Angela Carella: Bishop Seeks to Build Bridge to 'Faithful'

Stamford Advocate
February 12, 2014

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Angela-Carella-Bishop-seeks-to-build-bridge-to-5226333.php

Bishop Frank Caggiano is installed as the new bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn. in a Mass Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013 at St. Theresa in Trumbull, Conn. Baltimore Archbishop William Lori , right, former Bridgeport Bishop was in attendance. Photo: Autumn Driscoll, File Phot

Five months after he began his leadership of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Bishop Frank Caggiano will do something unprecedented.

He will speak at a chapter meeting of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of concerned Catholics formed in 2002 to call for reform in the church as scandals were breaking over cases in which priests sexually abused children and were shielded by bishops who moved them among the parishes.

Catholics who joined VOTF under the motto, "Keep the Faith, Change the Church," sought to support victims of abuse and priests of integrity, and to change the church hierarchy that allowed such abuse.

They protested church policies and tried to bypass the hierarchy with financial donations, seeking to give directly to charities instead. They most often were viewed by bishops as rebellious, even disloyal, and were not allowed to meet in Catholic churches in dioceses nationwide.

Catholics in the Diocese of Bridgeport formed a VOTF chapter under former Bishop William Lori, who "never answered a letter or a phone call," said Jamie Dance, of New Canaan, the chairwoman. Lori barred the chapter from meeting in diocesan churches.

"So it was a rather dramatic turn when we found a welcoming bishop in Frank Caggiano," Dance said. "It's practically historic."

Members of the group met with Caggiano shortly after he was installed in September, Dance said. They invited him to speak at one of their meetings and he accepted.

Diocesan spokesman Brian Wallace said Caggiano is holding to his word.

"He said from the start he is concerned with building bridges to people, and a lot of those people are disaffected Catholics who are no longer involved in a parish or attending church," Wallace said. "With VOTF, the bishop shares their goals of zero tolerance for abuse to children and healing for people affected by it. He would like to write a new chapter and find common ground."

Weather permitting, the meeting is slated for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk. All are welcome, Dance said.

"Bishop Caggiano will choose the topics," she said. "We'll let him talk and he'll let us ask questions. It's basically a conversation with the bishop."

There will be a lot to discuss. The Diocese of Bridgeport has been one of those badly hurt by scandal.

Documents that the U.S. Supreme Court forced the diocese to release in 2009 showed that 109 sexual abuse cases involving 32 priests were reported, most from 1960-1990. The documents showed that the diocese settled with 64 claimants for a total of $36 million.

More recent cases involved theft of parish funds and other unpriestly behavior.

A 2006 scandal centered on Michael Jude Fay, former pastor of St. John Church in Darien, who admitted to stealing more than $1 million. Fay spent parish money on a lavish lifestyle for himself and his boyfriend. Their relationship was an open secret in the parish.

The parish priest and bookkeeper said they reported Fay's activity to the diocese to no avail, so they hired a private investigator who gathered evidence and went to police.

Parishioners became angry at the former bishop, William Lori, after Lori forced the popular priest to sign an apology for going outside the diocese with the Fay allegations. The priest later quit his vocation.

The bookkeeper filed a lawsuit alleging that the diocese tried to pin the thefts on her. The diocese settled the suit with the bookkeeper, giving her an undisclosed amount of money.

Fay died of cancer in prison in 2009.

In 2011 Michael Moynihan, former pastor of St. Michael the Archangel in Greenwich, pleaded guilty to forgery and a federal charge of obstruction of justice. Moynihan lied to FBI agents who were investigating the whereabouts of $400,000 in parish funds. Like Fay, Moynihan spent part of it on a home he shared with another man, and their relationship was an open secret. Moynihan was sentenced to five months in prison.