Voice of the Faithful: It's a Start

The head of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of lay Catholics seeking reforms in the church, says he is encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI’s visit and hopes American bishops will embrace what he said about the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

"For the most part we’ve been encouraged by what Pope Benedict has has had to say," said Hauppauge resident Dan Bartley, president of the 35,000-member organization. "This is the first time that our church has acknowledged that our sexual abuse crisis was very poorly handled …It’s a start."

But, he said, " We’re still in a situation where the underlying issues that caused the sexual abuse crisis in the first place remain unaddressed. Bishops are still not accountable to the people they serve."

Voice of the Faithful was formed in 2002 in response to the church's cover-up of sexual abuse by pedophile priests. Bartley said he and other officers of the group were present at the White House welcoming ceremony for Pope Benedict. They were not invited as representatives of Voice of the Faithful, he said, but "By coincidence, all of our national leadership was there."

In his address to the nation’s Catholic bishops last Wednesday, Pope Benedict said that the sexual abuse scandal had been "very badly handled." He was quoting Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The pope later met with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Bartley said he was disappointed with the reaction Bishop William Murphy, leader of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, expressed when quoted in Newsday on Saturday. "He hasn’t reached the point of acknowledgement that the pope has, and that’s very disappointing," he said.

Voice of the Faithful had sent a letter to Pope Benedict on April 4 that sought concrete steps in response to the sexual abuse scandal, which so far has cost the U.S. Catholic church more than $2 billion in damages. The group asked that he seek the resignations of bishops who repeatedly reassigned abusive priests and that he ask U.S. bishops to require financial disclosure in their dioceses.

"The underlying issues are still there," Bartley said. "The lack of lay involvement, the lack of accountability for bishops … The bishops of the United States have to embrace what Pope Benedict said. Otherwise we’re back to square one."

File Photo: Dan Bartley.