. To
be a Catholic means that I was baptized into God's grace, keeping His
commitment to honor His Name, live by His commandments, receive His Eucharist
and go and sin no more through His penance. As a Catholic I forgive others who
have hurt me and take up the Cross to defend the Church.
I am, also, a Boston Catholic afflicted from the current crisis in our Church
and feeling very lost, pained by all that has transpired, here, and
throughout the Church. I joined by way of email and became an observer of
the Voice of The Faithful, hoping that this group would help offer strength,
guidance and renewal for me. Only fools rush in, as they say. It was only
recently that I decided to share my thoughts with the group via email,
concerning their urging to start in on women who have been abused by priests.
There "newest" agenda troubled, infuriated me and I
retorted with the correspondence,below. Schism is the word that was swimming
in my head. It occcured to me that VOTF is ardently provoking a schism in the Roman Catholic
Church and this concerns me deeply! As researched on the Internet for
inspiring commentary, I prayed for some answer and found your brilliant
wisdom! Would you mind just taking a moment to read the VOTF correspondence? It
offers some idea of the frustrating mindset that is going on around here. I can think of no
reply to VOTF, any longer, except to demand that they remove my name from their
group and to vow to unite our Church, as doctrine and dignity decrees. Perhaps, I can join your
Faithful Voice in Boston?
Your poignant article, "Subreption At Best, And Opportunism At Worst" was
a breath of fresh air, articulately and intelligently addressed. I guess
we never know the strength of our faith until it's put to the test. Thank you
and a blessed new year.
I remain faithful to Our Lord in peace.
Carol F
Dear
Ms. Carol F.
Thank
you for taking the time to write me about your concerns with VOTF, concerns I
share with you.
Schism
is a very sobering concept. It is sobering in that it awakens us to the reality
of a deep division within Holy Mother Church; a rift so profound, so deep,
indeed, so dark, that some of Her children are blinded by the darkness
rather than the light. As I had mentiond, perhaps in an earlier
letter, it has been said that "in the Church where the lights are
brightest ... the shadows are deepest." It is from these shadows, Carol, that
the specter of Schism emerges. It is, in effect, the insinuating
whisper that Darkness has vanquished the Light. But we know that this is
not true. If the lights in the Church are dimmer now, the shadows are
commensurably deeper ... and the errors emerging from the darkness are greater.
Schism is
the culmination of the extinction of light. It is not that the light has ceased, but
that the eyes have grown accustomed to a gathering darkness ... and shrinking
from the light of truth, transvaluate truth into error ... which accords much
more with the darkness. It is a darkness that, in its utter
blindness, promises a light it can no longer see ... and in
which it can never have part (2 Cor. 6.14). An "American catholic church" of the
type VOTF espouses (despite its transparent remonstrations) is, in the end, God
made in the image of man ... because man can no longer see himself in God ... and in
his blindness and arrogance wishes to raise a temple unto himself. This is the
victory of schism. It is the victory of darkness. But the light, despite its
flickering, has already overcome the darkness. Christ Himself has told us.
There is only one Light: Christ. And it shines in His Body: the Church. Do not
be frightened by the baying of wolves. If you are truly His, you know His voice
... and would never go to another ... as Peter himself recognized in the
"scandal" of the Eucharist. Follow God. Not men ... or, for that
matter, women ...
Sincerely
in Christ
Geoffrey
K. Mondello [ visit JohnoftheCross.com
]
FaithfulVoice.com Editor’s note
Below you will find a series of e-mail exchanges between
Carol F. and VOTF.
Carol
F [ is not our Carol McKinley of FaithfulVoice.com ]
Original
Message -----
From:
VOTF-Parish
Voice West/Chelm
To:
Carol F
Cc:
NeedhamParishVoice@yahoo.com ; west_chelmvoice@yahoo.com
Sent:
Thursday, January 02, 2003 12:30 PM
Subject:
Re: Fw: Women Survivors' Stories
Hello Carol
and Needham Parish Voice members. I believe the situation is more
complicated than your recent message would indicate. You make some
important points that cover a lot of issues. I wanted to respond to them
individually. Please see my responses below.
