Dear Brothers and Sisters,
September 29, 2002
Last weekend I preached what has already
been dubbed my “Snickers Homily.” Because I want to comment
on it here, I have printed the text of my homily on the reverse side of this
letter. If you didn’t hear it last weekend, reading it now will
help you make better sense of what follows here. (The gospel passage
included the parable of the vineyard workers who began working at different
hours of the day, but all of whom were paid the same wage at day’s end.)
I sent my sister, Ruthie, a copy of my homily before it was posted on our
parish website (www.olhc.org). In responding to me she e-mailed from
Colorado: “I was thinking of Dad on Sunday morning during the reading
of the gospel. I remember him saying once, after hearing that
story, ‘I just don’t get it - I would have figured Jesus to be
a union man!’”
A number of folks coming out of church
on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning stopped to pick up their Snickers
Bar from my basket and said as they passed by, “You know, I think that’s
the first time I really understood that gospel...” One woman said,
“I’ve heard that story a hundred times and never understood it
until today!” These are sweet words for a preacher to hear,
but sweeter still is this reflection of mine. I’ve preached this
text a number of times over the past 30 years but this is the first time I
thought of mothers teaching their children how to share a candy bar as an
image that might help break open to scriptures for our understanding, nearly
2,000 years after Jesus first spoke this parable. It’s a sweet
grace for a preacher to know that the Lord is still planting seeds in his
imagination and that the preacher is tending that garden well enough to bring
those seeds to harvest in his little corner of the vineyard. It
is truly amazing how an arrangement of words and images and stories and memories
can fashion something larger and broader and deeper than the sum of its parts
- and hand on a message from the pages of ancient texts to the hearts
of men, women and children whose bonds include the eucharist - and the shared
experience of a well known candy bar!
I have received a fair amount of positive
feed back on the short introductions I’ve been giving to the first and
second readings at Saturday/Sunday mass and, to date, I have heard no negative
response. The passages from the Hebrew scriptures and the letters of
Paul can often seem obscure or plucked out of context, even though the texts
themselves are often rather simple. It’s our unfamiliarity, I
believe, that puts us off and distances us from their meaning. In my
little intros, I try to give some background that might be helpful and to
“tease” you into listening for what’s there. Since
the gospel stories are more familiar to us and the preacher has the whole
homily for further comment, I will refrain from introducing the gospel, except
on occasions when that might be especially called for.
As I have said so often: I very much
appreciate your feedback and I learn much more from your criticism than I
do from your compliments. So, I’m grateful to those who, on their
way out of church last weekend, told me they would have preferred a Milky
Way or Three Musketeers to a Snickers for their Sunday morning “breakfast
of champions”! And I’d be even more grateful for criticism
on issues of greater substance.
I have included in today’s bulletin
a copy of the letter of the president of the United States Catholic Conference
to President Bush regarding the possibility of a preemptive strike against
Iraq. It lays out very clearly a position on this serious issue in terms
of traditional Catholic teaching. I trust that this information will
help all of us we form our own opinions and conscience on this moral issue.
I’m pleased to tell you that
our enrollment for our religious education program (at all levels) is UP from
last year! Unfortunately, our list of volunteer catechists doesn’t
always grow as quickly as our student body. I’m most grateful
to our religious education staff (Claudette Chmura, K-5; Colleen Brennan,
middle school; Helen Cushman, high school) for their fine work in getting
our program off the ground this fall - and to Alice Connors for her help in
facilitating their efforts.
On Sunday, October 13, we will have
our annual Blessing of Animals. I have no pets but I understand how
much pets mean to those who have and love them. That’s why we
have this blessing every year. It’s especially helpful, I believe,
for children to thank God for their pets and to understand that they are responsible
for their care. Please join us on October 13 - pets of all faith are
welcome so please invite your friends and neighbors to join us. And
folks like myself who have no pets are welcome, too!
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
Letter to President Bush on Iraq from U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
At its meeting last week, the 60-member Administrative Committee the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops asked me to write you about the situation
in Iraq. We welcome your efforts to focus the world's attention on the need
to address Iraq's repression and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in
defiance of the United Nations. The Committee met before your speech at the
United Nations, but I thought it was important that I express our serious
questions about the moral legitimacy of any preemptive, unilateral use of
military force to overthrow the government of Iraq.
A year ago, my predecessor Bishop Joseph Fiorenza wrote you about the U.S.
response to the horrific attacks we commemorated last week. He told you then
that, in our judgment, the use of force against Afghanistan could be justified,
if it were carried out in accord with just war norms and as one part of a
much broader, mostly non-military effort to deal with terrorism. We believe
Iraq is a different case. Given the precedents and risks involved, we find
it difficult to justify extending the war on terrorism to Iraq, absent clear
and adequate evidence of Iraqi involvement in the attacks of September 11th
or of an imminent attack of a grave nature.
The United States and the international community have two grave moral obligations:
to protect the common good against any Iraqi threats to peace and to do so
in a way that conforms with fundamental moral norms. We have no illusions
about the behavior or intentions of the Iraqi government. The Iraqi leadership
must cease its internal repression, end its threats to its neighbors, stop
any support for terrorism, abandon its efforts to develop weapons of mass
destruction, and comply with UN resolutions. Mobilizing the nations of the
world to recognize and address Iraq's threat to peace and stability through
new UN action and common commitment to ensure that Iraq abides by its commitments
is a legitimate and necessary alternative to the unilateral use of military
force. Your decision to seek UN action is welcome, but other questions of
ends and means must also be answered.
There are no easy answers. People of good will may apply ethical principles
and come to different prudential judgments, depending upon their assessment
of the facts at hand and other issues. We conclude, based on the facts that
are known to us, that a preemptive, unilateral use of force is difficult to
justify at this time. We fear that resort to force, under these circumstances,
would not meet the strict conditions in Catholic teaching for overriding the
strong presumption against the use of military force. Of particular concern
are the traditional just war criteria of just cause, right authority, probability
of success, proportionality and noncombatant immunity.
Just cause. What is the casus belli for a military attack on Iraq? The Catechism
of the Catholic Church, reflecting widely accepted moral and legal limits
on why military force may be used, limits just cause to cases in which "the
damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations [is]
lasting, grave and certain." (#2309) Is there clear and adequate evidence
of a direct connection between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th or clear
and adequate evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature? Is it wise
to dramatically expand traditional moral and legal limits on just cause to
include preventive or preemptive uses of military force to overthrow threatening
regimes or to deal with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?
Should not a distinction be made between efforts to change unacceptable behavior
of a government and efforts to end that government"s existence?
Legitimate authority. The moral credibility of the use of military force also
depends heavily on whether there is legitimate authority for using force to
topple the Iraqi government. In our judgment, decisions of such gravity require
compliance with U.S. constitutional imperatives, broad consensus within our
nation, and some form of international sanction, preferably by the UN Security
Council. That is why your decision to seek congressional and United Nations
approval is so important. With the Holy See, we would be deeply skeptical
about unilateral uses of military force, particularly given the troubling
precedents involved.
Probability of success and proportionality. The use of force must have "serious
prospects for success" and "must not produce evils and disorders
graver than the evil to be eliminated" (Catechism, #2309). War against
Iraq could have unpredictable consequences not only for Iraq but for peace
and stability elsewhere in the Middle East. Would preventive or preemptive
force succeed in thwarting serious threats or, instead, provoke the very kind
of attacks that it is intended to prevent? How would another war in Iraq impact
the civilian population, in the short- and long-term? How many more innocent
people would suffer and die, or be left without homes, without basic necessities,
without work? Would the United States and the international community commit
to the arduous, long-term task of ensuring a just peace or would a post-Saddam
Iraq continue to be plagued by civil conflict and repression, and continue
to serve as a destabilizing force in the region? Would the use of military
force lead to wider conflict and instability? Would war against Iraq detract
from our responsibility to help build a just and stable order in Afghanistan
and undermine the broader coalition against terrorism?
Norms governing the conduct of war. While we recognize improved capability
and serious efforts to avoid directly targeting civilians in war, the use
of massive military force to remove the current government of Iraq could have
incalculable consequences for a civilian population that has suffered so much
from war, repression, and a debilitating embargo.
We raise these troubling questions to contribute to the vital national debate
about ends and means, risks and choices reflecting our responsibilities as
pastors and teachers. Our assessment of these questions leads us to urge you
to pursue actively alternatives to war. We hope you will persist in the very
frustrating and difficult challenges of building broad international support
for a new, more constructive and effective approach to press the Iraqi government
to live up to its international obligations. This approach could include continued
diplomatic efforts aimed, in part, at resuming rigorous, meaningful inspections;
effective enforcement of the military embargo; maintenance of political sanctions
and much more carefully-focused economic sanctions which do not threaten the
lives of innocent Iraqi civilians; non-military support for those in Iraq
who offer genuine democratic alternatives; and other legitimate ways to contain
and deter aggressive Iraqi actions.
