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A New Call for Cooperative Reform in the Catholic Church

By Frank Mazzaglia
Milford Daily News
November 14, 2018

https://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/20181114/mazzaglia-new-call-for-cooperative-reform-in-catholic-church

Some 4,000 Roman Catholics from across the United States gathered in Boston vowing to transform a church they claimed betrayed them by failing to protect children from sexual abuse. The date was July 20, 2002. It was the first national convention of The Voice of the Faithful, a lay reform group which originated from a church basement in Wellesley only five months earlier.

In theory, Voice of the Faithful presented three goals: 1. To support victims of abuse; 2. To support “priests of integrity”; and 3. To support structural change in the church. The core of the problem, according to noted cardiologist Dr. James E. Muller was “centralized power, with no voice of the faithful.” The idea was to bring together reform-minded and traditional Catholics and demand that laypeople have a voice on key issues.

Today, some 16 years later, only a slim remnant of the Voice of the Faithful exists. Problems rocking the Catholic Church alleging failure of some bishops to hold abusive priests responsible continue to rock the institution. One reason, for the decline was that the noble idea of bringing together reform-minded Catholics with traditional Catholics never really happened. Instead, two opposing sides evolved made up of liberals who wanted change and conservatives who distrusted their motives and tactics. Not only that, but as any MBA student will tell you, if you identify the wrong problem, you will always come up with the wrong solution.

The rapid rise of the Voice of the Faithful also illustrated a new culture of opposition in which a new and self-proclaimed “elite” looked down at anyone who saw things from a different lens. Suddenly it was “their” church and no longer the Church of Jesus. These were good people who became, without realizing it, all the things that they opposed. They would assume leadership and determine who were priests of integrity and who were not.

The current crisis offers the opportunity to finally work together rather than through widely different political camps. Bishops will be advantaged by study groups comprised of professional lay people and experienced clergy. These groups would offer long term solutions to problems that no one could predict.

What do you do with a clergyman who performs above expectations over the years and then suffers some psychological problem affecting his behavior? What can be done during the seminary years to insure better preparation for the rigors of priesthood? Are there ways in which lay people, men and women, can have an even greater role in working cooperatively with pastors? Why can’t seasoned Deacons with solid marriages be ordained as priests to bring welcome relief for hard-pressed pastors. How can private panels of lay human resource people be called into service to recommend outstanding clergy for elevation to the rank of bishop? And these are only a handful of questions. In the end though, these are practical question rather than spiritual dilemmas. The answers must respect human dignity, proper authority, and the power of forgiveness.

The Catholic Church will always have its enemies. That is to be expected for any institution claiming moral authority. However, as the Voice of the Faithful discovered, the Catholic Church is a compound complex organization comprised of over a billion people all over the world. It is not just an American, or European, or African, or Asian institution bound by localized community standards. Its centralized government in the Vatican recognizes that geographic and cultural standards vary widely. What would work here, simply may not work somewhere else.

Imperfect human beings will always present real problems. The task is to identify those problems, find solutions and evaluate results.

Hundreds of years ago, Francis of Assisi, a humble man who loved the clergy but was never ordained, heard a voice from a figure hanging on a crucifix pleading, “Francis, repair my Church.” That voice and the message continue to echo through the ages.

Frank Mazzaglia can be reached at frankwrote@aol.com

 

 

 

 

 




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