'Voice of Faithful' Defies Attendees, Launches Worcester Affiliate

By Ed Oliver
October 2002 Print Edition

About 75 Catholics attended a tumultuous meeting September 18 at Holy Cross College to vote on a motion to establish a "Voice of the Faithful" affiliate for the Worcester Diocese. But despite a vote that failed to approve it, organizers started the affiliate anyway.

Voice of the Faithful is a rapidly-spreading movement of lay Catholics that ostensibly seeks to hold Bishops accountable for their actions. It has received positive reviews in the mainstream media, but critics of the group point out that many of those associated with its leadership espouse radical views not in line with church teaching.

Before the vote was taken in Worcester, organizers explained that according to the rules, the motion needed two-thirds in favor to pass. After a period of shouting and confusion about the goals of the organization, the vote was finally taken and the results were 30 in favor, and 27 against, failing to reach the necessary two-thirds.

Then almost on cue, someone in the audience questioned why they had to vote on it in the first place and suggested they should start an affiliate anyway, since there was a group of interested people. The moderator, Mary Keville, then asked interested people to come forward and sign membership forms, but it was unclear to many at the conclusion of the meeting if there was going to be a Worcester chapter or not.

MassNews e-mailed Mary Keville the next day and she replied, "We did start a chapter (actually called an affiliate) last night. There were at least 35 interested folks who signed membership forms and are ready and willing to get working on the VOTF goals. They came from 17 parishes."

Not Publicized

Laurie Letourneau, president of Worcester's Life Action League, told MassNews that the meeting wasn't widely publicized, but was more of an "in thing," where they could put on an appearance of democracy and have their vote without people saying "absolutely no" to it.

About half the participants appeared to be curious Catholics who had heard about the meeting by word-of-mouth and wanted to learn more about the organization that purports to speak for Worcester Diocese laity.

During a brief discussion before the vote, some audience members were told to be quiet and even asked to leave after they demanded clarification about the stated goal of VOTF to "shape structural change in the church."

People who voiced their opinion that homosexual priests were the cause of the abuse scandal were immediately interrupted by organizers and told that the correct term to use was "pedophile."

David Lewcon, an alleged sexual abuse victim who spoke to the group, also tried to cut off accusations about homosexual priests by saying he read somewhere that the majority of priests were heterosexuals who abused many women, although he himself claims to have been sexually abused by a male priest when he was a teenager.

Pretense of Openness

Letourneau said, "Speaking as a faithful Catholic, and not representing anybody, what I witnessed tonight was people who pretended to be open, but when push came to shove, they just weren't open at all, especially Mary Keville." She expressed her dismay that innocent, well-meaning people are supporting the VOTF, not realizing that it is a "wolf in sheep's clothing."

Some orthodox Catholics handed out literature seeking to warn people that VOTF is a movement of Catholic dissidents seeking to exploit the current turmoil in the church in order to push their own political agendas.

Officially, "Voice of the Faithful" claims it accepts the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. It says it does not endorse any organizations or interest groups and takes no position on the many issues that divide Catholics in 2002.

Letourneau said simply, "They lie. These are the dissidents, the homosexuals and abortion people. They have a hidden agenda."

As stated at the meeting, Voice of the Faithful has three main goals that members must support:

1. Those who have been abused.
2. Priests of integrity.
3. Shape structural change within the church.

Regarding structural change, organizers explained, "We are not talking about dogma, we are talking about governance, management" of the church, according to notes from an earlier Worcester meeting.

"They want group action where they do the hiring, firing, whatever," said Letourneau to MassNews. "There are tons of Protestant churches. We are here for the Catholic Church, which has stood for 2000 years. If you saw the opening prayer, I felt like I was in some kind of cult leadership program here."

Letourneau was referring to a new-age sounding, "meditative chant," led by Bolton's Sharon Shepela at the start of the meeting.

At one point, Shepela had the audience chanting a mantra that sounded suspiciously like a slogan used by homosexual groups in the schools - "We need safe places, we need safe places."

In homosexual speak, "safe places" means safe for homosexuality to flourish without criticism. Many school classrooms have pink triangle stickers or rainbows designating it is a "safe place" for homosexuals. Even some liberal churches have begun putting up the stickers and flying the rainbow flag.

No Official Statement from Bishop

When an audience member asked moderator Mary Keville if the Bishop knows about this group, she answered that Bishop Reilly is in favor of finding ways to have more lay involvement. "He has visited our group and saw nothing wrong with it," she said.

Ray Delisle, spokesman for Bishop Reilly, told MassNews, "He did meet with the group in Harvard. He did say that it was important that there be a more diverse representation of the Catholic faithful within their group. It was not a matter of giving them an endorsement or barring them. He has pretty much stayed neutral on the issue of Voice of the Faithful."

Asked to comment on the group's stated goals, Delisle answered that a lot of people are struggling right now and trying to learn more about what has happened in the church. He pointed out that a lot of places within Vatican II documents, such as the "Lumen Gentium," call for lay involvement, and the Bishop has always been in support of that goal as well, as long as it is consistent with church teaching.

Delisle said the Bishop did take issue with the group's language in their stated goals where they say they will support priests of integrity.

"It is dividing the priesthood to say that there are priests that are not of integrity," said Delisle. "The bottom line is, to be a faithful priest is defacto to be one of integrity. The fact is there are exceptions to that. People have failed to live up to their priesthood, but you can't have priests with integrity and priests without integrity. That is a divisive and confusing, non-supportive position to take."

What About the Goal of "Structural Change?"

Delisle said he thinks the biggest thing the Bishop was trying to get across was that there is still a long way to go to even take advantage of all the opportunities for lay people to be involved with the church. He was not saying it takes structural change for that to happen, but for more people becoming aware and finding out more about their church and what they can be doing. "The opportunities are still enormous for everyone to be involved in their church," he said.

So, the bottom line, according to Delisle, is there is no official statement from the Bishop regarding The Voice of the Faithful.

"He is encouraging people to become more involved, period," he said. "Part of doing that also means having to learn more about our faith and what church really means. It is not a political party, it is not something that is going to come and go like other things have. We have a solid tradition that we are not about to abandon, but that tradition has a great deal of room for everyone."

Asked for comment about dissident groups with divisive issues flocking to Voice of the Faithful, Delisle said "When Voice of the Faithful starts taking definitive positions on those issues, then obviously the Bishop will have to speak more strongly against those positions. They as a group, to my knowledge, have tried to say they are not taking positions on those issues. That may be attracting people, because 'Call to Action' and others have not been effective in getting their point of view across."