VOTF OHIO
JIM POST OHIO
VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL OHIO
Church rejects Voice of Faithful meeting
Bishop
Pilarczyk said Thursday he decided not to "encourage parishes to make their facilities
available to Voice of the Faithful because the posture of (the lay group) in
relation to the teaching of the church is not clear to me."
Catholic
survivors' group to meet at Marriott
By
Jim DeBrosse
e-mail
address: jdebrosse@coxohio.com
Dayton
Daily News
DAYTON
| The local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic lay group formed in
response to the pedophile priest scandals, has lined up two nationally known
speakers for its first meeting April 3, but they won’t be speaking on
Catholic property.
Both the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the University of Dayton declined to provide a venue for appearances by Jim Post, national president of Voice of the Faithful, and David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
The
speakers’ presentations and a discussion afterward will be held at the
Dayton Marriott Hotel starting at 8 p.m.
Post
and Clohessy have been at the national forefront in pressing for changes in
Catholic hierarchical policies toward priests who sexually abuse children and
teenagers.
Voice
of the Faithful, a Boston-based organization with more than 25,000 members and
160 parish chapters, supports victims of clergy sexual abuse and seeks to end
the Catholic church’s "clerical culture of secrecy, deceit,
arrogance and abuse of power that has brought us to this shameful pass,"
according to its Web site.
Mike
Knellinger, one of the organizers of the Dayton-area chapter, said he
approached Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk in the fall about allowing the group to
meet at local churches. Pilarczyk declined, he said.
Pilarczyk
said Thursday he decided not to "encourage parishes to make their
facilities available to Voice of the Faithful because the posture of (the lay
group) in relation to the teaching of the church is not clear to me."
Archdiocesan
spokesman Dan Andriacco said Pilarczyk is taking "a wait-and-see
attitude" toward the group.
In
January, Knellinger and co-organizer Kris Ward approached the University of
Dayton about using its facilities. The Catholic university has been agreeable
to the idea of a grass-roots meeting on campus, but not to the inclusion of the
nationally known speakers.
UD
President Daniel Curran said the university was "caught off guard" by
the addition of the two speakers to the group’s agenda in the past week.
He said UD and Voice of the Faithful differ primarily on what is an appropriate
first step for the group.
"We
would have preferred to have it at the local level and have (the speakers) come
forward at a future meeting," Curran said.
Even
so, a press release from UD is promoting the off-campus appearance of the two
speakers.
Knellinger
said an open grass-roots discussion is still the primary purpose of the
group’s initial meeting. "But instead of sitting around and
wondering what to do next, these speakers will give us some direction. They
will give people who want to come forward help and encouragement."
Clohessy,
46, a husband and father living in St. Louis, was molested as a child by a priest.
His brother, who also was abused by a priest, grew up to become a priest and an
accused child abuser.
Post
is a business professor at Boston University and co-founder of Voice of the
Faithful. He describes himself "as one of the individuals you commonly see
in pews on Sunday."
Tell Jim DeBrosse you saw this article here on FaithfulVoice.com at 225-2437
or
We call on all Bishops to voice opposition and ban Voice of the Faithful. [ VOTF ] mailto:Banned@FaithfulVoice.com
Since the first week of August Voice of The Faithful has
been opposed and banned from Church property in nine dioceses across The United
States .
Banned
by Bishop Gerry in Portland, ME.
Banned
by Bishop Lori in Bridgeport, CT.
Banned
by Bishop Murphy in Rockville Centre, NY.
Banned
by Bishop Daly in Brooklyn, NY.
Banned
by Bishop Meyers in Newark, NJ.
Banned
by Bishop DiMarzio in Camden, NJ.
Banned
by Bishop Vasa in Baker, OR.
Banned
by Bishop Allue ,No Andover, Ma
And,
frozen - - in Boston, MA, by Cardinal Law.