Bishop Acts to Open Door

Ct Post
February 12, 2014

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Bishop-acts-to-open-door-5229128.php

New Bridgeport Diocese Bishop Frank Caggiano is scheduled to address a group of Catholics about the future of the church.

That may not sound like major news. That should not be major news. But the head of the group isn't wrong to say, "It's practically historic."

For this group is the Voice of the Faithful, which formed 12 years ago to campaign for reform in the church in the wake of lawsuits and scandals involving the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The group's members were ignored by Caggiano's predecessor, Bishop William Lori, who responded only by banning them from meeting on diocesan property.

Lori took the post just in time to deal with the fallout of 109 sexual abuse cases involving 32 priests from 1960 to 1990, more than a decade before his arrival in 2001. New scandals surfaced over subsequent years. Michael Jude Fay, former pastor of St. John Church in Darien, pled guilty to stealing more than $1 million from his parish. Michael Moynihan, former pastor of St. Michael the Archangel in Greenwich, was sentenced to five months in prison in 2011 on charges related to $400,000 in parish funds that were missing. Kevin Wallin, former pastor of St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport, pleaded guilty last year to selling $300,000 worth of methamphetamine.

That these crimes persist by men of the cloth is enough to test anyone's faith, even those able to accept them as human failings. The church's failing has been its silence.

Following his installment in December, Caggiano immediately spoke with VOTF members. He is now fulfilling his pledge to attend a meeting. It won't be on church property (that much has yet to change). The meeting was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk, but anticipated snowfall shifted the date to March 13.

Some "Voices" have been strident at times over the years, but they didn't turn their back on the church even as doors were closed to them.

Caggiano has a chance to open new doors. He will guide the discussion, which is billed as a preview of his plans to convene a synod later this year to create a strategy for the diocese. It would be the first one in the Bridgeport diocese in more than three decades. There will be an opportunity for the audience -- which is not limited to members of the group -- to ask questions.

In action and words, Caggiano has the opportunity to let transparency define his vision. He was contrite last month, when he apologized to church leaders for not discussing past allegations of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Monsignor Martin Ryan with them before appointing Ryan pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church in Stratford.

We trust that the members of VOTF will embrace this opportunity and strive for civil discourse.

The bishop will speak, and the Voices will finally be heard. Hopefully deep wounds will finally get a chance to heal.