Healing and Hope: Analysis of a Crisis

April 26, 2002

by

DignityUSA

<h4>&nbsp;A Statement by Members of Catholic Organizations for Renewal</h4><p>The fuel that lit the fires now burning in the Catholic Church is the desire to preserve the childhood of our children. No one should have to choose the safety of a child over allegiance to a church. A reformed and renewed church will not oblige us to decide between the church we love and the children we cherish.<p>In the voiceless victimization of our children we have found our voice. In their suffering we have found the wounded places in our own lives and in our church. We have been led to a land more promising than the bondage in which we lived too long a time. We shall never return to where we once were.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >We believe that the root cause of all the evils of these latter days is the abuse of power. We know that Jesus condemned severely such abuse in the religious leaders of his time.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >We are all too flawed to flourish in an environment where no accountability is required where people are made passive before authority where pretension to infallibility and wisdom is not justified or tested. In such a system children are the early victims but sooner or later all of us even those in power are damaged and destroyed.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >When abuse of power is uprooted a tree of life will grow in the church again and we shall find safety in its branches. We believe that abuse of power bears evil fruit poisoning all of us. We demand that this fruit never again be offered to God's people.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>1. We demand justice for the victims of sexual abuse by clergy.&nbsp;</strong>Women and children have been sexually abused in numbers we can no longer calculate. Since church leaders have not effectively restrained the perpetrators of such violence we demand that they be brought to justice in full compliance with civil law. Victims do not need reconciliation with the church; it is the church which must be reconciled to them. The church must be ready with the spiritual emotional and financial resources to help the healing process whenever victims are ready. There are no statutes of limitation on healing. Moreover good priests do not abuse others. Too often they also are abused by a church system which oppresses and silences them. We celebrate good priests and we invite them to join us in our demands.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>2. We demand structural reform and renewal.&nbsp;</strong>A collegial church is the only cure for the pathology and secrecy patriarchy and privilege that have made us ill. Monarchy and aristocracy are not evangelical values. The church of Christ has been starved in all of its ministries for too long a time malnourished by the exclusion of all women and married men from the priesthood and decision-making. It is clear that were the baptized given voice in the church an inclusive priesthood would be overwhelmingly endorsed. Structural reform will deny a haven to abusers of sex or power to those who require secrecy for their actions and immunity for their crimes.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>3. We demand a community of God's people.&nbsp;</strong>The fires of Pentecost do not burn for a few but for all of us. We were not summoned to a church where some have titles and deference and privilege at the expense of the community's very life and spirit. The church is God's people not a corporation of executive officers or a medieval fiefdom. Only a church out of touch with the Gospel could boast that there is no democracy in its structures. A church that puts power and privilege before social justice betrays the Gospel.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>4. We demand that sexuality be celebrated by the church as a source of life.</strong>The demonization of sexuality its repression and renunciation is an abuse of life. The focus of church teaching on sexual conduct and its relative neglect of abuse of power distort the Gospel. A church in which male celibacy is a precondition for authority and all other sexual choices are marginalized is a church that has lost not only the Gospel but also common sense. Abuse of women abuse of children and mandatory celibacy are different forms of sexual abuse each reinforcing the other in a dance of death.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>5. We demand financial accountability.</strong>&nbsp;Just wages and financial fairness must prevail in the house of the church. We must overturn the tables that block the way to full financial disclosure. The coins of the poor must not be bartered for the comfort of church leaders. We must know why there was money for cathedrals but not for those working in church institutions for hierarchical excess but not for pensions for papal visits and even cover-up compensation but not for teachers and ministers.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>6. We demand the end of discrimination in the church.&nbsp;</strong>The present attempt to scapegoat homosexuals is symptomatic of a system that blames everyone except those in power. The list of those denounced as a source of evil in the church is a sign of the dysfunctionality of the system: married priests; all the divorced and remarried; homosexuals; those who call for a collegial church; indeed the contemporary world in which we live. The suffering of those most in pain is intensified by excommunication for abortion denial of Eucharist for remarriage prohibition of lay ministries to married priests and legal harassment of sexual abuse victims. Discrimination exists in the church; it is racial and sexual at different times. At the moment it is focused on sexual orientation. It also is class and caste-driven preserving from blame and granting immunity from resignation those with clerical privilege.