MASSACHUSETTS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
This is the time of year when Christians, and many in this area are Catholics, are busy wrapping Christmas gifts.
Voice of the Faithful, an organization of Catholic lay people and priests, is asking Catholics to do something a little different this weekend.
The request is to snip off a piece of green ribbon and wear it to weekend Masses in honor of the good priests, regardless of sexual orientation, as a way of showing them support at a time when many are demoralized by the sexual abuse scandal that has engulfed the Catholic church and a recent instruction from the Vatican stating that homosexual men are not welcome in seminaries. The green ribbon should be worn so that it is visible, VOTF said.
Raymond Joyce, VOTF executive director, said yesterday that bishops may say differently, but VOTF members know that many good priests feel demoralized. He added that VOTF believes that what the organization calls priests of integrity, whether gay or not, are living by their promise of celibacy.
VOTF leadership said excluding homosexuals from the priesthood is not a solution to the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
“This show of support for priests is for all Catholics, and not just members of Voice of the Faithful,” he said.
“We are told in Acts of the Apostles that the early Christian community was recognized when observers would say of them, ‘See how they love one another.’ What better time to live that message?” he said.
The organization chose green because it is a liturgical color worn by priests during Masses at certain times of the year, green ribbon is readily available this time of the year because of Christmas gift wrapping, and it is not associated with any other worthy causes.
Mary Keville of St. Theresa’s parish, Harvard, said members of her parish unit of Voice of the Faithful will wear green ribbons at all Masses this weekend and will continue through the rest of the month. She was instrumental in bringing Voice of the Faithful to the Diocese of Worcester after the national organization was founded in Boston in 2002 as a response to the sexual abuse crisis. The organization now has chapters abroad and claims more than 30,000 members.
In the Worcester diocese, VOTF has given support to clergy abuse survivors. The organization’s goal also is to support those they call “priests of integrity.”
The green ribbon campaign is being organized throughout the country and began through e-mails to its 30,000 members throughout the United States.
In addition to ribbons, VOTF affiliates will hold prayer candlelight vigils across the country, including Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Los Angeles; the Chicago chancery office; Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston; the Fall River chancery office; St. Michael’s Cathedral, Springfield; Sts. Peter & Paul Cathedral, Philadelphia.
“We invite you to join a national gesture of our conviction that a vocation to the priesthood is not and should not be restricted by one’s sexuality. As was quoted in the Tablet by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, ‘We should be more attentive to whom our seminarians may be inclined to hate than whom they love. Racialism, misogyny and homophobia would all be signs that someone could not be a good model of Christ,” the organization said in e-mails to members.