We respectfully urge you to step back from the brink of war and help lead
the world to act together to fashion an effective global response to Iraq's
threats that conforms with traditional moral limits on the use of military
force.
Sincerely yours,
Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory
President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
9/17/02
*******************************************************
September 22, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
•The American bishops met in Dallas in mid-June to
fashion their response to the crisis of the sexual abuse of minors by priests.
The document they produced( Charter for the Protection of Children and Young
People and an accompanying set of Essential Norms for Policies Dealing with
Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests, Deacons, or Other Church
Personnel) was met, in large measure, with approval and applause. “Zero
tolerance” became a household term. The bishops named Governor
Frank Keating of Oklahoma as chairman of a special panel charged with addressing
the crisis of confidence in our church and monitoring the implementation of
the Charter in the dioceses of the United States. (It has been reported
that as many as 13 bishops in the United States have elected not to follow
the norms of the Charter.)
•A month after the Dallas meeting, the first national
convention of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) took place in Boston. Over
4,200 Catholics came came together around the three goals of outreach to the
abused, support of priests in ministry, and a desire for structural change
in the church. Of the 4,200 in attendance, 3,600 were from Massachusetts.
The Cardinal and the six regional bishops of the archdiocese were invited,
but none came. Many have accused VOTF of being a dissident group, desirous
of overthrowing the authority of the hierarchy and replacing it with the authority
of lay women and men. A simple, honest reading of the facts, however,
reveals exactly the opposite. VOTF wanted the Cardinal and regional bishops
to be part of the meeting, but it was the hierarchy who chose not to gather
with their people. The documents of Vatican II clearly outline the ministry,
authority and responsibility of the laity. VOTF wants only to insure
that authority in the church is appropriately shared for the good of the church’s
mission. However, when it’s the bishops who won’t meet or
speak with their people, the hope for such sharing becomes faint, indeed.
•VOTF has offered to serve as a conduit for funds
so that the charitable works of the archdiocese would not suffer while many
individuals were choosing to withhold their contributions to the Cardinal’s
Appeal for fear that their money would be used in settling abuse cases.
VOTF’s offer was rejected by the Cardinal on the grounds that such a
plan did not appropriately recognize the archbishop’s role in the charitable
mission of the church.
•The editorial voice of the archdiocesan newspaper,
The Pilot, has joined those critics intent on smearing VOTF and painting it
unfairly as an organization bent on the overthrow of the Catholic church.
The plain truth is that we know who the people of VOTF are (our parishioners,
our lectors, our eucharistic ministers, our religious education teachers,
our parish volunteers, our parish council reps, our choirs, our ushers, our
parish committee members, our pastors) and we know that these people have
not become iconoclasts overnight. These people are the very ones upon
whose time, treasure and talent the church relies for realizing its gospel
mission. The church has not been invaded. There is no Trojan horse.
We have not been infiltrated by agents foreign to our purpose as the people
of God. Rather, some of the people of God have chosen to work together
for the simple purposes of reaching out to the abused, supporting priests
in ministry, and calling for that structural change which will help us all
guard against this tragic history repeating itself in any form, ever again.
•In early August, the leadership of the Boston
Priests Forum wrote to the Cardinal to tell him that “morale has plummeted”
among his priests who are “deeply troubled” about how allegations
of sexual misconduct are judged to be substantial and priests are put on administrative
leave indefinitely. The priests asked for a letter from the Cardinal
with an explanation of the process involved, or a general meeting with priests
at which he could explain the process to us, or a meeting organized by the
Presbyteral Council in the several regions of the archdiocese. To date
there has been no letter, no general meeting, no regional meeting.
•Two weeks ago, the lead editorial in The Pilot (9/6/02)
was titled, “You are known by the company you keep.” The
piece pilloried Fr. Walter Cuenin (pastor of the “other” Our Lady
Help of Christians Parish, in Newton) for his views aired in an article
by Paul Wilkes in The New Yorker magazine (9/2/02). Fr. Cuenin’s
views on some issues are controversial and he is not reticent to speak them
forthrightly. The editorial’s intent was to dissuade readers
from affiliation with VOTF on account of Fr. Cuenin’s support of it.
Has it come to this: that the archdiocesan newspaper attacks one of our pastors
for the purpose of discrediting an organization of the faithful?
•Fr. Michael Foster was put on administrative leave
without the archdiocese having had any conversation with his accuser. Through
the efforts of the Boston Globe, the courts, friends of Fr. Foster and the
accuser’s attorney, the charge was withdrawn. The archdiocese
sat on that for several days before finally reinstating Foster for a matter
of hours, before putting him on leave again because his accuser proffered
his allegation again. To date, Fr. Foster is still on leave, the
archdiocese having barred his civil attorneys’ access to the meeting
at which he was placed on leave the second time. To date, the priests
of the archdiocese have no knowledge of any process by which Foster’s
allegation was determined credible or substantial.
•Yesterday, in a court room, a judge of the Commonwealth
oversaw the exchange of 86 signatures, handed over by the attorneys of those
abused by John Geoghan, in return for a check for ten million dollars, handed
over from the attorneys for the Archdiocese of Boston. It is reported
that the judge made some comments in which those on both sides of the issues
could take some comfort. The spokeswoman for the archdiocese offered
an apology on behalf of the Cardinal and indicated that he was willing to
meet individually with victim-survivors.
•Some 4,000 people gathered at Boston College on
Wednesday night for the kickoff of BC’s programmatic effort to study
and address the crisis our church faces. Kenneth Woodward of Newsweek
Magazine was the keynote speaker followed by three respondents. Much
of what I heard that night was cogent and insightful. Most impressive,
however, was simply the gathering of Catholic people who love their church
and who want very much to remain part of it, and to be part of the healing
process that survivors of abuse in particular, and our faith community at
large needs so very much.
•Our parish “Voice” continues to meet
on most Wednesday evenings and is seeking ways to address the goals of VOTF
on the local level in the Concord area. If you have not been to a VOTF
meeting here in our parish, please consider coming. You will meet people
you know who, like yourself, love the church in which they are so disappointed
and who, perhaps like yourself, are seeking out ways to make a difference.
I know that the preceding is a mostly unhappy collection
of news items. I present it here lest any of us begin to think that
the simple passing of time is making things better. This crisis is crippling
on a host of levels, not the least of which is the life of the local parish.
I hope, soon, to address the impact of the crisis on our parish in particular.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
************************************************
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
September 6, 2002
Nearly a year has passed since, with everyone else in our
country, we looked up in horror as planes zeroed in with deadly accuracy.
Nearly a year has passed since we began to look around us, wondering
where the enemy might be hiding. Nearly a year has passed since we began
to look inside ourselves and our nation as the safety, the trust and the faith
we had taken for granted cried out for reexamination. Do we remember
how personally touched we all felt in mid-September, even if were among those
few who didn’t, at least, know someone who knew someone who knew someone
whose life was lost on that Tuesday morning? Do we remember how our
hearts opened up to, how our thoughts were single-mindedly focused on, and
how freely our prayers and tears flowed for those most deeply affected by
the tragedy?
What has happened in the year that has passed? How
is it that we survived? By faith? By false bravado? By the resiliency
of the human spirit? By forgetfulness? It is said
that time heals all wounds. How did the national paralysis that gripped
us last September heal sufficiently and quickly enough that the story of 9/11
can be the subject of an essay like the one you’re reading? Is
it because business as usual so desperately needed to go on? Perhaps
only time will tell if we have survived September 11 too easily. Perhaps
only history will be able to write, with any accuracy, the story of how we
have managed to recover. Certainly only God knows the enduring loss
and pain and grief that beats in the hearts of those who were most intimately
touched by the attack - the families and friends of those who died.
Perhaps you remember that within hours of that morning’s
news, houses of worship everywhere were open and receiving a steady stream
of visitors. Folks who hadn’t been to church on the sabbath in
years found themselves at services on weekday evenings. It was predicted
that a resurgence of faith and its weekly practice would certainly follow.
But it did not.
Our own experience here at Our Lady Parish showed an observable rise in Mass
attendance on the two weekends following September 11 - and then a return
to normal. By and large, this was the experience in faith communities
around the nation.
I write this letter not so much out of disappointment that
church attendance did not rise but with a larger concern. I write
in the hope that this coming week’s anniversary might awaken in us some
of those realities that 9/11 roused from a certain dormancy. Jesus said,
“Remember: where your treasure is, there your heart is also...”
(Mt 6:21) Did September 11, even for a few days, remind us of where
are hearts ought to be? In those first hours, days, weeks and even months,
did we “visit” the places in our hearts, lives and families that
our faith calls us to treasure above all else? Have other “treasures”
easily beckoned us back to business as usual?
I will never forget the town wide, interfaith, candle light
service held outdoors at the high school just after the September tragedy.
Is it only such pain that can gather us together? Can we learn to visit,
more often, those places in our hearts that made us yearn for the quiet company
of others in prayer? What do we treasure? Where are our hearts?
