VOTF agenda in Hartford ,CT by Paul Norton, Hartford,CT, Knights of Columbus Member
…“the
Church has to become less Roman and more Catholic” Fr.Cesaro
One
orthodox Catholic’s view, July 17, 2003 Hartford, Ct
Written
by Paul Norton, parishioner of Cathedral of Saint Joseph
As
a devote Catholic, I recently attended a meeting of the regional Voice of the
Faithful (VOTF) meeting. I had entered this gathering held at St. Patrick/St.
Anthony Church in Hartford, CT. with an open mind regarding their stated goals
of “structural change within the Church.” What I discovered was a
regional leadership of the group, the four panelist-priests, who advocated such
anti-traditional goals of married and women clergy, and doing away with the
celibacy requirement. This was all in the name of confronting the Crisis and
Cover-up amidst the so-called child abuse scandal.
Their
invocation of “influence and challenge” to change leadership
selection within the Church was meant to rally the activists who came from
greater Hartford area Churches.
About 275 individuals. About 60 % women.
Age seemed around 50 to 60. Lots of same-sex couple.
Also held in a Church with "Gay and Lesbian
Ministry, coincidently, meeting same time, same location.
I have also written a commentary that hopefully, will be
printed in Waterbury Republican American.
It
must be said that their strong rhetoric of Church bashing from within ignored
underlying facts surrounding the scandal.
Missing
was an understanding of how the priesthood had been infiltrated by permissive
agents of immorality and homosexuality.
Much
has been written by Catholic writers Michael Rose and Phillip Jenkins. Typical
rates of sexual relations between “child abuser” priests and
teenage boys have been compiled. U. S. News and World Report’s John Leo
commented that one study in Chicago showed 40 abusers out of 2200 priests with
one of whom fit the definition of pedophile. Certainly, devote Catholics and
society must ask what the root cause was. The differences between a pedophile
and someone engaging in homosexual behavior may be inconsequential to the
unorthodox and gay rights advocate. However, from a Church governance
perspective, it is necessary to recognize that sexually permissiveness and
sexual orientation advocacy are practices that destroy the goodness and holiness
of the Church’s mission.
Within
the Hartford VOTF’s group philosophy, as espoused by Fr. Leary from St.
Joseph , Bristol, Church educational people must create an environment that enables
young persons “to ask questions about their own orientation, about the
orientation of others, and about sexuality in general.” It was unclear
what grade levels are appropriate for such instruction despite the theological
belief that sexual deviancy is considered a sin, one that can be corrected and
forgiven.
What
astonished me the most about the advocacy for confronting the
thousands-year-old wisdom of religiosity was the favorable reaction to such heresy by VOTF-Hartford. The change advocated is
in direct opposition to Church Catechism and Papal authority.
Judging by
the age of the attendees, the movement is being pushed by baby boomers that
possibly, in their later years care less about reverent practices and more
about winning a political battle and getting their way. That battle, led by
perhaps, one powerful group in socio-political activity, has been waged over
the last three years in Connecticut. With the help of a 75,000 signature
campaign, conducted by the Catholic Knights of Columbus, the gay rights crowd
was stopped with their same-sex civil union’s bill dying in the Judiciary
Committee within the state legislature.
Often, the words of thought-police advocates, who attempt
to control discussion in matters of importance, are filled with terms such as
“cloaked meaning” and “intolerance.” Worse than those
control terms was the insidious use of “democratic structure” and
“setting the people free” at the July 15th meeting. Somehow, the VOTF movement is painting itself as one of
liberation.
In effect, the only
thing that the VOTF Hartford is encouraging is the sinful activity of a small
number of fringe priests who broke their vows, preyed on defenseless
individuals, and require rehabilitation and forgiveness.
It is an integral part
of the group’s agenda to use the scandal as a cause-celeb to
gain numbers of Church-goers to affect the agenda of women and gays in the
clergy.
The only crisis that currently, exists within Church
governance is in confronting the manipulative forces that have escaped prior
leadership scrutiny.
Individual and unacceptable behaviors within the
priesthood must be looked at in light of the reform
measures cloaked in secrecy by the Voice of the Faithful.
The
Voice of The Faithful (FOTF) meeting held at St. Patrick/St Anothony Roman
Catholic Church in Hartford on July 15 was moderated by Florence Shields.
The
meeting was staged with four RC priest panelists for the purposes of
encouraging attendees to “influence and challenge” the
leadership of their individual parishes.
Of
the four “panelists”:
Rev.
Cesaro of St Augustine in Hartford was the most definitive of the VOTF
group’s stated goal of “:structural change within the
Church.” He advocated for women priests, married clergy, and elimination of
the celibacy requirement for clergy.
The
most telling statement made by Cesaro was, “the Church has to become less Roman and more Catholic . . . we have an
imperial government.”
Rev.
Frascadore of St Dominic in Sothington predicted “the whole Church is going to
be radically changed in the next three years. . . the Eucharist being held
hostile to celibacy right now. . . is going to get worse.” Continuing,
Frascadore attacked
“conservative seminaries” that “stressing loyalty, obedience,
and non-thinking” producing clergy “coming out like robots.”
He considered Hartford diocesan seminarians attending (St. Mary’s) as
“really bad news.”
Fr. Leary , St. Joseph
, Bristol , CT.
Rev.
Hynes , St Anthony/St. Patrick, Hartford ,CT.
Suggestions
for reform of Church structure advocated by the panelists included “using
the best minds” and “creative people” in order to get rid of
a form that has not worked in confronting the crisis and cover-up of the abuse
scandal. In invoking change in the current form of Church government “the
form that is no longer viable” was confronted, recommending
“priests that you’re going to have to enter the vocation to
(challenge/replace?) the bishops.” (Hynes, Frascadore)
It
is determined that the key factual outcomes of the meeting were:
1.The
leadership
of the Greater Hartford VOTF is the four greater Hartford priest panelists who
made recommendations to parishioners from the greater Hartford region.
2.Structural
changes
within the Church was defined as women and married clergy and elimination of
celibacy vows.
3.A
change in the hierarchical order of selected Church councils and the selection of
Bishops is sought by the Regional Hartford VOTF.
Key
words
used and their assumed definitions:
1.Affirming – Church clergy
and lay staff accepting structural change advocates with open arms into Church
governance.
2.Democratic
Reforms
– Replacing accountability and responsibility to Bishops with autonomy in
selecting individual parish priests and Bishops.
3.Crisis
and Cover-up – Term used by VOTF to invoke sympathy for structural
changes.
4.Structural
Change
– Gradual overturning of Church doctrine through governance change with
goal of same-sex Church marriage, woman and homosexual priests, and a break
from patriarchal Rome papacy.
Other
meeting quotes:
“.
. . by coming out there’s a change that has to happen in the hierarchy of
the Church.” (Hynes, St Patrick/Anthony when supposedly, referring to the need to
confront the Crisis and Coverup)
In
confronting the “Crisis and Cover-up” Fr. Leary of St. Joseph in Bristol
claimed, it “would not of happened if the structure was in place in the
Church.”
“Go
back into your parishes and enlighten them.” (Cesaro)
In answering one questioner, Fr. Leary of Bristol stated, “Questions are raised. Discussion and resolution of the question. Create the environment in which the young person feels confidant and securely, to ask the questions about their own orientation, about the orientation of others, an about sexuality in general.”
Please
contact Hartford@FaithfulVoice.com with any questions.
I do have
an audiotape of the meeting to back up the quotations.