"Keep the Faith ... Change the Church" -Voices of the Faithful Organizational Meeting July 31st, 2003

About 150 people met at Pax Christi Catholic Community in Eden Prairie on Thursday evening July 31st to discuss forming a Voice of The Faithful (VOTF) Parish Voice affiliate. After two hours, those gathered voted yes to forming a VOTF affiliate in this area. Prior to the vote, the only other VOTF affiliate in the state of Minnesota is in Winona. Jim, a member of the Winona affiliate traveled to the meeting in Eden Prairie to share his experiences with VOTF with those at the Pax Christi meeting.

Jim wasn't the only traveler. Most of the people at the meeting were Pax Christi members. But, there were members of parishes in New Ulm, Edina, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis and Saint Paul as well as visitors from Colorado and Florida in the audience. I counted five St. Joan of Arc parishioners in attendance. While Pax Christi will probably be the host church for the VOTF affiliate for awhile, Jan Kranz, one of the conveners of the meeting, said eventually the decision may be made to form more local affiliates.

Voice of The Faithful was formed in Wellesley, MA in April 2002 in response to the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese. From the first group of 15 people, Voice of the Faithful has grown to 30,000 people in 40 states and 21 countries. There are now, with the addition of the Pax Christi group, 182 Parish Voice affiliates.

The three individuals who called the meeting: Father Tim Power, Pastor of Pax Christi, Sue Weyrauch and Jan Kranz, members of Pax Christi, walked us through the Voice of the Faithful mission statement, goals, and their reasons for wanting to create a affiliate. We also viewed a very powerful video called Solidarity March that was filmed during the first VOTF conference in June.

Voice of The Faithful Mission Statement: 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.

Voice of The Faithful Goals:

1. To support those who have been abused
2. To support priests of integrity
3. To shape structural change within the Church

The most powerful speaker at the meeting was Belinda Martinez of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) of Minnesota. Despite the fact that she buried her daughter the day before, Martinez felt it was important to be at the meeting and share her story. Ms. Martinez was abused by Catholic priests during a retreat for youth as a teenager and later as an adult by a Catholic hospital chaplain. All of her abusers were removed once she accused them and the priests were determined to have committed the abuse.

Martinez still attends church but it is difficult for her and it is apparent that she is still working through her anger towards the church. She said she likes the Sacraments but she thinks Baptism should be done as part of the birth process. Ms. Martinez does not agree with Confessing to a priest and then the priest forgives you. She would rather confess to the person she wronged and have them forgive you. She also has a problem with the Consecration of the wine during the Mass because wine was used as a tool in her abuse during the youth retreat (she was given wine until she was drunk and then she was abused). She feels the priest is consecrating a weapon. After her last statement a gentleman behind me muttered: "That's Jesus Christ!" (meaning the consecrated wine) and stood up and walked out.

Ms. Martinez said it is important for parishes to accommodate the survivors of clergy abuse as much as possible. Remember, if they are still attending, it is not easy for them to be there. It is also important to restore the good names of the victims as well as that of any priests that may be falsely accused.

Ms. Martinez said people dealing with survivors of abuse must prepare themselves for a lot of anger and sadness. Survivors will be in different stages of healing. But, it is important to keep hope alive.

Fr. Tim Power

Father Power spoke about the fear that many priests feel that they will be falsely accused. But, they are also angry at the Bishops for hiding the abusers. Many priests feel they are seen as guilty by association. It is important that priests be allowed to develop a network of people they can have conversations and friendships with. Often, priests are isolated by their profession. Their status prevents people from approaching them in friendship and they may be miles away from other clergy that they could speak to. It is important to support and encourage priests of integrity.

During the "open mike" period when attendees could share their concerns and during the entire evening it was clear the biggest structural change that those attending the meeting want is more accessibility and accountability by the church hierarchy. They also want a greater voice in decision-making.

However, it was also clear that not everyone agrees with the agenda of Voice of The Faithful. Besides the man who walked out during Ms. Martinez's talk, another man went up to the mike and said he agreed with the first two goals of the VOTF but not the third goal. The structure of the Catholic Church was created by Jesus Christ "Upon this rock I will build my church" (a man in the audience at the same time said the church was created by St. Augustine). He also said the Catholic church is not, nor will it ever be, a democracy. VOTF wants to tear the church down. Then, he walked out.

Janice LaDuke was baptized at St. Joan of Arc but her parents left St. Joan's in the early 70's and went to a "less radical" Catholic church instead. She's very glad to have found her way back to St. Joan's in 1994!! Janice is a librarian by profession and has been working in the library of a healthcare consulting firm since 1997. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to all kinds of music and working on her home near Como Lake in St. Paul. Janice is also Echo Thoren's assistant every Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. service.

Jan Krenz closed the meeting by saying it is good that there is a diversity of opinion. But, she and many in the audience agreed that VOTF is a challenging organization to be in because of the very nature of its formation. It was formed to help people deal with an abuse that many wish would just go away or wish it had never happened. It will be interesting to see how many of the 150 who attended the formative meeting stick with it. There was a decided lack of people under the age of 30 at the meeting and this was remarked upon by one of the attendees during the open mike period.

The next meeting of the local Voice of the Faithful affiliate will be at Pax Christi on September 7th at 7:00 p.m.

For more information:

• Voice of The Faithful www.votf.org
• SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) www.snapnetwork.org