What did we learn from 9/11? What might we have already forgotten?
On Wednesday, September 11, our church will be open from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00
p.m. Along with other houses of worship, our church bell will toll at
8:46 a.m., the time of the first strike against the WTC. Beginning
at 6:45 p.m., there will be a program of reflective solo guitar music in the
church, up until 7:30 p.m. when there will be a prayer service with the people
of West Concord Union Church - a time for us to sit and think and pray and
mourn and remember, together... The service will be held in Our Lady
Church.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming***************************************
August 22, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In a recent letter I mentioned that I have received not
a word of criticism about Voice of the Faithful in general nor about our parish
chapter in particular. I thought that comment might elicit what I am
sure is some people’s negative reaction to VOTF. But all I received
was a gentle reminder that in the response I have made to the crisis
in the church around the issue of sexual abuse and its cover up, I have not
attended to other issues also deserving of comment. My gentle critic
makes an excellent point and one which I must take to heart. I hope,
however, that she will be patient with me as I make good on last week’s
pledge to write this letter addressing how some priests are experiencing this
crisis.
I hope you read in the paper this week that the leadership
of the Boston Priests’ Forum wrote to the Cardinal about the “plummeting
morale” of priests in the archdiocese and our desire to meet with the
Cardinal and bishops, especially for clarification of the process by which
allegations of sexual abuse are deemed credible and accused priests are put
on administrative leave. Let me share with you some of the particulars
of this concern.
First of all, let me assure you that I agree with those
who say that most allegations of abuse, although not all, do turn out to be
true. The false claim is the exception to the rule. Still, the
exception occurs. Some of you remember that when Fr. Vic Lavoie
was chaplain at Lahey Clinic, he would celebrate Mass sometimes on the weekend
here at Our Lady Help of Christians when Fr. Curley was the pastor.
More recently Fr. Lavoie has been the pastor at St. Eulalia Parish in Winchester,
from which post he was removed and placed on administrative leave several
weeks ago following an allegation of sexual abuse going back some 25 years.
Vic and I are not close friends, I don’t even know him that well.
But what I know of him made it very difficult to believe the charges leveled
against him.
Concerned, I called the Delegate’s office in Chancery.
(The Delegate is a priest who is Cardinal Law’s point man in handling
priests accused of abuse.) I asked the Delegate to fax me the protocol,
procedure or criteria by which an allegation of abuse is deemed credible and
a priest is put on leave. I was amazed to learn that all that was available
was the form used by the archdiocese to report to the Commonwealth that an
accusation has been deemed credible. Beyond the conversation between
the Delegate’s office and the accuser, there is no protocol, no criteria
established by which the accusation is determined to be credible. When
I responded, “Well then, is it simply a matter of your opinion?”
I was told, “No, it’s a kind of discernment.”
Indeed, the credibility of the allegation is generally determined before the
Delegate has a conversation regarding the complaint with the accused priest!
Inquiring further I learned that once notified of a credible allegation, the
accused priest is given 4-5 hours to inform his parish staff and vacate the
rectory and find housing for himself apart from any archdiocesan property.
Once the priest has been put on leave, the accuser can then walk away.
Particularly if the statute of limitations has expired, the priest may be
left on administrative leave indefinitely, indeed for years.
This is part of why the morale of priests has plummeted.
(One priest has said that the plummeting is over - we have already crashed
and burned!) The larger part is the hurt, mistrust, shame and disappointment
that all of us experience as Catholics as we ponder the hurt suffered by victims,
their families and friends, and the church at large. Many of us priests
believe that we may be sitting ducks and that the very institution upon which
we have relied for support and safety may fail us as we believe it has failed
some of our brothers.
Let me say again that I experience and am most grateful
for the ways in which so many of you have expressed your trust in and support
of me and my ministry. I do not write this letter because I doubt your
support but rather because I want you to know how many priests are experiencing
these troubled and troubling times. I do not have any easy answers to
any of the concerns I have voiced here. I only ask you to continue to
pray for healing for the whole church and, as always, especially for those
who have been abused.
Because there has been much negative publicity and critique
of Voice of the Faithful over the past several weeks, I am including here
the whole of VOTF President Jim Post’s response to that critique.
I want you to be assured that Voice of the Faithful is indeed faithful to
the church and its teachings.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
************************************
August 20, 2000
Dear Friends,
I am writing in response to your messages and questions regarding the policies
and positions of Voice of the Faithful. These questions seem to stem
from two sources.
First, a number of individuals, including media commentators, allege that
VOTF has become an organization of “dissident” Catholics.
Citing two of our July 20th speakers as evidence, one commentator has gone
so far as to call VOTF a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Second, we have learned that Bishop William Murphy (Rockville Centre, NY)
and Bishop Edward Lori (Bridgeport, CT) have issued edicts that would ban
VOTF members from the use of church property for meetings to discuss the sexual
abuse crisis because of our alleged “dissident” views.
These stories highlight a serious misunderstanding, or deliberate distortion,
of the mission, objectives, and philosophy of Voice of the Faithful.
Many are astounded that our motives and actions could be so misinterpreted.
But they have been. Therefore, I am writing to set the record straight
as to these allegations.
VOTF Mission, Objectives, and Philosophy
Voice of the Faithful has grown out of its members’ deep concern for
the Catholic Church in a time of profound crisis. For eight months,
American Catholics have wept for their Church as revelations of clergy sexual
abuse, and a massive cover-up by bishops and their staffs, have rocked the
Church. Many of us have been embarrassed and angered by the behavior
of so many members of the hierarchy. Catholic lay people seem
to be unified in their desire that Church
leaders make meaningful changes to redress the wrongs and take steps to ensure
that sexual abuse does not occur again.
Those who are a part of Voice of the Faithful represent a spectrum of traditional,
mainstream, and progressive views on many subjects. But there is unanimity
of opinion on one matter: None of us wants the Catholic Church to be associated
with persistent patterns of clergy
sexual abuse.
At our July 20th convention, I spoke these words: “I believe that Voice
of the Faithful is part of a great, diverse family that accepts no label save
one: Catholic. We are people united in our commitment to redressing
one of the great social injustices of our times – the commission and
cover-up of acts of clergy sexual abuse. This commitment gave birth
to our common endeavor. This commitment is the goal we must never compromise.”
Our mission remains “to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the
Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance
and guidance of the Church.” Our goals remain (1) to support those
who have been abused; (2) to support the vast majority of priests who are
faithfully living their ministry; and (3) to shape structural change within
the Church that will help ensure such abuse and cover-ups do not occur in
the future.
Policies and Positions
Voice of the Faithful has not developed many policy positions to date; those
it has adopted focus on the sexual abuse crisis. We have said that the
Church has a responsibility to respond to survivors in a meaningful, healing
way. We have said that bishops and laity in each diocese should engage
in a serious and substantive dialogue. We have said that the structures
of decision-making that gave rise to this crisis – secrecy and deception
– should be exposed to the healing power of sunlight and disclosure.
These policies make sense. These policies respond to the crisis facing
our Church. These policies address the real problems confronting parish
priests, bishops, and laity.
Who Are We?
On July 20, 2002, more than 4,200 people attended our first VOTF convention.
Attendees included laity from the U.S. and abroad, priests, men and women
of religious orders, and media representatives. We did not restrict
attendance to VOTF members or to card-carrying Catholics.
Rather, we invited people who wished to be a part of the “Response of
the Faithful.” The program of plenary speakers, breakout sessions,
and celebration of Holy Mass framed a day of prayer and learning. There
were many positive comments from attendees; some said it was one of the most
spiritual and inspiring events they had ever attended.
Controversial Speakers
Positive comments notwithstanding, Voice of the Faithful has been criticized
for several speakers whom we invited to participate in the July 20th program.
Of nearly 60 speakers who participated in the program, two have drawn sharp
criticism. Thomas Arens, president of “We
Are Church” in Germany, was one of five plenary speakers who addressed
the “Sensus Fidelium” – the “sense of the faithful.”
“We Are Church” has been criticized for holding positions
at odds with current teaching regarding celibacy and ordination of women priests.
Dr. Debra Haffner, a non-Catholic and leader of several organizations that
have taken positions at odds with the Catholic Church’s teaching on
abortion and sexuality, spoke at a breakout session entitled, “Creating
a Sexually Safe Parish.” The controversy involving these
speakers must be
addressed.
Our Response
Catholics are entitled – perhaps obliged – to draw on experts
in many fields, irrespective of their religious affiliation or position, to
learn about the medical, legal, psychological, ethical, and behavioral dimensions
of clergy sexual abuse. For most of us, the issues revealed in the sexual
abuse scandal are unfamiliar, troubling, and require new knowledge.
In the Dallas charter, the U.S. bishops recognized the need for such counsel.
