Eight Years Later Voice of the Faithful Still Talking, by Lane Lambert, Patriot Ledger, January 22, 2010

Eight Years Later, Voice of the Faithful Still Talking

By Lane Lambert
Patriot Ledger
January 22, 2010

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x231951164/Eight-years-later-Voice-of-the-Faithful-still-talking

MASSACHUSETTS -- The announcement was matter of fact: The Scituate affiliate of the Catholic group Voice of the Faithful is co-sponsoring a talk at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham about clergy sex abuse. For Kathy Cerruti and other founding members, the event, which will be held Tuesday, is a sign of life.

Eight years after the sex-abuse scandal shook the Boston archdiocese, the Scituate chapter of the lay group and others are pressing on with their reform mission, at a time when public attention has turned from the crisis and Voice of the Faithful membership has fallen.

St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Scituate was among the local Catholic churches slated for closing more than five years ago.
Photo by Greg Derr

Rescued by emergency fundraising in 2008, local and national leaders say they are as determined as ever to pursue their original goals – support clergy victims, encourage good priests, and work for a greater role for the laity in running their parishes.

"We're still here. We haven't gone away," said Alice Campanella of Wellesley, the membership director for the national Voice of the Faithful.

In October, a service was held at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church to mark the fifth anniversary of parishioners’ vigil. The vigil was begun when the Boston archdiocese moved to close the Scituate church.
Photo by Gary Higgins

The organization began in January 2002 when 30 parishioners met in the basement at St. John the Evangelist church in Wellesley.

With about 30,000 Catholics now "in the database," as Campanella puts it – as active members or supporters – some affiliates have closed, here and in other states. (There are 45 active groups now, down from about 70 a few years ago.)

Other affiliates have merged, including several in the west-of-Boston suburbs, but some are as active as ever – among them, the group at St. Albert the Great Church in Weymouth.

The Scituate group is smaller now, and longtime co-chairman Kathy Cerruti admitted that keeping activity at past levels is often difficult.

"We keep chugging along," she said.

Ron Dubois of Braintree, Voice's South Shore coordinator, said the St. Albert group drew inspiration first from the parish's closing, then from its restoration.

Dubois said the situation is different in Scituate, where parishioners at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church have kept a vigil at the officially closed church for more than five years.

The Scituate Voice of the Faithful affiliate is based at St. Mary's. While members do support the vigil, Dubois said the vigil has always been a separate movement.

While Voice of the Faithful claims members in all 50 states and 21 other countries, one-fourth and perhaps as many as a third of all active members are in the Boston archdiocese. Of the 30,000 in the database, 6,800 members are in the Boston archdiocese.

Dubois said the organization got "some new life" from the $100,000 raised in the summer of 2008, but he said attracting younger members has "not been easy."

Boston College history professor James O'Toole of Milton said such a decline isn't surprising, since the clergy scandal has largely faded from view.

"The bishops' obvious plan of waiting them out seems to have worked," said O'Toole, the author of "The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America."

In Scituate, Kathy Cerruti thinks the bishops may have to wait a lot longer.

"We're like the little engine that could," she said.

Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com