> They are in bold type to make them easier to distinguish from your message.
Hi
Mike and Members,
Our
Church is in a purge process and being chastised for sins, sins of religious
and sins of laity. We are all sinners and we should not forget that our
strength is in our capability to forgive. Forgiveness is at the heart of our
faith, is it not? Christ is clearly telling Catholics, especially in the
hierarchy, that the moral rot and dissent that justifies it must stop.
>That’s
true, we are all sinners. However, I was taught by the Sisters of St.
Joseph and the Jesuits that forgiveness comes when 1) the sin is
confessed 2) penance is done 3) the sin is not repeated. Clearly
these conditions have not been met by many of the Bishops and priests involved
in this crisis.
>I
was in the meeting with Bishop McCormack last Sunday. He still refuses to
take responsibility for his actions. He said he didn’t transfer any
priests. He only knew of 3 cases of abuse involving children and he
reported them to the authorities. The church records and his deposition
show that this is not the case. Fr. Birmingham was transferred 8 times
because of accusations that he sexually molested children. 8 times.
Did Bishop McCormack report him to authorities? No.
>As
a licensed Social Worker, Bishop McCormack is a mandated reporter of any
suspected abuse. However, when asked why, as a mandated reporter, he did
not report the abuse, he said he was acting as a priest, not a Social
Worker. Shouldn’t a priest, a BISHOP, have a higher moral standard
than a Social Worker? Apparently the Bishop doesn’t think so.
He transferred a priest accused of abuse just within the last few months.
>We can talk about forgiveness once the Bishops take responsibility for transferring priests and allowing them to rape again, and they step down as a Bishops of the Catholic church. All abusive priests must be removed from active ministry and prosecuted, if appropriate.
All
adults who were abused by priests as children are coming forward to tell their
stories. This is good and needed in order to reach a renewed Holy
Spirit in the Church. The Globe and the New York Times are owned
by the same conglomeration and have their own reporting schedule. The
abuse WILL be told, I have not doubt. We are all wiser, now.
Abuse
of girls, as well as boys has been reported around the Country. As you say, all
stories about unwanted sexual advances by priests against children
and adults must be reported. CRISIS Magazine, Christian Century,
First Things, Commonweal, America, etc have all reported on all kinds of
religious abuse. We need to be more well read and informed.
>Deal Hudson in CRISIS Magazine has continally made incorrect statement about VOTF and its motives, calling it “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. When Jim Post responded to him, he twisted Jim’s response and misrepresented his position, again. He continues to malign VOTF, insinuating the old charge of a “hidden agenda”. His reporting on this story is not accurate.
The
Globe is NOT the end all of reporting by any means! The horror of molestation
and rape must be reported, not only to our Church hierarchy but to the police,
as well. I believe more stories will come out, not only about priests but nuns,
as well, nuns abusing girls and boys.
>I agree, but the Globe is more widely read than the other publications that you name. Therefore, it is important that the Globe publish these stories. Many, many instances of sexual abuse were never reported to the police, even to this day. In fact, the church pressured victims to sign confidentiality agreements making the victims promise to never speak of these crimes again.
An
article in the "National Catholic Reporter", November 01,
2002, by Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former Benedictine
monk with more than 35 years of experience working with clergy sex abuse said
that he has handled dozens of sexual abuse cases in which nuns were the
abusers.What about the active homosexual behavior going on in seminaries? Many
of our religious live duplicicitous lives. There are those who do not
practice what they preach. But, we need to ask ourselves if we Catholics live
as the gospel tells us. Do we believe in abortion, premarital sex, adultery,
homosexual behavior, etc? Who is ready to throw the first stone?
Catholics need to examine there own behavior, as well.
