Priest encourages Maine laity group
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
SACO — A priest from Holy Cross College in Massachusetts urged Maine's Roman Catholic Diocese to embrace — rather than resist — the growing movement of parishioners trying to help the church get through the sexual-abuse scandal.
"The church will rise or fall together," the Rev. William J. Clark told a local audience Wednesday night. "One part cannot declare its independence from another."
Clark, 44, a Jesuit priest who was born in Fairfield, is on a New England speaking tour, giving pep talks to various chapters of Voice of the Faithful.
Voice of the Faithful, a lay group of Roman Catholics that was formed in response to the church's sexual-abuse scandal, is prevented by some church leaders, including most in Maine, from meeting in Catholic churches.
Clark said that is wrong, that "the laity has its mission from God, not from the church hierarchy. Each of the parts — the hierarchy, the laity — need each other, and history has shown us that."
Clark is an assistant professor of religious studies at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.,
The Voice of the Faithful's goals include support for abuse victims, greater openness between church leaders and its members, and more input from the laity in church affairs.
Paul Kendrick of Portland, a co-founder of the Maine chapter last year, said it now has about 400 members.
The group, which has some 25,000 members worldwide, played a role in Cardinal Bernard Law's decision last month to resign as archbishop of Boston. Group leaders issued a call for Law to step down two days before he quit.
Some church officials have said it illustrated the influence of outside pressure, especially from the laity, in bringing the priest scandal out into the open.
But in Maine, Kendrick said, the group's members have been discouraged by diocese leaders from meeting and promoting their work. If the church is to survive what Kendrick called its worst crisis in 500 years, then it needs to recognize the growing influence of the laity, he said.
"There's nothing wrong with what we are doing here," he said during Wednesday night's gathering, which attracted about 60 people to Most Holy Trinity Parish. "These are Catholics who are very involved in their parishes."
Pat Heinz of Belfast, member of Voice of the Faithful in that Waldo County town, said it is imperative that parishioners be allowed to help run the church. "When a problem comes up, we should be on boards that are consulted," she said.
Paul Christian of Saco, a member of Most Holy Trinity, said he helped found a York County chapter of Voice of the Faithful to "support victims, support priests of integrity and work for structural change in the church."
Clark said church leaders in Maine need to understand how instrumental parishioners are to the church's survival. "It's a dialogue we need," he said. "My problem right now is there is no official way for the Voice of the Faithful to be heard in Maine."
Kendrick said the number of Catholic priests in Maine in the next 20 years will be half what it is today, making it all the more important for the leadership to understand the need to involve the rank-and-file.
He said the group invited Clark because of his fearless attempts to persuade the leaders of the Catholic church to consult with the Voice of the Faithful.
Kendrick said the group had wanted to hold its meeting at Cheverus High School, but wasn't allowed to.