CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant
By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Courant
The Hartford Courant
4:07 p.m. EDT, April 10, 2014
HARTFORD — If he had been asked two years ago what the Roman Catholic Church needed, Voice of The Faithful President Mark Mullaney would have replied, a pope in the mold of reformer John XXIII.
“John opened the windows, opened the doors, opened discussions,” he said of the pontiff who reigned from 1958 to 1963. “There’s a great need for that type of person.”
Mullaney and many others attending the group’s biannual assembly April 6 at the Hartford Convention Center clearly believed he had gotten his wish. Pope Francis’ explosion onto the world stage, his impact on Catholics and how he might reform the church dominated discussion among the more than 200 people from around the nation.
“What he is saying resonates with what we have been saying since our inception,” said Jayne O’Donnell of West Hartford, the group’s development coordinator. “Our hope is to meet Francis in the middle. We don’t expect to get everything that we want. Let’s work together in the sense of our community.” …
O’Connell said the new pope has shown far greater willingness to confront and crack down on priest sexual abuse. She cited Francis’ recent decision to send a seasoned Vatican investigator to look into allegations against a Scottish cardinal.
The pope has also moved to clean up the church’s finances and hold leaders accountable for financial misdeeds, another major focus of Voice of the Faithful, O’Connell said. Francis, for example, moved against the so-called “Bling Bishop,” a German prelate who spent $43 million of church funds building a luxury residence, she said.
“He’s made it clear that he’s not going to allow financial [misdeeds],” O’Connell said.
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