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >Let this analysis stand as our sense of why we are now in crisis. Let it be known that we Catholic reform organizations from North America join in the calls for a Continental Congress of Catholics. Let this document be received as our contribution to the agenda of such an assembly. Let it come quickly.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >It is time long past due to make the church a community of healing and hope for all of us. Only such a church dares to call itself the church of Christ.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >It was not power over one another Jesus encouraged. The church is meant for love. Jesus abused no one least of all those whose trust he sought.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >&nbsp;</p><h3 style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(153 51 153); >Endorsing Organizations &amp; Contact Information</h3><h4 style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; color: rgb(51 0 102); >Members of COR</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC)</strong>&nbsp;Southampton MA&nbsp;</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >John F. Sheehan - 413.527.9929&nbsp;<br />Mary Lou Hartman - 609.921.9134</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Call to Action USA</strong>&nbsp;Chicago IL&nbsp;<br />Contact: Don Wedd - 773-404-0004 X 270</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Call to Action/Baltimore&nbsp;</strong><br />Contact: Fred Ruof - 410.889.5996</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Call to Action of Northern Virginia&nbsp;</strong><br />Jim Webster - 703.525.4013</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Catholics for a Free Choice&nbsp;</strong><br />Jon O'Brien - 202.986.6093</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Catholics for a Free Choice/Canada&nbsp;</strong><br />Joanna Manning - 416.599.1244</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Catholics for the Spirit of Vatican II</strong>&nbsp;Denver&nbsp;<br />Thomas J. Kerwin - 303-221-7622</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Catholics Speak Out/Quixote Center</strong>&nbsp;Brentwood MD&nbsp;<br />Rea Howarth - 301.699.0042 or 703.527.3501</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>CORPUS&nbsp;</strong>Morris Plains NJ&nbsp;<br />Anthony Padovano - 973-539-8732&nbsp;<br />Russ Ditzel - 908.638.6877</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>DignityUSA&nbsp;</strong>- Washington DC&nbsp;<br />Mary Louise Cervone<br />Marianne Duddy 617-361-9512</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Federation of Christian Ministries&nbsp;</strong><br />Sr. Bridget Mary Meehan SFCC - 703.379.2487&nbsp;<br />or 703.967.6736</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity&nbsp;</strong><br />Lena Woltering - 618.234.4073</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Good Tidings</strong>&nbsp;Canadensis PA&nbsp;<br />Cait Finnegan - 717.595.2750</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>National Coalition of American Nuns&nbsp;</strong><br />Jeannine Gramick SL - 301.864.3604&nbsp;<br />Mary Ann Cunningham SL - 303.936.5904</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>New Ways Ministry</strong>&nbsp;Mt. Rainier MD&nbsp;<br />Frank DeBernardo - 301.277.5674</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Pax Christi Maine</strong>&nbsp;<br />Bill Slavick - 207.773.6562</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Save Our Sacrament: Reform of Annulment &amp; Respondent Support&nbsp;</strong>Cochituate MA&nbsp;<br />Janice P. Leary -&nbsp;<a style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0 0 102); text-decoration: none; href=mailto:saveoursacrament@aol.com>saveoursacrament@aol.com</a></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Women's Ordination Conference</strong>&nbsp;Fairfax VA&nbsp;<br />Erin Hanley - 703.352.1006</p><h4 style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; color: rgb(51 0 102); ><br />Liaison Groups</h4></p><div><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>A Critical Mass</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>BVM Network for Women's Issues</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Grail Women Taskforce</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Greater Cincinnati Women&ndash;Church</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Loretto Women's Network</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Priests for Equality/Quixote Center</strong><br />Mark Buckley - 310.699.0042</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>San Francisco Bay Area Women-Church</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Sisters Against Sexism</strong></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Southeastern Pennsylvania Women's Ordination Conference&nbsp;</strong><br />Regina Bannan - 215.545.9649 or 215.204.7351</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Women Church of Northern Virginia</strong><br />Sr. Bridget Mary Meehan SFCC - 703.379.2487 or 703.967.6736</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Women's Alliance for Theology Ethics and Ritual (WATER)&nbsp;</strong><br />Mary Hunt or Diann Neu - 301.589.2509</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Women Church Convergence</strong><br />Ruth Fitzpatrick - 703.938.0746</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Young Feminists Network</strong><br />Joy Barnes - 703.352.1006</p></div><p>&nbsp;</p>