WINCHESTER (MA)
Reading Advocate
Thursday, December 23, 2004
On Thursday, Dec. 2 the Winchester Area Voice of the Faithful welcomed noted theologian and author Fr. Donald B Cozzens, Ph.D., to a special meeting at St. Eulalia's Church in Winchester. About 100 people were in attendance.
Cozzens was ordained in 1965. He is currently writer-in-residence at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio where he teaches in the religious studies department. He has been trained as a pastoral theologian and psychologist, earned an MA from Notre Dame and a doctorate in psychology from Kent State. Cozzens has spoken on many radio and television programs as well as at meetings around the world.
Cozzens is the author of two award-winning and best-selling books, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" (Paulist Press, 2000), which was translated into more than 6 languages, and "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church" (Liturgical Press, 2002). "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" was written after 20 years of research. Cozzens's new book, "Faith That Dares to Speak" (Liturgical Press 2004) has an entire chapter devoted to Voice of the Faithful. The theme of Cozzens's talk was that the Roman Catholic Church is the last feudal system in the West and that its response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis was consistent with its feudal structure, namely to protect resources by secrecy and denial. Cozzens believes that the role of the laity is to challenge the Church to have accountability and transparency. According to Cozzens, Voice of the Faithful has shown the courage and maturity to speak truth to power.
Cozzens further stated that the scandal of clergy sexual abuse has touched priests, bishops and laity. For priests, the crisis has meant the collapse of respect. Some priests have shrunk their worlds to the boundaries of their parishes, while others fear false accusations of sexual misconduct. Bishops have far too often been loyal toward the Church hierarchy, their fellow bishops, and the whole institutional Church, rather than the most vulnerable - the victims of abuse - which is required by the Gospel.