I
believe the next phase for the VOTF is to focus on parish involvement;
implementing policies; helping to instill a Catholic curriculum across the
board. Our kids are growing up not understanding their religion and its
doctrines. I know a woman who teaches CCD and believes in abortion, a priest
who is having an affair with a married woman, etc. We all have heard stories of
this sort. What are WE teaching our kids? VOTF can help to get people back
to Mass and help to liven the liturgy. I fear a real schism, if
we energies here. Our very exemplary priests and nuns need our
support in these ways, don't you agree?
>
I agree we need to be actively involved in our Parishes. My Parish has 4
open seats on the Parish Council. We have 4 VOTF members from our group
running for those seats to try to influence the decisions made in the
Parish. My VOTF group has volunteered 4 people to be trained in the
Archdiocese Guidelines for Working with Youth. Then they will come back
to the parishes and train everyone that works with youth. Our exemplary
priests and nuns do need our support. We support our Priests of
Integrity. They also need to hear what is really going on among the
laity, which many of them do not hear, as they are ! also isolated.
>We
try to help our priests understand the depth of this crisis. It is human
nature to say; “These things happened in the past. We have
procedures and processes in place to handle these situations. It’s
time to move on.” That’s what Bishop Allue said when I met
with him at his residence in Lowell. There is much work to do before we
can even think of moving on. Priests and Bishops still do not understand
the harm that has been done to the victims.
We
all need to be faithful and set a role model for our children. This positive,
viable Church is the true community of holiness, not one that pushes
poor souls to suicide and despair. I'm sick of the witchhunt! I say focus
on the future of our Church and all those respectful religious who need our
support. Then, we can truly be our Lord's voice of the faithful!
Carol
F
>
What better role model can we set for our children than showing them that no
one is above the law? Any person that rapes or abuses children or adults,
or transfers people allowing them to rape and abuse again and again, must be
held accountable for their behavior and crimes. They must be removed from
any active ministry and prosecuted, if appropriate. I don’t want to
receive communion from a priest who fathered 2 children, did nothing as their
mother died of a drug overdose, then (with the knowledge of his Cardinal)
neglected to report these actions to the police. These evil men must be
exposed and removed from the priesthood.
>Fr.
Richard Buntel, “the blow king of Malden” was sent to my parish,
St. Catherine’s in Westford, despite the fact that two bishops warned
Cardinal Law that it was a mistake to return him to a parish. Not only
did they reassign him, they never told my Pastor, Fr. Cronin, that he had
sexual abuse, drug, and alcohol problems. My children and other children
in our parish were placed in jeopardy in order to maintain the secrecy and
avoid scandal in the Catholic church. That is just not acceptable.
It's outrageous!
>Fr.
Mahan abused children in your own town, in Needham. He abused the brother
of one of my neighbors and untold other innocent children. This boy is
now a man, unable to work, suffering from alcohol problems. His family
has also been destroyed as a result of Fr. Mahan’s crimes. How many
more victims have yet to come forward IN YOUR OWN TOWN?
>People
committed suicide because priests violated their vows and abused the power
bestowed on them by raping and sexually molesting children. Those priests
and the Bishops who ignored the pleas of the victims are responsible for the
suicides and despair. They will have to answer for their actions, or lack
of action.
>You
call it a witchhunt. I call it social justice. These crimes must be
brought to the light of day and prosecuted. The wound can never heal
until it is opened fully, and cleansed. Otherwise, the infection will
only continue.
>We
can focus on the future, but we must simultaneously deal with the crimes of the
past. Respectful religious, like the 58 brave priests who called for
Cardinal Law to step down, deserve and need our support. Hopefully more
priests of conscience will step forward and call for the ouster of their
criminal brothers.
>Jesus
would never look the other way when his ordained priests committed such
horrific crimes. We, as the Voice of the Faithful, must live up to all of
our goals. Goal #1 is to Support Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse.
Goal #2 is to Support Priests of Integrity. Goal #3 is to Work for
Structural Change within the Church.
>Let
us pray that we have the strength to continue to speak out to remove the
abusers and those that allowed them to continue to abuse, and to change the
structure of our church so this can never happen again.