Some people believe we compromised our “centrist” position by
inviting speakers who hold views that contradict the teaching of the Catholic
Church. With respect to abortion and certain theories of sexual behavior,
I agree. We should not have invited Dr. Haffner. She herself asked
whether she might be too controversial for a Catholic audience. We invited
her because we thought she had special expertise regarding the protection
of school-age children. This judgment was in error. Although she
spoke only about how to create a “sexually safe parish” and
specifically urged her audience to develop Catholic solutions, Dr. Haffner’s
mere presence raised understandable doubts about VOTF’s commitment to
Catholic teaching.
The situation is different with respect to Mr. Arens and “We Are Church.”
Mr. Arens represented an organization of European Catholics who are a part
of the global Catholic Church. Voice of the Faithful did not endorse
Mr. Arens’ views, but extended him an opportunity to speak as we did
to many others, including representatives of other Catholic organizations
that hold very different positions from his on issues such as celibacy and
the ordination of women. Indeed, we invited the Vicar General of the
Archdiocese of Boston to speak on the same panel. He declined.
Our Policies and Positions
Let me be clear about what Voice of the Faithful does, and does not, stand
for. These are our policies and positions:
·Voice of the Faithful is focused on those actions necessary to respond
to survivors, to support priests who are living their vows, and to effect
structural change that helps ensure this type of abuse never occurs again
in the Catholic Church.
·We accept the teaching authority of the Catholic Church.
·We have taken no position on the many other issues that divide Catholics
in 2002.
·We do not advocate the end of priestly celibacy, the exclusion of
homosexuals from the priesthood, the ordination of women, or any of the other
remedies that some have proposed.
·We do not endorse any organizations or interest groups.
·We do promote a full and open discussion about the root causes of
the sexual abuse crisis and the remedies that are needed.
·We do take the position that the bishops and the Vatican have failed
to address the sexual abuse crisis and its consequences adequately.
·We do take the position that bishops fail in their role as shepherds
and teachers when they refuse to engage the laity in a meaningful and substantive
discussion of the issues.
·We do take the position that Pope John Paul II rightly called clergy
sexual abuse “crimes,” and a “shame and scandal” for
the Catholic Church.
·We do believe that cleaning up this culture of deception and scandal
is job #1 for the bishops.
Voice of the Faithful will stay true to its mission and goals. We will
support survivors of clergy sexual abuse. We will support priests in
the faithful discharge of their vows. And we will work for structural
changes that help ensure that clergy sexual abuse does not occur again in
the Catholic Church.
Ours will remain a philosophy of “centrism,” of providing a voice
for all people in the Catholic Church. In this way, we will “Keep
the Faith and Change the Church.”
Sincerely,
Jim Post
President
***************************************************************
August 17, 2002 Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to tell you that Claudette Chmura has joined
our parish staff as Coordinator of Religious Education for grades K-5.
Last year, Colleen Brennan served as Coordinator of grades K-8 and we are
most grateful for the wonderful work she did. Colleen will continue
as Coordinator of our middle school program (6-8). After Labor
Day, in the bulletin, I will introduce Claudette to you at greater length.
If you have questions or concerns regarding religious education in grades
K-5, please call Claudette at the parish office at 978-369-2810.
Judy Dolan, who has worked in our parish office for the
past three years, is leaving the parish staff. Many of you have been
warmly welcomed and assisted by Judy and know what a gracious presence and
great help she has been on the parish staff. I am grateful for Judy’s
faithful service and join you in promising her our prayer and best wishes.
As I announced last week at Mass, we have found it necessary
to cancel our plans for an outdoor Mass and cookout which we had hoped to
have on August 25. The hillside lawn of the church has been chewed up
as part of the process of connecting our new parish ministry center to the
water main on Church street.
I will be away on vacation for the better part of the next
two weeks. Fr. George Winchester, SJ, will be here to preside and preach
at Masses on the weekend of August 24/25, and I will be back for Labor Day
weekend. Please note that our summer schedule for Sunday Mass continues
through Labor Day weekend.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
In last week’s letter to you, I criticized Antonio
Enrique, editor of The Pilot for his August 26 column of “analysis”
of the Voice of the Faithful Convention and his lead editorial in which he
reported that Cardinal Law’s name was greeted by boo’s each time
it was mentioned at the convention. Having been present to the VOTF
July 20 gathering for the whole day, I can report that I do not recall Cardinal
Law’s name being mentioned even once by any of the speakers. I
can also report to you that during the course of the day I did not hear any
name, church office, or cause greeted by even a single boo. Red Sox
fans may have a particularly derogatory way of greeting the Yankees, but
the VOTF meeting of over 4,200 people was held at the Hynes Auditorium, not
Fenway Park, and the tenor of the day was consistently, above the boorish.
Last week’s editorial in The Pilot (8/9) quotes Governor
Frank Keating whom the American bishops appointed, at their Dallas meeting,
as chair of the National Review Board on Sexual Abuse. Here is an excerpt
from the editorial, entitled “Is Keating For Real?”:
Speaking to (WHDH Channel 7 reporter Dan) Hausle, Keating
said that Catholics unhappy with their bishop should take action.
“That’s a time for the lay community of that
diocese to say we are not going to write another check, we are not going to
go to Mass in this diocese. In effect a strike, if you wish, a sit down
until things change,” Keating said...
(Keating’s) well known, non-nonsense attitude may
play well in the secular media, but there are certain things that are not
admissible in the Church. For a Church appointed leader to publicly
orchestrate a kind of protest that would call for the faithful to stop contributions
or, worse, to boycott Sunday Mass -in effect calling all Catholics in a diocese
to commit a mortal sin- is just surreal.
Let’s be real, here, and
honest, too! It is not a sin of any kind to make a decision, in prayerful
conscience, about how one will fulfill the Christian obligation to support
the work of the church. It is not a sin of any kind to cross a parish or diocesan
boundary to pray at Sunday Mass. And although it may not be sinful to
editorially threaten readers “under pain of mortal sin” to agree
with a particular point of view, it certainly borders on abuse of editorial
privilege to do so.
Something is becoming more and
more clear to your pastor and this may reveal my naivete as much as it threatens
my hope for the future. What is becoming clear to me is that, by and
large, our church administration’s respect for the laity and its announced
desire for some kind of partnership with them in carrying out the mission
of the gospel quickly tumbles back to a defensive position of unilateral authority
as soon as the people of the church speak in terms that even hint of questioning
the status quo. When the editor of The Pilot writes that “there
are certain things that are inadmissible in the Church,” I have to wonder
if he believes that things as simple as difference of opinion and diversity
in approach are inadmissible realities among Catholic people in conversation
with each other and with their bishops.
With the scandal of sexual abuse and its cover up so plainly
set before us, and with the need for transparency and dialogue so critically
evident, it is deeply disheartening to think that many of those in authority
have a fundamental mistrust of the voice, the mind, the ideas, the concerns
and the wisdom of the people of God. For the editor of The Pilot to
charge Governor Keating with leading the faithful into mortal sin is evidence
enough for me that Mr. Enrique is among those whose trust in the people of
God hangs on their subservience to the hierarchy - which, of course, is not
trust at all.
But the most demoralizing news of the week is the story
of the Nash family in Franklin, about which you may have read in the newspapers.
In 1984, Mr. Nash wrote to (then) Archbishop Law with a lengthy, pleading,
graphically detailed letter, alleging that a priest in his parish had twice
sexually accosted his wife - once in the rectory, and once in the Nash family
home while the three Nash children watched TV in another room and while
Mr. Nash was in Florida at his father’s funeral, when the priest in
question made an unsolicited visit. Mr. Nash wrote to the Cardinal that both
the local pastor and the regional bishop failed to provide comfort or assistance
when they were approached but, instead, asked detailed questions about Mrs.
Nash’s sexual and psychiatric history and said that if the story were
true then Mrs. Nash would need to take some responsibility for having acted
provocatively. Mr. Nash wrote to his archbishop pleading for intervention
and pastoral assistance - not for a financial settlement. Here is the
complete text of the Cardinal’s response to Mr. Nash:
This is to acknowledge your personal and confidential letter
to me concerning Rev. Anthony J. Rebeiro, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston.
As you must know, my knowledge of this case is not complete. After some
consultation, I find that this matter is something that is personal to Fr.
Rebeiro and must be considered such. At the same time, however, I am
very much concerned about the Church’s pastoral relationship with you,
your wife and family. I ask that you be in contact with your Pastor,
Fr. Boivin, in order to reestablish a healthy and spiritually productive relationship
with the center of your spiritual life at St. Mary Parish in Franklin.
Please keep me in your prayers and know that you and your family are in mine.
