February 17, 2006

Local Catholic churches could lead the way to reform

SACO (ME)
keepMEcurrent

By Kate Irish Collins
Staff Writer

SACO (Feb 17, 2006): When Father William Clark came to Saco last week, urging local parishes to push for reform within the larger Catholic Church, he found a receptive audience in Ron Druin.

Druin, a faithful Catholic and Eucharistic minister at Most Holy Trinity Church, agreed with Fr. Clark that true changes in the church will have to come from the bottom up.

“Power corrupts and the more power and the more money the church has, the more it wants,” he said Monday of church hierarchy. Druin argues the church should follow the example of Jesus Christ, who when he first arrived in Jerusalem cleansed the temple of the moneylenders. ...

In addition to the talk by Fr. Clark, the Northern York County chapter of Voice of the Faithful of Maine has also held panel discussions regarding justice surrounding the sex abuse scandal, on the idea of optional celibacy and the ordination of women and a presentation by church officials on canon law.

While Fr. Clark did not come to Saco to speak directly on the issue of the sexual abuse scandal, he did have plenty to say about the authority of church officials and how changes at the local level can have a ripple effect on the church as a whole.

Posted by kshaw at February 17, 2006 09:12 AM