Voices of Faithful Takes Root in Wake of Sex-Abuse Furor
Couple Helps to Set Up Group in EL for Support and Change

By Day Staff Writer
The Day [New London]
September 27, 2002

East Lyme - More than 50 local Catholics gathered Thursday to establish a chapter of Voices of the Faithful, a group of church laity seeking to bolster their role in the church in light of the ongoing priest sex-abuse scandal. Niantic residents Robert and Grace Marrion and several others organized the meeting at East Lyme High School. The Marrions, who attend St. Agnes Church in Niantic, outlined the group&#39s mission and attempted to answer questions about how the group might function.

Voices of the Faithful formed in February 2002 at St. John the Evangelist church in Wellesley, Mass., and held a rally in July in Boston that was attended by several thousand people. The Boston area became the epicenter of the sexual abuse allegations in 2001, after a judge ordered the release of court documents related to an abuse case filed against a Boston priest. The documents indicated a history of cover-up by church authorities over priests alleged to have perpetrated sexual abuse.

Voices of the Faithful now claims more than 25,000 members from more than 40 states and 21 countries, the group's Web site says. The group is founded upon three goals, the Marrions said: to support those who have been abused, to support priests of integrity and to shape structural change within the church.

"This is a bottom-up organization," Grace Marrion said. The group makes decisions based on a two-thirds consensus, she said, and the members will determine the nature of the role they seek in church functions.

The local group would be the first of its kind in the Norwich Diocese, said Jim Loughlin of Mystic, the organization's regional coordinator. Several other Catholics in the diocese have expressed interest in forming their own chapter, Loughlin said.

Some of those in attendance came from as far away as Colchester.

The organization, Robert Maroon said, is designed to address the anguish felt by many lay Catholics over the past year. He said the group seeks to claim the role of the laity envisioned by the Second Vatican Council, a meeting of church hierarchy in the 1960s that set a course for the modern Catholic Church.

"(The laity) are, by knowledge, competence or outstanding ability which they may enjoy, permitted and sometimes even obliged to express their opinion on those things which concern the good of the Church," the council decreed.

Marrion said that St. Agnes Parish denied permission to use its church hall to hold the meeting.

Several attendees addressed the group during the meeting. Ellen Dalton, a parishioner at St. Agnes, expressed the frustration shared by many. "I was so taken aback when the scandal happened," she said. "And I knew that there were so many non-Catholics in this world who were condemning my church and our faith and truly misunderstanding what we are all about.

"Essentially, we became pariahs," she said.

Many of those in attendance stayed after the meeting to sign up. The next meeting is Oct. 24 at the East Lyme High School.

m.malone@theday.com