I have included a good deal of detail here, not because
I want to make a tabloid column of this venue, but because I want you all
to understand what I’m referring to when I tell you that this story
is a turning point for me as we live through this crisis. At Easter
time, I encouraged you to write to the Cardinal, to tell him where you stand
on these issues. Seventy-five people handed me letters to send in a
package to the Cardinal. (I have no way of knowing how many people mailed
letters to the cardinal on their own.) My own letter formed the “cover”
of that package of letters from our parish which also included my homilies
and weekly letters from late January to mid-April. At that time I wrote
to the cardinal:
“In my weekly letters I have always tried to help
the people in my parish understand better and appreciate more deeply different
aspects of church life and teaching. Very often I have tried to bridge
the gap between “what the church says” and the experience of peoples’
day to day lives. Over the past three months, however, I have found
it increasingly difficult and now virtually impossible to bridge the gap between
what is being revealed about these issues in our church and the experience
and common sense of the people of God in Concord.”
What I felt then I feel a hundred fold now.
I never received a response to my letter. To my knowledge,
no one in the parish has received a response to a letter written on this subject
in the last 8 months. I’m going to write to the cardinal again.
I encourage you to write again, too, or to write for the first time.
Some will say that writing is a waste of time, that the Cardinal is not reading
these letters. I don’t know if he reads them or not, but I know
that much serious harm and damage has been done by silence in the church and
that all of us have a responsibility to break the silence, regardless of what
our position may be.
Next week I will write of what I know of how priests are
experiencing this crisis in the church.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
************************************************
August10, 2002 Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last week I wrote:
In attendance at the July 20 Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) national convention
were representatives from several groups who take stands opposed to some of
the teachings of the Catholic church. There was no orthodoxy check at
the doors to the Hynes Center, just as there is no orthodoxy check at the
doors of our parish on Sunday morning. Most gatherings of Catholics
for worship, including our own community, will have within them a spectrum
of beliefs and understandings of what it means to be Catholic. You may
have read that one group at the Hynes was handing out flyers encouraging people
to boycott Mass on a particular Sunday in September. This was not endorsed
by VOTF which has never encouraged people not to worship. While some
of the speakers also belong to groups which have taken stands that question
church teachings, VOTF takes no such stands on the so-called hot button issues
the church faces. While some of those present at the VOTF convention
disagree with some church teachings, I would be surprised if all of those
disagreements are not also reflected in the population of our own parish community.
In both cases (at the Hynes on July 20, and in our parish on any given Sunday)
those assembled are a gathering of Catholics who sincerely want to belong
to the church and to work towards a church life that is founded on the gospel,
shaped by tradition, and guided by the Holy Spirit. July 20 was not
a hotbed of dissent - it was, rather, a day of great faith and hope for the
Catholic church. Over all, the 4,200+ participants presented a
vibrant picture of the Catholic church alive and well and living through very
troubled times with hope for the future and with a serious desire to reach
out to those who have been abused.
One person asked if I was saying that it doesn’t
matter whether a person agrees or disagrees with church teaching. Yes,
it matters and sometimes it matters a great deal. If these realities
did not matter they would not be of concern or consequence.
It is certainly not my interest to downplay or soft peddle the importance
of church teaching but neither will I join in a witch hunt which smugly points
to the presence of some heterodox participant on a program featuring more
than 60 speakers in order to condemn the whole enterprise. A telling
example of this is an opinion piece by the editor of the archdiocesan paper,
The Pilot, labeled and masquerading as a column of news “analysis”
in the July 26 edition. (This column can be found by following a link
on the Archdiocese of Boston website at www.rcab.org. And for another
example of stunningly poor journalism, see the lead editorial in the same
edition.)
I am neither defending those who disagree with church teaching,
nor mounting a defense of their right to disagree: neither is my business
here. I am defending VOTF as an organization which has studiously
avoided disagreement with church teaching and has worked hard to base its
mission and goals on the teachings of the church as taught in the documents
of Vatican Council II. I am also saying that disagreement with church
teaching abounds and that even Catholics who agree with every church teaching
have learned how to live, work and worship with those who do not.
I believe it is fair to say that many more than half the
conversations I have with people as a Catholic priest involve discussion of
their questioning, disputing or disagreeing with some aspect of church doctrine
or discipline. My regular experience of such conversations is that they
are helpful on both sides when the two parties can openly speak to each other
from their own points of view. When either side becomes dogmatic or
polemic, the potential for learning, sharing and growth diminishes quickly.
Our parish is filled with people who agree with and who
disagree with various aspects of church teaching and discipline. We
live, work and worship together as one community of faith. Living
with the tension between agreement and disagreement has at least the benefit
of keeping all of us more faithful to searching out the truth and interested
in understanding it more deeply.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
*******************************
August 3, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last week the bulletin included an insert of two pages
of comments from those who attended the national convention of Voice of the
Faithful on July 20. As you may know, VOTF began at St. John Parish
in Wellesley last February. While the organization has spread to 36
states and 7 countries around the world, our parish was the first to begin
a chapter or “parish voice” group. Because ours is the only
parish voice in the immediate vicinity, its members have named the chapter:
Concord Area Voice of the Faithful at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish.
The final count reveals that 62 people from the Concord Area VOTF attended
the convention.
If you took the time to read the many comments on the insert
in last week’s bulletin you know that they were all positive.
Having also attended the convention, I would add my positive reaction to the
day along with the others. Perhaps you read things in the press, however,
that made you wonder about: VOTF; who participated in the convention; and
our parish being part of the whole venture. I am not so naive as to
think that everyone in our parish is in favor of VOTF in general or in our
parish having a chapter in particular, but neither have I received any
criticism of these efforts. I would like to respond to what may be the
concerns some have.
In attendance at the July 20 convention were representatives
from several groups who take stands opposed to some of the teachings of the
Catholic church. There was no “orthodoxy check” at the doors
to the Hynes Center, just as there is no orthodoxy check at the doors of our
parish on Sunday morning. Most gatherings of Catholics for worship,
including our own community, will have within them a spectrum of beliefs and
understandings of what it means to be Catholic. You may have read that
one group at the Hynes was handing out flyers encouraging people to boycott
Mass on a particular Sunday in September. This was not endorsed by VOTF
which has never encouraged people not to worship. While some of the
speakers also belong to groups which have taken stands that question church
teachings, VOTF takes no such stands on the so-called “hot button”
issues the church faces. While some of those present at the VOTF convention
disagree with some church teachings, I would be surprised if all of those
disagreements are not also reflected in the population of our own parish community.
In both cases (at the Hynes on July 20, and in our parish on any given Sunday)
those assembled are a gathering of Catholics who sincerely want to belong
to the church and to work towards a church life that is founded on the gospel,
shaped by tradition, and guided by the Holy Spirit.
July 20 was not a hotbed of dissent - it was, rather, a
day of great faith and hope for the Catholic church. Over all, the 4,200+
participants presented a vibrant picture of the Catholic church alive and
well and living through very troubled times with hope for the future and with
a serious desire to reach out to those who have been abused.
And now for something completely different! A few
weeks ago at the 10:30 Mass I asked if folks would like to celebrate Mass
outdoors, on the sloping lawn, some Sunday this summer. A number of
folks (30-40) raised their hands in the affirmative. I then asked how
many would think that’s not a good idea, and about a dozen folks raised
their hands. More people have spoken to me since then to say they support
the idea and so we’re going to give it a try on Sunday, August 25, weather
permitting. I trust that this gives enough notice for those who may
want to choose another time for worship that weekend. Following our
Mass on the lawn, we’ll have a parish cookout: burgers and dogs, chips
and drinks, and dessert. Please sign up so we will know how many buns
to buy! Folding chairs will be available for any who might find them
helpful. EVERYONE ELSE: bring a blanket!
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
*******************************
July 20, 2002Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It was last year, in the summer of 2001, that it occurred
to me that a summer schedule of three Masses per weekend might serve our parish
needs during the season when so many of our parishioners are away on vacation.
Our weekend population dips every summer but I know that some parishioners
are absent from Sunday worship and church activities because of the crisis
in the church. My sense about this, drawn from conversation and correspondence,
is that people have withdrawn in response to and not so much in protest of
what has been revealed about sexual abuse of minors by priests and bishops.
I am not hearing people say, “I’m never coming back again”
-or “I’m going to find another church,” although
I know from the media that’s what some people are deciding and
doing. Rather, what I’m hearing is more along the lines of, “I
just can’t go to church right now...” -or-
“I need some time away to think this through...” -or-
“I’m not sure how to handle this because I have young children...”
-or- “I’m pleased that our parish is being open about
this, but even that’s not enough for me right now...”
I’d be less than honest if I told you that the absence
of these parishioners doesn’t weigh heavily on my heart and mind.
But I believe I understand. One couple, parents of young children, told
me that they are “recoiling” from the church in light of the scandal,
but not looking for somewhere else to go. I understand their feelings,
their mistrust of the church, and the place in which they find themselves.
I understand that they, and others with them, will need to discern their own
responses and reactions to the crisis and (I hope and pray) their own paths
of return to the church, a church that has angered and disappointed all of
us.
