BishopAccountability.org
	YOUR VIEW: Church still needs openness and justice By Carol Markey New Bedford Standard-Times October 17, 2007 http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/OPINION/710170316 I feel motivated to update your readers on the present status of Voice of the Faithful in the Fall River Diocese. We are still ignored by the hierarchy in this diocese. We are not allowed to meet in our churches but continue to meet in libraries and the Friends Meeting House. We have had speakers, discussions, liturgies, and days of recollection to share ideas. Many of us are planning to attend the National Conference of VOTF in Providence on Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21. (Information on where, topics of seminars, and speakers is available by going to the VOTF web site: www.votf.org.) As dioceses across the world continue to pay out multi-millions of dollars to victims of abuse, who will ever know the true cost of this scandal? The monies paid to lawyers to defend abusers and the money paid as "hush money" over the years will never be known. Meanwhile, victims and their families suffer the trauma caused by those they should most be able to trust — parish priests, teacher priests, and bishops who transfer them from place to place. Some would say, "It's over. Put it behind you." But the crisis really isn't over. Every day we hear and read of more abused victims coming forward, more money being paid out, and more dioceses filing for bankruptcy. Can you believe the San Diego Diocese is asking its good priests to donate a month's salary to pay the bills incurred by bishops who moved abusers from place to place to continue to abuse? Who in their right mind could contribute to that collection? I realize that it is not all bishops, cardinals, and priests who look the other way. I pray that the innocent priests and bishops of integrity will stand up in support for the victims and their families in their struggle for justice. The annual bishops' meetings are opportunities to do this. We continue as VOTF members to educate ourselves through prayer, liturgy, reading, listening, and discussion to best help our church survive these turbulent times. We assume our hierarchy does the same. (Wouldn't it be great to all work together to do this?) Meanwhile, we continue to "keep the faith and try to change the church."
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