Mike
G
Westford-Chelmsford
Area Parish Voice
Hi
Mike and Members,
Our
Church is in a purge process and being chastised for sins, sins of religious
and sins of laity. We are all sinners and we should not forget that our
strength is in our capability to forgive. Forgiveness is at the heart of our
faith, is it not? Christ is clearly telling Catholics, especially in the
hierarchy, that the moral rot and dissent that justifies it must stop. All
adults who were abused by priests as children are coming forward to tell their
stories. This is good and needed in order to reach a renewed Holy
Spirit in the Church. The Globe and the New York Times are owned
by the same conglomeration and have their own reporting schedule. The
abuse WILL be told, I have not doubt. We are all wiser, now.
Abuse of girls, as well as boys has been reported around the Country. As you say, all stories about unwanted sexual advances by priests against children and adults must be reported. CRISIS Magazine, Christian Century, First Things, Commonweal, America, etc have all reported on all kinds of religious abuse. We need to be more well read and informed. The Globe is NOT the end all of reporting by any means! The horror of molestation and rape must be reported, not only to our Church hierarchy but to the police, as well. I believe more stories will come out, not only about priests but nuns, as well, nuns abusing girls and boys. An article in the "National Catholic Reporter", November 01, 2002, by Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former Benedictine monk with more than 35 years of experience working with clergy sex abuse said that he has handled dozens of se! xual abuse cases in which nuns were the abusers.What about the active homosexual behavior going on in seminaries? Many of our religious live duplicicitous lives. There are those who do not practice what they preach. But, we need to ask ourselves if we Catholics live as the gospel tells us. Do we believe in abortion, premarital sex, adultery, homosexual behavior, etc? Who is ready to throw the first stone? Catholics need to examine there own behavior, as well.
I believe the next phase for the VOTF is to focus on parish involvement;
implementing policies; helping to instill a Catholic curriculum across the
board. Our kids are growing up not understanding their religion and its
doctrines. I know a woman who teaches CCD and believes in abortion, a priest
who is having an affair with a married woman, etc. We all have heard stories of
this sort. What are WE teaching our kids? VOTF can help to get people back
to Mass and help to liven the liturgy. I fear a real schism, if we
don't place our energies here. Our very exemplary priests and nuns need
our support in these ways, don't you agree?
We all need to be faithful and set a role model for our children. This
positive, viable Church is the true community of holiness, not one that
pushes poor souls to suicide and despair. I'm sick of the witchhunt! I say
focus on the future of our Church and all those respectful religious who need
our support. Then, we can truly be our Lord's voice of the faithful!
Carol
F
-----
Original Message -----
From:
VOTF-Parish
Voice West/Chelm
To:
Carol F
Sent:
Tuesday, December 31, 2002 3:47 PM
Subject:
Re: Fw: Women Survivors' Stories
Hi
Carol, you ask some very interesting questions. I don't know why Bella
English was removed from the story. I don't know what Ms. English's
agenda is. I don't know what Susan Gallagher's agenda is. And
neither do you. But the simple fact remains that females were abused and
their stories have yet to be told by the Globe.
We
should question who is doing the reporting. The reason is that a number
of women have come forward to members of the Globe Spotlight team with as much,
or more, documentation of their cases as many of the men's cases and their
stories were not published by the Globe.
In
fact, one of the women's story was published by the New York Times, which owns
the Globe. If it's good enough for the Times, it's not good enough for
the Globe? The Globe Omsbudsman has said that female victims'
stories are on the Spotlight Team's "to do list". If the
Spotlight Team is too busy, Bella English has already started working on the
story, why not re-assign her? She has listened to female survivors
and has not dismissed their claims, as some members of the Spotlight team have
done. Be assured that her stories will be reviewed by more than one
editor before they ever appear in the paper.
The
Globe also did a rather lousy job of investigating the statements of Paul
Edwards, who they labeled as an unstable liar. Their reporting, in his
case, was simply not accurate. Many of his statements that they said were
false, were in fact true.
We
are talking about children who were abused by adults. We are also talking
about non-consenting adult women, like the women abused by Fr. Robiero.
