Healing and Hope: Analysis of a Crisis

April 26, 2002

DignityUSA

<h4> A Statement by Members of Catholic Organizations for Renewal</h4>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.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.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.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.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.1. We demand justice for the victims of sexual abuse by clergy. 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.2. We demand structural reform and renewal. 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.3. We demand a community of God's people. 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.4. We demand that sexuality be celebrated by the church as a source of life.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.5. We demand financial accountability. 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.6. We demand the end of discrimination in the church. 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.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.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.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. <h3 style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(153 51 153); >Endorsing Organizations & 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> Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) Southampton MA John F. Sheehan - 413.527.9929  Mary Lou Hartman - 609.921.9134Call to Action USA Chicago IL  Contact: Don Wedd - 773-404-0004 X 270Call to Action/Baltimore  Contact: Fred Ruof - 410.889.5996Call to Action of Northern Virginia  Jim Webster - 703.525.4013Catholics for a Free Choice  Jon O'Brien - 202.986.6093Catholics for a Free Choice/Canada  Joanna Manning - 416.599.1244Catholics for the Spirit of Vatican II Denver  Thomas J. Kerwin - 303-221-7622Catholics Speak Out/Quixote Center Brentwood MD  Rea Howarth - 301.699.0042 or 703.527.3501CORPUS Morris Plains NJ  Anthony Padovano - 973-539-8732  Russ Ditzel - 908.638.6877DignityUSA - Washington DC  Mary Louise Cervone Marianne Duddy 617-361-9512Federation of Christian Ministries  Sr. Bridget Mary Meehan SFCC - 703.379.2487  or 703.967.6736Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity  Lena Woltering - 618.234.4073Good Tidings Canadensis PA  Cait Finnegan - 717.595.2750National Coalition of American Nuns  Jeannine Gramick SL - 301.864.3604  Mary Ann Cunningham SL - 303.936.5904New Ways Ministry Mt. Rainier MD  Frank DeBernardo - 301.277.5674Pax Christi Maine  Bill Slavick - 207.773.6562Save Our Sacrament: Reform of Annulment & Respondent Support Cochituate MA  Janice P. Leary - <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>Women's Ordination Conference Fairfax VA  Erin Hanley - 703.352.1006<h4 style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; color: rgb(51 0 102); > Liaison Groups</h4><div>A Critical MassBVM Network for Women's IssuesGrail Women TaskforceGreater Cincinnati Women–ChurchLoretto Women's NetworkPriests for Equality/Quixote Center Mark Buckley - 310.699.0042San Francisco Bay Area Women-ChurchSisters Against SexismSoutheastern Pennsylvania Women's Ordination Conference  Regina Bannan - 215.545.9649 or 215.204.7351Women Church of Northern Virginia Sr. Bridget Mary Meehan SFCC - 703.379.2487 or 703.967.6736Women's Alliance for Theology Ethics and Ritual (WATER)  Mary Hunt or Diann Neu - 301.589.2509Women Church Convergence Ruth Fitzpatrick - 703.938.0746Young Feminists Network Joy Barnes - 703.352.1006</div>

Healing and Hope: Analysis of a Crisis

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