Priests Organize, Focusing on Rights within Church

By Daniel J. Wakin
New York Times
September 29, 2002

Feeling abandoned by their bishops and besieged by the sex abuse scandal, Roman Catholic priests in the New York area have begun organizing to fight what they see as unfair treatment by the church hierarchy and to press for a greater voice in the church.

A group of current and former priests, tentatively calling themselves Voice of the Ordained, has invited fellow clergymen from the Archdiocese of New York and the dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, which covers Long Island, to a meeting on Thursday.

While the organizers say the focus is on the new policy regarding the sexual abuse of minors adopted by the United States Conference of Bishops in Dallas in June, the gathering appears to come close to an implicit challenge to the bishops' authority.

"We want to show that within canon law, priests and the laity and religious have a right to be heard and to speak up, a right that this present administration in church and the present Vatican has taken away," said the Rev. James E. Sullivan, 82, a retired priest in the Brooklyn diocese.

Father Sullivan is one of nine men who formed a steering committee for the organization that has met five times since the sexual abuse scandal began earlier this year. In May, the committee invited other priests to a gathering at Queens College to hear a talk by Eugene Kennedy, a former priest who has written on sexuality in the priesthood. Organizers said about 100 people attended the Queens College meeting, and that it was hard to gauge how widespread support for the group would ultimately be.

Voice of the Ordained is part of a growing movement to organize priests, largely in response to the scandal. Most dioceses have priest councils, but they are often ineffective and strongly influenced by the local bishop.

The New York effort resembles the Boston Priests Forum, which began in the city where the sexual abuse scandal began and where it is the most concentrated. But Voice of the Ordained is an unusual gathering of priests in that it crosses diocesan boundaries.

The Rev. John Duffell of Ascension Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan said the priests from the three dioceses invited this week would be there for a chance to talk, to boost one another's morale, to learn about legal issues surrounding the sex abuse scandal and to establish a "vehicle through which to give voice to our concerns."

The policy adopted by the Conference of Bishops requires that all priests facing credible accusations of abuse be immediately removed from ministry. Many canon lawyers have argued recently that the policy denies due process, defines sexual abuse too broadly and imposes the same harsh punishment no matter how severe the abuse. The policy still needs official Vatican approval.

"The Dallas document is really bad news and a lot of priests have to hear that," said Msgr. John J. Powis, pastor of St. Barbara's Church in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and another organizer of Voice of the Ordained. The group's name is similar to Voice of the Faithful, a lay movement that was also organized in response to the sex abuse scandals.

Several members of the steering committee for Voice of the Ordained, including Monsignor Powis, said the group may at some point consider a broader agenda, including opening a discussion in Catholic circles about married priests, female priests and greater say in the selection of bishops. But not all the committee members said they shared his views. Such an agenda, they said, might limit the number of priests who become involved in the group.

"This meeting is to give support to the guys who are beaten down and the guys who are suffering about that," said Msgr. Bryan J. Karvelis, pastor of Transfiguration Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He will be addressing Thursday's gathering, along with Msgr. William A. Varvaro, a canon law expert who is an official of the Brooklyn diocese.

Father Duffell acknowledged a tension between parents outraged by the abuse of children and canon lawyers who consider the bishops' policies unfair.

"There's an element of crucifixion involved in this whole thing," he said. "The only group in society that have totally lost their rights are priests. Anybody can condemn us and bring about our removal."

But Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the Conference of Bishops, said in an interview on Friday that one important value of the church was that it allowed people to "look at things above the fray."

"Right now," he said, "I think the bishops are determined first of all to make sure no child is intentionally placed in harm's way." At the same time, he said, bishops love their priests and want to protect their rights.

Spokesmen for Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York and Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn said the two prelates would have no objection to priests' getting together for a discussion.

"Certainly priests should meet and talk about issues that are important to priests," said Joanne C. Novarro, a spokeswoman for Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre.

Bishop Murphy barred Voice of the Faithful, the lay group, from meeting in Long Island churches. Ms. Novarro added, "They are, after all, a brotherhood."

The priests plan to gather in a 35th-floor meeting room at offices of the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company on Park Avenue at 50th Street, the same place where a reception was held for Cardinal Egan after his installation two years ago as archbishop of New York.

The company's chairman, William J. Flynn, a donor to Catholic causes, said he offered the space to Father Sullivan as a favor to a friend but took no position on the group's aims.