Although I know that some who have taken a “leave
of absence” remain as “virtual parishioners” by reading
my letters and homilies on the parish website, I know that there are others
who may no longer be in touch with the parish. I hope that you who read
this letter might pass it on to someone you know who finds it difficult or
even impossible right now to join us on Sundays for prayer. To these
sisters and brothers I want to say:
I miss you! I believe I understand your absence and
I hope and pray for your return every day. I want you to know that our
parish is doing everything it can to respond honestly and openly to the crisis
in the church. Our parish was the first to establish a local chapter
of the growing association known as Voice of the Faithful. More than 50 people
from the Concord VOTF will be attending the National Conference at the Hynes
Convention Center in Boston this weekend. The collection of my homilies
and letters on the crisis is now 68 pages long, and still growing. We
are most open to hearing from anyone new ideas and suggestions on how we might
better respond to the crisis as a parish community. As pastor, I would
be more than willing to meet with individuals or groups of people who might
want to address these issues with me. I understand at least some of
the reasons why you may be choosing to stay away right now - there are days,
and weekends, when I wish I could go away, too. I pray that you will
find whatever healing, strength or grace you might need to help you come back
and be with us again for Sunday prayer. If the parish can help, if I
can help, please know that we are here for you. My words
here are not about “the obligation to attend Sunday Mass” but
rather about the strength we can offer each other in gathering as a community
of faith. We need each other - especially in these troubled and
troubling times. I want you to know that when you come back, as I hope
you will, all of us will be stronger for your presence and participation.
We miss you, we need you, and we pray for you - please pray for us, too!
I am most grateful for your passing this letter along to
others...
Sincerely,
FrAustinFleming@aol.com
1404 Main St., Concord, MA 01742
********************************
June 29, 2002Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This week the archdiocese announced that Fr. Jim Nyhan
of St. Mary Parish in Billerica and Fr. Ron Bourgault of St. Zepherin Parish
in Wayland had been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of
allegations against them concerning the sexual abuse of minors.
The language of these announcements is obviously coached by archdiocesan attorneys
and, sadly, the phrasing is becoming recognizable and predictable. But,
for me, there was something different about this press release. One
of the two priests, Fr. Jim Nyhan, is a classmate of mine from the seminary.
For eight years at Cardinal O’Connell Seminary in Jamaica Plain and
St. John Seminary in Brighton (college and graduate school), Jim and our classmates
and I lived in the same buildings, attended the same classes, ate the same
food, participated in the same liturgies, made fun of the same professors
- we even dressed alike: first in cassocks and then in clerical shirts and
collars.
I have known Jim Nyhan for 37 years. We are not best
friends but we are classmates and brother priests. Nothing I know about
Jim would have led me to think that he was capable of what he stands accused
of doing.
I’m not altogether sure why I’m writing this
to you... Perhaps it’s because Jim’s name is not simply
a name in the news to me but rather the name of someone who shared in my eight
long years of preparing for ordination to the priesthood. Perhaps I’m
writing because this tears me up - and I simply need to share it with you.
As you have read in the papers, Jim was accused of abuse
some years ago but the accuser recanted and apologized. That happened
in the days of silence about such things and the first I heard of it was this
past week. Jim is the pastor of St. Mary’s in Billerica
where Fr. Jack White lived for a time and you will recall that Jack White’s
name is often linked with that of Fr. Paul Shanley. The circumstances
are certainly unhappy ones on many sides... If I did not know Jim as
I do, I would probably jump to the same conclusions I’m sure some people
have already reached. And now I have to ask myself if I really know
a man I never had any reason to doubt.
I pray for Dennis LaCorte, the man who has made the allegation
against my classmate. If the allegation is proved to be true I
will pray for Mr. LaCorte’s healing and recovery, and for Jim whose
ministry as a priest will be terminated. And if the allegation is proved
to be false? The archdiocesan press release states: “Should the allegation
prove to be groundless, efforts will be made to restore the priest’s
reputation.” Efforts will be made...
Please pray with me for all victims of sexual abuse.
And please pray with me for all priests.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
P.S.
Many have asked for a copy of the prayer of Archbishop Desmond Tutu which
I used in my homily last week:
Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate;
light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours, victory is ours through him who loved us.
**************************
June 15, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The American
bishops have approved their Charter for the Protection of Children and Young
People and a set of Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing
with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests, Deacons, or Other Church
Personnel. The bishopsÕ approval came in the form of a
239-13 vote by secret ballot. Not everyone is pleased by what the bishopsÕ
meeting produced. VictimsÕ groups, and some of the bishops, do
not believe the documents are strong enough. Other bishops and observers
believe that the documents go too far. I am glad that the bishops
heard the stories of victims of abuse. I thank God that these men and
women found the courage and grace to tell their stories yet again in such
a public forum. I am surprised and pleased that the bishops invited
Scott Appleby and Margaret Steinfells to address their assembly. These
two are respected voices in the American Catholic church, but certainly the
bishops knew that their remarks would be openly critical as well as intelligent
and theologically sound. One of the greatest outcomes of this meeting
is the establishment of a special lay commission to address the crisis of
confidence in our church. Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma has accepted
an invitation to chair this commission. His words in an op-ed piece
in todayÕs New York Times are striking and strong:
The first
task of the commission will be to ensure that the policies stated in the charter
are carried out, with no exceptions or excuses... I applaud the bishops for
adopting this charter, but like so many Catholic laymen (sic), I am aware
that many of these problems are self-inflicted. In far too many cases,
leaders in the highest positions of trust and responsibility were passive
accomplices to the violation of that trust and avoided any responsibility...
It has been reported that as many as two-thirds of the diocesan leaders in
the church have been complicit in transferring abusive priests, paying secret
Òhush moneyÓ settlements to victims or engaging in activities
that allowed problems to continue. This is unacceptable for leaders
of an institution that is supposed to adhere to a rigorous moral code, and
which demands from its believers personal accountability and repentance for
sin... I envision the commission as apart from the conference
of bishops, answering first of all to the laity we represent...
I agree... that bishops must be held accountable for what has occurred -and
for what will occur- on their watch. The commission will see to that.
In any case where a bishop is found to have provable knowledge of illegal
activities committed by a priest under his charge, and where that bishop knowingly
covered up such activities, he should also be held legally accountable as
an accessory to the crimes involved. The commission is capable of calling
the publicÕs attention to bishops who do not follow the guidelines
adopted yesterday, and we intend to do so. (NYT, 6/15/02, p. A29)
What is
most striking about the formation of the commission and Governor KeatingÕs
remarks is that this is an indication that the American Catholic bishops may
develop a relationship with a body outside its own structures, a body charged
with critique of church policy and those who administer it, and a body composed
of lay men and women: the voice of some of the faithful.
Will change
happen? Certainly changes are being made in the way our church responds
to the crime and sin of sexual abuse of minors. Will deeper systemic
change take place in the life of the church in response to a host of issues
including but much more extensive than the present crisis? I donÕt
know the answer to that question. I do know that I do not look to the
bishops or the Vatican to be the source or catalyst of systemic change.
Governor KeatingÕs commission, as valuable as I believe it will be,
is charged with specific tasks and cannot be expected to accomplish tasks
beyond its mission. In 3, 5 or 10 years from now we might look back
and see that while our churchÕs response to sexual abuse has changed,
everything else is pretty much business as usual. In fact, I believe,
the stage is set for just such a reality, and if that is the case, then
we will have only ourselves to blame. Watching C-Span, reading
the newspapers and parish bulletins, chatting about Òthe churchÓ
over coffee or at soccer games is simply not enough. If the bishops
of our country do not hear loud and clear and consistently from their people
and their pastors that our church is in need of deep healing and reform, then
it will be easy for those who are blind to those needs to ride out the rough
seas in which we find ourselves until things calm down.
I do not
believe that we can wait for our bishops to initiate such systemic change
but we do need to make every effort to work with them and not against them
or around them. Nor can you, the laity, rely on pastors to carry this
standard alone, for without you their ministry and their call for change is
empty. We pastors cannot dump all this in the lap of the laity, hoping
that you'll take it on the chin while we protect our relationship with the
bishop. Finally, we cannot expect the group, Voice of the Faithful,
to go out there and be a voice for the rest of us who stay home and grumble
to one another, hoping that someone else will do the hard work: WE are
the faithful, all of us, and OUR voices, everyone of them, need to be heard.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
******************************
May 30, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I have
attended the last two meetings of our parish chapter of Voice Of The Faithful
(VOTF). The history of our chapter finds its roots in the experience
of a woman from our parish who was attending VOTF meetings at St. John Parish
in Wellesley and who asked to share her experience at our last listening session
(April 28). It was clear that evening that others from our parish had
also been to the Wellesley meetings, while still others knew a great deal
about VOTF from its website (www.voiceofthefaithful.org). At that listening
session, those present decided to meet again to discuss the possibility of
VOTF in our parish. Some 65 people came to that first meeting
and subsequent meetings have drawn 50 or more each week. A smaller group
serves as a steering committee.