When her husband reported the incident to Cardinal Law, he said it was a
"personal matter". All stories about unwanted sexual advances
by priests against children and adults must be reported.
This
is not about consenting adults and "affairs". However, it is
very easy for reporters to characterize any activity between priests and
women as "affairs". This is not always the case.
I
agree that all Catholics want to move forward in the healing process and
regain strength from the Holy Spirit! We should all pray that all of
this information will come out in 2003, and the perpertrators and those
responsible for placing them in positions to abuse again and again will be
punished. Only then can we begin the healing process. Happy
New Year
Mike
G
Westford-Chelmsford
Area Parish Voice
-----
Original Message -----
From:
Carol F
To:
Dan H
Sent:
Sunday, December 29, 2002 12:04 PM
Subject:
Re: Women Survivors' Stories
Dan
and Members,
Before you all rush to respond to Mike G's request, think and ask yourself some
questions. We are not privy as to why Bella English was removed from the
Globe's assignment. What is Ms English's agenda and, for that matter, what is,
U
Mass Gender Studies faculty member, Susan Gallagher's agenda? Yes, get the word
out for suvivors but should we question who is doing the reporting, the
interpreting?
Are we talking about the abuse of children to whom we have a
responsibilty to protect or are we talking about consenting adults who have the
power to say no or yes? Ask yourself if you would decide to get involved in a
sexual relationship with a priest? If you do, is that abuse or an affair and
doesn't an adult know the recourse of such a crime? To compare the two is an
offense against the poor children who have been abused! I don't see any
correlation between consenting adults and those children who have no power
to say no. Don't get off the track. The focus is on sexual abuse of innocent
children and for seminaries to screen out all potential sexual preditors, be
they homosexual or heterosexual! All Catholics want to move forward in the
healing process and regain strength from the Holy Spirit!! !
Carol
F
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Saturday, December 28, 2002 9:55 PM
Subject:
Fw: Women Survivors' Stories
NPV,
As
many of you have seen, the Globe is finally focusing on women survivors of
sexual abuse. Below is an email from Mike G explaining how we can get the
word out for survivors.
KfCC,
Dan
-----
Original Message -----
From:
VOTF-Parish
Voice West/Chelm
To:
leadership@voiceofthefaithful.org
Sent:
Friday, December 27, 2002 11:18 AM
Subject:
Women Survivors' Stories
Hello
everyone, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. If you're like me, you're
feeling kind of a let down from the hectic pace of the developments two weeks
ago, relating to Cardinal Law's resignation. You may be asking,
"What do we do next?"
It's
time to get moving again. I went to a Survivors First meeting on
Saturday, December 14th. The Survivors decided their top goal is to
get the Women Survivors' stories told. This is an area that has been
ignored thus far, despite the story on the front page of today's Globe.
In the past, the Globe has been resistant to telling the female survivors'
stories, despite being contacted by a number of female survivors. SNAP
membership includes 30% to 50% females so this is clearly not a man on
boy, or homosexual problem.
Here's
what you can do NOW. The Survivors want the Globe to assign Bella
English to the story about female victims that has not yet been told.
Bella was working on this and was removed from the story, by the
Globe. Bella is also sympathetic to the stories of female
survivors. This cannot be said for some of the other reporters involved
with the Spotlight Team.
Please
send a letter to the editor. The email address is: letter@globe.com
OR the mailing address is: The Boston Globe, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA
02107-2378. Please make sure to include your full name, address and
a telephone number for confirmation purposes.
You
can also send a letter to the Globe Ombudsman, Christine Chinlund. The
ombudsman represents the readers. Her email address is
ombud@globe.com OR the mailing address is: The Boston Globe, P.O. Box
2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378. Finally you can phone 617-929-3020 or,
to leave a message, 617-929-3022.
Susan
Gallagher has done an amazing amount of research on this. You can learn
more at the following website:
(http://faculty.uml.edu/sgallagher/spotlight.htm)
VOTF
Goal #1 is supporting Survivors. Here's something you can do today to
make a difference. KFCC
Mike
G
Westford-Chelmsford
Area Parish Voice