Larry Kessler, the openly gay executive
director of the AIDS Action Committee, is on the Voice of the Faithful steering
committee.
15.
Larry Kessler Aids
Action Committee
I am a member of Our Lady's
parish, Newton.
I
have been Director, Office for Peace and Justice, Paulist Center, and
co-founder and director, Thomas Merton Center, Pittsburgh.
Since 1983, I have been the
Executive Director, and now am founding director, of the AIDS Action Committee. I built this agency
which has served over half of all people ever diagnosed with AIDS in
Massachusetts, has educated generations about the disease, and has secured
progressive city, state, and federal AIDS policy.
In all I have spent 40 years
working in Catholic social action inside the church, alongside the church and
outside the church. Now it is clear to me that another opportunity to serve is
presenting itself. Beyond my considerable
experience, I believe I would bring several other important things to the VOTF
Council:
·
I am an openly gay man.
·
I was abused by a priest (Pittsburgh Diocese) as a teenager and, like many of my
generation, told absolutely no one until recent years.
·
I believe strongly in the strength and power of the laity and believe it can
and should lead the church, especially when the church is wrong, derelict or
compromised as it has been lately on this issue of abuse as well as in other
areas.
·
Unlike many others who left the church because of abuse, I stayed and became a
more determined Catholic than ever. One reason I probably did so was because I
knew and continue to know so many good priests and laity here in Boston, in
Pittsburgh and elsewhere.
·
Finally, I am very interested in helping abuse victims so that one day they
might see themselves as still welcome and empowered in the church.
RosaryCampaign@FaithfulVoice.com
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New group counters Voice of the Faithful
Monday, October
28, 2002
By Jay Lindsay
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON-- It's
small, stealthy and exists to expose what it says is the hidden agenda of a
prominent group of lay Catholics that formed in response to the church's sex
abuse scandal.
Even the name -- Faithful
Voice -- is designed to counter Voice of the Faithful, as organizers hope the
similarities redirect Internet browsers to their Web site.
Faithful Voice, which counts
50 members, covertly attends as many Voice meetings as possible. They've
papered windshields with pamphlets and aren't shy about approaching
parishioners and church officials to share their view.
Their fervor rises from a
conviction that the 25,000-member Voice of the Faithful isn't trying to help
the Catholic church through the scandal. Instead, it believes the nationwide
organization, which was born in response to the sex abuse crisis, wants to
undermine the church by changing its fundamental theology.
³They're taking advantage of
the chaos to get their rules in,² said Faithful Voice spokeswoman Carol
McKinley.
Faithful Voice, though small,
has had an effect.
Voice spokesman Mike Emerton
blames the group for influencing Bishop Emilio Allue, regional bishop for the
Merrimack Valley, to ban a Voice chapter from meeting in a North Andover
parish.
³(Faithful Voice) continues to
misinterpret what we say,² Emerton said. ³They flatly refuse to believe our
stated missions and goals.²
Voice of the Faithful fully
backs the church's doctrinal teachings, he said. What it questions are some
man-made rules, such as those that prevent laypeople from knowing where their
donations go or the backgrounds of priests assigned to their parishes. Voice's
aims are to support good priests and increase the laity involvement in church
governance, as laid out in Vatican II reforms of 1962, Emerton said.
The groups are trying to work
out differences. North Andover's Voice chapter arranged an Oct. 30 meeting
between some of its members and Faithful Voice members, to be moderated by the
Rev. Robert McMillan, the Boston Archdiocese's planning and research director.
John Cronin, a founder of
Faithful Voice, said he's not sure a meeting will accomplish much.
³It's good that we're talking,
but if they expect we're going to change, it's not going to be good,² Cronin
said.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Donna
Morrissey said she wasn't familiar with Faithful Voice, but she said the
archdiocese generally supports the open dialogue such lay groups promote.
Cardinal Bernard F. Law has
yet to meet with Voice of the Faithful, though the group has long sought a
meeting.
Russell Shaw, a former
spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he believes
laypeople can be a positive force for change in the church, but he's been
discouraged by how lay groups have developed in Boston.
³It's more confrontation, more
divisiveness. ... (Faithful Voice) is cast in the role as the conservative
answer to the liberals,² he said. ³We need a fresh start in Boston, and
everywhere else.²
Faithful Voice started on a
July afternoon when Cronin and two others put pamphlets on windshields at St.
Michael's Parish in North Andover around the time a Voice of the Faithful
chapter was forming there. Word of the new group soon spread.
Faithful Voice members began
attending Voice of the Faithful meetings around the state, some keeping their
affiliation a secret. Those that spoke out have been greeted with boos and
hisses, McKinley said. But Emerton said Faithful Voice is causing disruptions
with its ambush strategy.
³That's some of the guerrilla
tactics they're using to spread false information about Voice of the Faithful,²
he said.
Faithful Voice maintains Voice
of the Faithful intends to overhaul traditional church teachings on subjects
such as abortion, celibacy for priests and homosexuality by pointing to people
who support or are associated with the group:
Leonard Swidler, a
professor of Catholic thought at Temple University. Voice has said it might consult
Swidler to draw up its constitution. Swidler has been instrumental in crafting
a separate ³Constitution of the Catholic Church,² which promotes, among other
things, the right of priests to marry and urges Catholics to ³follow their
informed consciences in all matters,² as opposed to church teachings.
Larry
Kessler, the openly gay executive director of the AIDS Action Committee, is on
the Voice of the Faithful steering committee, leading Faithful Voice to question the other group's
commitment to church teaching that homosexual acts are sinful.
Debra Haffner, a former
official in the abortion rights group Planned Parenthood, spoke at Voice of the
Faithful's summer convention, though the Catholic church is against abortion.
One
of Voice of the Faithful's founders is Janice Leary, who is associated with the
group Call to Action, which promotes priestly ordination for women and
homosexuals.
McKinley
said the roster shows Voice of the Faithful is made up of dissidents. Most
laypeople in the group are good Catholics who don't know what the group is
really about, and Faithful Voice exists to tell them, she said.
³Voice
of the Faithful wants the doctrine to come from the people and go up to God,²
she said. ³No. Doctrine comes from God and you accept it.²
Monday, October 28, 2002