The mission
statement of VOTF is: To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the
Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance
and guidance of the Catholic Church. The three goals of
VOTF are: (1) Support those who have been abused; (2) Support
priests of integrity; and (3) Shape structural change within Church.
The meetings
of our chapter of VOTF draw newcomers every week both from our parish and
from neighboring parishes. The meeting begin and end with prayer.
At each meeting there is a brief overview of VOTF; an opportunity for
those present, especially newcomers, to share the reasons for their presence;
and more recently an opportunity to participate in working groups related
to the organizationÕs mission and goals.
I encourage
you to come to a meeting of VOTF. There are no strings attached.
You will not be required to speak - you may simply come and listen.
It is clear that the end of the story of the crisis is not around the corner.
Those who have been abused are in need of healing, and indeed, the whole church
is in need of healing. It has been said that the first sin was the abuse
of children, that the second sin was the cover-up, and that the third sin
will be our failure to respond. I am not suggesting that VOTF is the
only way to respond, but I can tell you that it is one way to respond, and
that at VOTF meetings you will meet others who share your hurt, your deep
disappointment, your questions and your desire to act.
It was
just about a year ago that I was out sick for 7 weeks with Graves disease,
a disease of hyperactivity in my thyroid. Last week I had a treatment
of radioactive iodine. The treatment itself was simple: three
outpatient visits to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. On day
one my throat was read by a Geiger counter and I took a test dose (a pill)
of the radioactive iodine. On day two my throat was again read by the
Geiger counter to see how my thyroid had responded to the test dose.
On day three I returned for the actual dose (another pill) and was once again
read by a Geiger counter. Each day's treatment lasted any where from
1-3 minutes! The rush hour drive each morning and the parking garage
fees were the only bad side effects of my treatment - I'm grateful that it
was so easy. In a month or so I will be checked to see how what the
iodine has done to my thyroid. As always, I thank you for your prayer
and your concern.
I should
note here that because the church hall had been previously booked for another
purpose, our VOTF chapter will not meet this week. Our next meeting
will be held on Wednesday, June 12. (See bulletin for more details.)
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
************************
A Novena for the Bishops of the United States
The bishops of the United States will meet in Dallas from June 13 -15.
A large part of their agenda will be the work of responding to the crisis
in the church occasioned by the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.
This novena begins on Friday, June 7, and concludes on Saturday, June 15,
the last day of the bishopsÕ meeting. A special prayer
intention for each day
is listed below, along with the Novena Prayer to be said on each of the nine
days.
Friday, June 7 - Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Let us pray today that our bishops will turn to the just and compassionate
heart of Jesus as the model for their ministry and their response to the faithful,
especially those who have been abused...
Novena Prayer
God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
though your people walk in the valley of darkness, no evil should they fear,
for they follow in faith the call of the Good Shepherd
whom you have sent for their hope and their strength.
Guide our bishops with the power of your Holy Spirit
and enlighten their minds and hearts with your wisdom and counsel.
Attune their minds to the sound of your voice
and lead their steps along the path of your word.
Let their work be filled with contrition and compassion
as they seek a just resolution and loving response to the burdens our church
bears.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.*
Saturday, June 8 - Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Let us pray today for the mothers and fathers of those who have been abused,
and for their families and friends... May Mary, the Mother of us all,
show our bishops how to minister to the faithful with the tenderness of a
motherÕs loving heart...
Sunday, June 9 - Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Let us pray for all the faithful who gather this weekend to celebrate the
eucharist on the LordÕs own day... And let us pray for our bishops
whom we remember by name each time we celebrate the LordÕs supper...
Monday, June 10
Let us pray for our bishops who preach the gospel as pastors of the
diocesan church... May their preaching be rooted in the scriptures and
graced by the work of the Holy Spirit...
Tuesday, June 11 - Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle
Let us pray that our bishops, like Barnabas, will be faithful apostles of
Jesus in whose ministry they share... And let us pray that our bishops
will welcome the ministry which belongs to the people of God by virtue of
their baptism...
Wednesday, June 12
Let us pray that our bishops will be attentive to the voice of the faithful,
the voice of the people of God, and that the peoplesÕ voice will be
filled with the wisdom and counsel of the Holy Spirit...
Thursday, June 13 - Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua
St. Anthony is known as the patron saint of lost articles... Let us
pray for the recovery of what so many have lost through this crisis:
faith, trust, hope, and communion with the body of Christ...
Friday, June 14
Let us pray for a renewal of our bishopsÕ ministry to anoint them freshly
with compassion for GodÕs people, with hunger for justice, and with
zeal for the gospel of Christ...
Saturday, June 15
Let us pray for the church, that the ministry of the baptized faithful and
the ministry of those ordained to serve them will be strengthened and made
one in the power of GodÕs Holy Spirit...
*The Novena Prayer is an adaptation of the Opening Prayer for Mass on the
Fourth Sunday of Easter.
*******************
May 17, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
This weekend
marks the 29th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. I was
ordained on Saturday morning (May 19) and presided at mass for the first time
the next day which, in 1973, was Pentecost Sunday, as it is this year.
Two things have my attention this weekend. First, I confess to no small
amount of dissatisfaction with the Lord who, for reasons unfathomable to me,
has taken my mother and father home to himself when I surely believe they
should be alive and well and driving to Concord this weekend to celebrate
this anniversary with me. My father died when I was in my first assignment
in Wollaston. My mother was hospitalized days after I arrived at Our
Lady Parish in March 1994 and never came home again before her death in October
of that year. That my parents share in this, my happiest assignment,
from their box seats in heaven does not make me miss any less their presence
in the pews of our church.
The other
reality that focuses my attention on this anniversary weekend is the one that
rivets all of us to the daily news. As I have said to some of you:
these are horrific and amazing times in the life of our church. The
unfolding story is sad beyond belief and comprehension. I pray that
the unfolding opportunity for grace and growth will be equal to the task before
us: the healing of the abused, of the whole church, and the building up of
what has been so seriously wounded within and among us.
I take
heart in how Catholic people have responded both here in our parish and in
the church at large. The response of the people of our church has revealed
clearly how deep is their faith in the heart of who we are: the gospel
of Jesus, his presence among us in the sacraments, and the mission he shares
with us to bring good news to the poor. I take heart in the formation
of Voice of the Faithful as an important way for many to reach out and to
begin the work of healing and rebuilding. I take heart in the continuing
formation of the Priests Forum which will hold an important organizational
meeting on June 7. I take heart in the initiative of Boston College
as it makes plans to address the crisis and its implications through the gifts
and ministry of the academic community. I take heart every time I walk
into our parish church and find you gathered to celebrate the sacrament which
makes us one in Christ.
On May
19, 1973, I placed my hands in the hands of Cardinal Humberto Medeiros and
promised him and his successors my obedience and respect. Every priest
does this at his ordination. In this spring time when many clerics are
celebrating their ordination anniversaries, I ask you to pray for us that
we priests find faithful, creative, sincere and genuine ways to live out the
promise we made for the sake of the gospel and the building up of the body
of Christ.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
********************
Come, Holy Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth!
May 12, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
There is
an old custom of praying a novena (9 days of prayer) in preparation for the
celebration of Pentecost (sometimes called the birthday of the church) which
is the last of the 50 days of the Easter Season. The Pentecost novena
begins on the day after Ascension Thursday. This year Ascension Thursday falls
on May 9. On Ascension Thursday we will celebrate Mass at 9:15 a.m. and 7:30
p.m. (Saint Bernard Parish will celebrate Mass for the Ascension on
Wednesday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m., and on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00 a.m. and 12:00
noon.)
The coming
feast of Pentecost and its novena of preparation offer us a unique opportunity
to pray for the church in these troubled times. This brochure offers
prayers for a novena which this year would begin on May 10. Let us join
together in prayer for the coming of God's healing Spirit upon the church.
This novena
may be prayed alone, by a family, or by a group of friends or neighbors.
If prayed by a group, a leader might pray the bold print call to prayer, while
individuals share in announcing each of the intercessions. All
pray aloud the concluding Come, Holy Spirit and Our Father.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
Novena Prayer
(Call to prayer: Leader)
Gracious God,
prepare us for the celebration of Pentecost
and to receive the gifts of your Holy Spirit
as we pray...
For the healing of
the hearts, the minds and the memories
of those who have been abused,
and for the healing of their families and friends,
let us pray to the Lord...
For the healing of the whole church:
for the people of God
and for those who serve them in ministry,
let us pray to the Lord...
For a spirit of repentance in the hearts of those
who have been unfaithful in their ministry,
let us pray to the Lord...
For the protection and safety of children,
everywhere and at all times,
let us pray to the Lord...
For a just and healing resolution
of this crisis in the life of our church,
let us pray to the Lord...
For the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
for the spirit of right judgment and courage,
and for the spirit of knowledge and reverence,
let us pray to the Lord...
For the sweet fruits of the Holy Spirit to nourish us in our Christian lives:
for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,
let us pray to the Lord...
