I’m trying real hard to give the benefit of the doubt. I really am. According to the Boston Globe, Archbishop O’Malley is considering reversing Cardinal Law’s bans on Voice of the Faithful.
After admitting he doesn’t know anything about Voice of the Faithful (even though all you’d ever want to know is on their web site; you don’t even have to read what critics wrote), he is now thinking about lifting the ban on the group and accepting their tainted donations. Just listen to Fr. Coyne’s remarks after the meeting:
“Each member of Voice of the Faithful who came made it very clear . . . that they are faithful, good members of their parishes, and that the people who are part of Voice of the Faithful are not dissidents, people who are not out to spread disunity within the church, but just people who want to help the church move forward,” Coyne told reporters after the meeting. “All of us around the table did not see divisions between Catholic and Catholic, but mainly just saw some issues within the family that need to be resolved.”
They aren’t dissidents? They didn’t host speakers at their conference who clearly contradict the Church’s teachings on sexuality? A priest speaking at the conference didn’t say that the Church should reverse its teaching on women’s ordination? The group doesn’t have writings on its web site that clearly contradict numerous dogmas?
Then Coyne goes on to say that the legal settlement with victims means Voice of the Faithful is now somehow acceptable. What does one have to do with the other? Even the victims are miffed that VOTF has somehow edged them out and has usurped their voice.
But maybe all is not lost yet. Maybe O’Malley is preparing for a rope-a-dope.
“We spoke and he listened; he spoke and we listened,” Post said. “I think Archbishop Sean has questions that need to be resolved, and of course we would provide that information. We want to get on with it.”
He hasn’t definitely decided to lift the ban or accept the money. Now is the time folks. If you’re in the Archdiocese of Boston, you have an obligation to help the archbishop get informed about what VOTF really is before he makes his decision.
O’Malley has repeatedly said he does not know much about Voice of the Faithful, which did not have chapters in Fall River or Palm Beach when he was the bishop there. A portion of yesterday’s meeting involved Voice of the Faithful members explaining how their group came about, and about its goals, which include supporting victims and “priests of integrity” and helping to shape structural change in the church.
Don’t let VOTF frame the questions and answers. Don’t let them present the sunnyside of their spin about themselves. The archbishop needs to know the truth.
Call the chancery: (617)254-0100
Or write a letter: 2121 Commonwealth Ave, Brighton, MA 02135
We can’t sit by and do nothing. If we do, then all our complaining when things don’t go right is hypocrisy.
Update: Oh yeah, and someone reminded me that VOTF claims that Archbishop O’Malley wants them to help implement Talking about Touching in the parishes (working with Deacon Anthony Rizzuto, who has demonstrated a lack of understanding of Church teaching on family life.) Grrr. The two betes noir are joining forces.
Sorry, Todd, that’s just dumb. By your logic, I could not speak out against the Nazi Party or the Ku Klux Klan unless I joined the group first.
What VOTF stands for has been clearly stated both on its own web pages and by those who were once on the inside, as Colleen was.
You’ll have to work harder at your apologetics for dissidents.
Much of the really damning stuff has long disappeared from the VOTF web-site—like, for example, its presentation, complete with slides, on a Church based on the U.S. Constitution, and its strategy for first attracting “liberals” and then reinventing itself to attract “conservatives.” Also missing are many of the original tracts and links to SIECUS, and the “Constitutional Convention” modeled on “We Are Church.”
But the fact is, all of this information and more is in the hands of the Archbishop of Boston’s secretaries, and has been since prior to Cardinal Law’s initial meeting with the group.
The Archbishop’s claim that he “doesn’t know much about VOTF” is astounding.
As someone has already said, VOTF’s claim of 30,000 members is so much baloney. There are 30,000 people on its email lists. That’s not the same thing.
And I do equate VOTF with far-right groups (although the Nazis were so far-right, they were really Leftists) because they are all outside the mainstream, they deny the truth and twist it to their own purposes.
As for Cardinal Law being authoritarian, that’s really laughable. He was about as far from authoritarian as you can get. Did he ban VOTF outright? No, he just said they could form new chapters… for now. And because he resigned, he couldn’t do more on that. He had priests going public with heresy. Were they removed from ministry? Far from it.
You’re right, of course. I mean how could two different type of Leftists hate each other? I mean that’s so inconceivable.
Heresy isn’t just what doesn’t sit right with me; it is the contradiction of the Truth as proclaimed in the Church’s teachings. Since you seem to accept these heresies as truth I can see why you would relativize it. Two priests, one a Jesuit and the other diocesan, testified to the state Legislature that the Church not only doesn’t teach that homosexual acts are sinful, but that the Church requires same-sex marriage out of justice. That’s heresy.
Did I say that Law was a liberal? No. But in your world conservative and authoritarian are the same thing.
And if you don’t like what I write, you don’t have to read it. Go away.
I don’t want to do groups. I just want to be a faithful, orthodox Catholic. Liberals and dissenters like groups and causes. Then again not just liberals; the ultra-traditionalists too. We don’t need groups and caucuses and factions in the Church. We need people to hold to the Truth and live by the Church’s teachings.
By the way, the Nazis are socialists. Nice squirm out of the point. Your grasp of history is as loose as your grasp of the Church’s teachings.