Angela Carella: Bishop seeks to build bridge to ‘Faithful’

CONNECTICUT
Stamford Advocate

Five months after he began his leadership of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Bishop Frank Caggiano will do something unprecedented.

He will speak at a chapter meeting of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of concerned Catholics formed in 2002 to call for reform in the church as scandals were breaking over cases in which priests sexually abused children and were shielded by bishops who moved them among the parishes.

Catholics who joined VOTF under the motto, “Keep the Faith, Change the Church,” sought to support victims of abuse and priests of integrity, and to change the church hierarchy that allowed such abuse.

They protested church policies and tried to bypass the hierarchy with financial donations, seeking to give directly to charities instead. They most often were viewed by bishops as rebellious, even disloyal, and were not allowed to meet in Catholic churches in dioceses nationwide.

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