If Voice of the Faithful isn’t a re-tread of Call to Action, why do so many of its leaders act like it is? Why isn’t there one demonstrably orthodox leader in the whole bunch? From the current issue of the Wanderer:
“On February 9 Dr Janice Leary, one of the original founders of Voice of the Faithful in Boston last year, came to Rochester to help organize the first Rochester branch of the rapidly growing lay movement. Some critics have described VOTF as a retread of Call to Action, which VOTF adamantly denies.
But Leary, who was introduced by Fr Bill Spillane, with whom she attended last year’s Call to Action convention in Milwaukee, admitted that she started the Massachusetts Call to Action in 1990. She repeatedly implied her approval of CTA’s agenda while insisting that VOTF was merely a vehicle to unite Catholics at opposite ends of the spectrum—she specifically characterized them as “Wanderer Catholics” and “National Catholic Reporter Catholics”—into a “centrist” movement pushing for “structural change” in the Church.
In warming up to the 100 or so people who came to hear her presentation at Monroe Community College, Leary observed that she was so happy to assist at Mass earlier in the day with Fr Spillane at St John’s in Fairport, and was delighted to see a woman at the altar, wearing a stole, at the priest’s side.
“We can’t do that in Boston,” she lamented.
“You people,” she added, “are in the Promised Land.” Leary praised Bishop Clark as a model bishop, pointing out that she has known him since they went to high school together in Troy, N.Y., and was always impressed by his kindness and thoughtfulness.”
Assisting at Mass like she’s ordained. That’s not “liberal,” it’s heterodox. It’s a violation of the Church’s teachings. Is this what VOTF wants to allow under its “big tent”?