For a spirit of wonder and awe in God's presence:
to deepen our life of prayer and lead us to live holy lives,
let us pray to the Lord...
For a new Pentecost in the life of our church:
for leadership which serves and for service which leads,
let us pray to the Lord...
For the guidance of the Holy Spirit:
to strengthen the mission of the church,
to make bold our proclamation of the gospel,
to deepen our commitment to the poor,
and to bring peace among the nations of the world,
let us pray to the Lord...
(All)
Come, Holy Spirit!
Come with healing to make whole
the lives of those who have been hurt;
come with justice to make right our wrongs;
come with strength to make safe our lives;
come with fire to make bold our faith.
Come with peace to calm our fears
and grace to mend your people's hearts.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle within us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and change our hearts
that you might renew the face of the earth.
Our Father...
****************
April 26, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
In the
past week, both Boston papers featured a large, front page picture of the
American cardinals seated in a semi-circle around the pope. The Herald's
stark headline, It's A Crime, obviously refers to the pope's denunciation
of sexual abuse of minors as criminal - but that headline, paired with the
page one photo, admits of other interpretations, too: It's a crime that
our American prelates seem to have forgotten so soon the lesson they appeared
to be learning in their own dioceses - that serious discussion of and response
to this crisis cannot happen without the active participation of those outside
the clerical circle, and especially outside the circle of those accused of
unwarranted secrecy and cover ups. It's a crime that our church continues
to confront such urgent and critical issues without the presence and participation
of women. It's a crime that this meeting did not include the participation
of law enforcement personnel, medical and psychiatric professionals, social
workers, survivors of abuse and their family members, and priests in parish
ministry. It's a crime that the two documents produced by this summit
meeting do not contain a word of apology to survivors of abuse, their families
and the church at large. It's a crime that the second document
is a letter to priests rather than to all the people of the church and to
those who have been abused in particular. It's a crime that these meetings
still take place in secrecy, behind closed doors, followed by a press conference
that can best be described as unprepared, inept and inconclusive. It's
a crime that the major document produced by this historic and unprecedented
meeting could have been written three months ago and should have been written
seventeen years ago when the National Catholic Reporter's front page story
informed us that: In cases throughout the nation, the Catholic church
is facing scandals and being forced to pay millions of dollars in claims to
families whose sons have been molested by Catholic priests. These are serious
and damaging matters that have victimized the young and innocent and fuel
old suspicions against the Catholic church and a celibate clergy. But a related
and broader scandal seemingly rests with local bishops and a national episcopal
leadership that has, as yet, no set policy on how to respond to these cases.
(NCR, June 7, 1985)
It's a crime that only at their June 2002 meeting will the American bishops
begin to discuss a set of national standards which the Holy See will
properly review, in which essential elements for policies dealing with the
sexual abuse of minors in dioceses...in the United States are set forth.
My comments
here are not a plea for the ordination of women or for changing the discipline
of celibacy. Rather, like many of you, I look for realities that are
right at hand and simpler to achieve: the recognition of the gifts and
talents of all the people of God; a humble and contrite word of apology; an
acceptance, from the gathered leadership of our church, of some responsibility
for harm done ; an acknowledgement that systemic dysfunction has seriously
crippled the churchs mission; and an openness and trust that respects the
dignity and intelligence of the people of God.
Last week
I made a brief announcement concerning the Cardinal's Annual Appeal collection
which will be taken up in all parishes on the first weekend in May.
Many of you caught a lack of support for this effort in the tone and length
of my announcement. Over the last month I have also received a number
of inquiries (perhaps three dozen) about the appropriateness of a financial
response to the present crisis. Two households in the parish have told
me that they have stopped contributing to the parish and will not resume contributing
until Cardinal Law resigns. Three households have, at least for now,
stopped payment on their pledge to our parish building campaign. Are
contributions down in our parish?
In general,
our parish offertory collection shows only a slight decline in comparison
to contributions in the same time period in 2001. (Please note:
In the table at the top of the next page, 1st Feb refers to the first
weekend in February, Ò2nd Feb to the second weekend, etc. Also
note: those who use our envelope system know that each month, on the
second weekend, an extra envelope is provided for the parish monthly collection.)
Regular
Week Parish Offertory
Parish Monthly Collection
2001
2002
2001
2002
1st Feb
5769
4978
2nd Feb
5086
5556
3806
4107
3rd Feb
4614
4732
4th Feb
5219
5628
1st Mar
5411
5127
2nd Mar
5208
5252
6323
5868
3rd Mar
5767
4944
4th Mar
5484
5372
5th Mar
N.A.
Easter*
1st Apr
5581
5105
2nd Apr
5868
4320
4568
3787
3rd Apr
Easter* 5310
4th Apr
5491
_____
____
_____
59,498
56,324**
14,697
13,762
*Easter
9802
9210
(The Easter and Christmas collections support retired and sick priests and
are sent to the archdiocese. By civil and canon law, these funds cannot
be used to pay settlements. These totals are listed here for your information.)
**Note: this total does not include this weekend, the 4th Sunday in
April of 2002, but the two columns each include 11 Sundays, not counting Easter
Sunday. The difference is a decline of $3,174 over three months.
The overall difference in the parish monthly collection over the same three
months is a decline of $935.
Three e-mail messages I received this week represent some
of what I am hearing in the parish:
E-mail A: Every day I feel less hope that the resolution or at the least
the start of the resolution of these issues and the beginning of the healing
process is going to ever begin... I had come to the conclusion weeks
before, unfortunately, that there were only two ways that Cardinal Law would
resign. Either criminal charges would be brought against him OR Catholics
would withhold money from the church. Power, i.e., money, has
been a driving force is the Church for thousands of years. If the Church
has no money, it loses its power. This has nothing to do with our faith,
but with what the Church can and can't do. Granted, many wonderful programs
would end and that would be a terrible thing. So the reason for my e-mail
to you is to find out how our parish finances work. Specifically regarding
the Cardinal's appeal. Is each parish assessed an amount to donate to
the appeal? If so, if we don't make that quota, does the general parish
fund have to make up the difference. I certainly do NOT want to impact
our wonderful parish, but at the same time I do not want to see money we donate
for OUR parish's use to be funneled to the Cardinal.
E-mail B: I feel strongly that withdrawing support from the Cardinal's
Appeal will only hurt the most vulnerable among us. I know you are well aware
that the Archdiocese of Boston is second only to the Commonwealth in providing
services for the neediest among us. It only compounds the tragedy of
the Church if Catholics' response to the oversights and misdeeds of the Cardinal
is to withhold the lifeblood of programs vital to those who most need our
continued care and attention. Regardless of my personal reaction
to the sex abuse scandal, confused as it is by the fact that I try to be both
a caring mother and a forgiving person, I fully intend to contribute
to the extent I can to the Cardinal's Appeal. I hope all of our parishioners
who are able will give as well. Withholding our support may send a message
to the Cardinal, but it will do so at the expense of those least able to fend
for themselves.
E-mail C: It has occurred to me that many people may want to show their
displeasure with the present administration in Boston by not giving to the
Cardinal's Appeal. Only trouble is that many needy people and causes
will suffer. We have decided to give our usual amount but instead of
sending it to the Cardinal, we intend to send it directly to Emmanuel House
in Roxbury, a Franciscan settlement house with which we have had a long connection
and which is one of the beneficiaries of the Cardinal's Appeal. I wondered
if you could print in the bulletin a list of the charities that are usually
the recipients of money raised by stewardship so that people who don't
want to give to the Cardinal will have worthwhile places for their donations.
My response:
1) As your pastor, I sincerely respect the decisions individuals make, prayerfully
and as a matter of conscience, regarding the stewardship of their funds in
light of their responsibility to support the larger church, the local parish
and, in a particular way, the poor.
2) Monies collected by the parish (regular offertory collection, parish monthly
collection, parish grand annual collection and building fund pledges) are
restricted for use by the parish. Contrary to persistent, popular opinion
parishes do not send a percentage of their offertory collection to the archdiocese
on any regular basis. There are two exceptions to this rule: (a)
each parish is taxed 6% of its annual regular offertory total for the support
of parochial schools throughout the archdiocese. Our parish sends its
6% tax, by check, directly to Our Lady of Grace Parish School in Chelsea;
(b) each parish is asked to make an annual, voluntary contribution to the
cathedraticum, which is a fund from which the archbishop helps charitable
causes. Our parish contributes $4,000 annually to this fund. By
civil and canon law, monies collected for the cathedraticum cannot be used
for the payment of settlements.
Special
collections designated for particular purposes (e.g., the annual, national
Campaign for Human Development; the collection for Home and Indian Missions,
etc.) and for relief from natural disasters are forwarded from the parish
to the archdiocese and from there to the appropriate agencies and Catholic
Relief Services. By civil and canon law, monies collected for these
purposes cannot be used for the payment of settlements.
3) Each parish is assign