BishopAccountability.org
	Ormond Man Wants Catholic Penance Week By Mark Harper Daytona Beach News-Journal March 29, 2010 http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/2010/03/29/ormond-man-wants-catholic-penance-week.html FLORIDA -- The latest revelations in the pedophile priest scandal that have damaged the Catholic Church have sparked debate within the Diocese of Orlando about the days leading up to Easter Sunday. Volusia Voice of the Faithful -- headed by Ormond Beach resident Robert Keane -- is calling on Bishop Thomas Wenski to proclaim this, Holy Week, a period of "recollection and remorse." The group is asking than all pastors wear sack cloth and ashes, lead penance services and "admit the extent of this, our greatest crisis since the flagrant conduct of the Renaissance Church." Wenski, through a church spokeswoman, issued a statement to The News-Journal on Friday. The purpose of Holy Week is to remember the passion of Christ, who Catholics believe died in order to redeem the sins of all men and women, according to the statement. "It is a time of authentic conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ, who came to fulfill every justice," Carol Brinati wrote in an e-mail. "It is a time when God acts through the sacred passion of Jesus Christ to give us victory over whatever oppresses us or holds us bound." Wenski directly wrote Keane in an e-mail last week, saying he shares Keane's anger at the abuse of children by clerics. The bishop said, however, that Volusia Voice of the Faithful's statement "distorts and belittles the efforts of the Church to address this problem." Keane, an 84-year-old retired college professor and lifelong Catholic, said he believes revelations in Europe in recent weeks -- in addition to the uncovering of similar cases in the United States in the last two decades -- are driving away the faithful, in addition to deeply wounding the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests. "This is the week you bow your head and you say, 'I'm sorry.' " Keane said. "This crisis ... cries out for the church to bend its head and say mea culpa. We really did not handle this properly, not just in this country but far abroad." Voice of the Faithful was started in the Boston area in 2002 following revelations of abuses and subsequent efforts to cover them up by then-Cardinal Bernard Law. After learning more about the scandal, Keane said he started the Volusia chapter, which had at its last meeting about 25 members.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.