Must Read: Tom Doyle on VOTF and Structural Reform of the Catholic Church
The following essay from Tom Doyle is one of his very best.
Thanks, Tom.
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VOTF and the Reform of the Governmental Structure of the Catholic Church
Thomas Doyle
January, 2008
If one looks at what has happened in the institutional Catholic Church since 1965, the year that Vatican II ended, one sees a roller-coaster ride of progressive advances and regressive retreats. Since the reign (and I use that word intentionally, rather than “pontificate”) of John Paul II the institution has been on what some call a restorationist path. This refers to the process of restoring the Catholic Church to the splendor of the pre-Vatican II days when bishops were princes, the pope was the emperor and the lay people kept their mouths shut and their wallets open.
All along there has been a movement among some lay, cleric and hierarchical Catholics to continue with the vision of Vatican II. Today, all of the bishops in that movement in the US are either dead, retired or in exile. The “Vatican II” clergy are growing old, discouraged, tired and are either retired or have left altogether. They have been replaced by a couple generations of younger clergy who often describe themselves as “John Paul II” priests. Others describe them as the ‘Catholic Taliban,” “the Young Nazis” or words to that effect. Lately several scholars have written about them and the assessment is worse than discouraging. It’s frightening.
The need for deep reform exploded to the surface in January, 2002 with the revelations in Boston that Catholic bishops had been hiding, enabling and supporting sexually dysfunctional criminals in the priesthood. VOTF started off and brought with it hope, a voice for anger, disillusionment and frustration. Now we are five years down the road from January 6, 2002. This was not the beginning salvo of the clergy abuse assault. That happened in summer of 1984 with the revelations in Louisiana that the bishop there had done was Bernard Law had done…but Lafayette is not Boston and the Times of Acadiana is not the Boston Globe.
The years since have brought staggering changes that no one expected. Thus far the cost in dollars to the U.S. church that Ray Mouton, Mike Peterson and I predicted…..one billion…..has been exceeded and, if all the numbers were revealed honestly, it’s probably doubled. The costs for California alone, thanks to the narcissism of Roger Mahony, have gone beyond a billion.
The U.S. bishops still live in their delusional world as far as clergy abuse is concerned. The Dallas Charter, the diocesan review boards, the National Review Board, the Office for Child Protection…..all are bureaucratic attempts to right the wrongs, make the bad memories go away, restore trust and faith in the bishops and above all, create the false image that it’s all over. As Archbishop Gregory said in Feb. 2004, the “the history of sexual abuse is today history.” More inaccurate words have never been spoken! Bishops continue to force victims through incredibly painful and demeaning court processes in which they and their lawyers do all they can to revictimize them. In State legislatures throughout the country, State Catholic Conferences and the local bishops spend millions of the faithful’s dollars to defeat any legislation that would offer greater protection to child victims. They insult our collective intelligence with a variety of false claims based on erroneous information. They bring in their so-called experts to tell the legislatures how much they have done and how much they care and how much they respect our U.S. legal system. The bottom line is that in State after State, the only opposition to child protective legislation is the Catholic Church. How ironic! The world’s largest religious organization which is based on the mission of Christ and it opposes State laws that do what it not only could not do, but would not do…protect children from deranged predators and self-centered institutional enablers.
What about VOTF? The past five years have been tumultuous. The “growing pains” that some members speak of are far more than that. What we have seen has been a clash between the deeply rooted clerical dependency that has been systematically woven into our very being by the institutional church, and Catholic Adulthood. It’s a long, excruciatingly painful process to grow up in the Catholic Church. Most chronological adults never make it. No matter how liberated and avant-garde they believe themselves to be, there is still a very powerful core, deep down inside, that causes dependency feelings to take over whenever one is faced with the challenge of taking the risk of not only thinking but acting like an adult when in the realm of the Church world. To do so means to challenge the clerical office holders and to express opinions that they do not want to hear. To do so means taking the risk that some of them might try to capitalize on the magical thinking that has supported their power by threatening canonical penalties or equating disobedience to them with disobedience to Christ.
Jesus Christ was all about love. He also was a man of action. Whenever he encountered the religious hypocrites of his day he didn’t sit down to tea with them and exchange sweet nothings so that nobody had any ruffled feathers. If he blew his top when he encountered a bunch of hucksters selling birds at the temple can you imagine what his reaction would have been if he’d dropped down to earth during the early days of the reformation? Martin Luther would have ended up the pope and the Roman church bureaucracy would have been vaporized. What would have been his reaction had he appeared at the chancery in Lafayette, LA in the summer of 1984 when the churchmen and the lawyers were putting together what they thought would be legal agreements that would pay off some families and insure their silence. Even better, how do you think he would have reacted reading the Boston Globe on Sunday morning, January 6, 2002…..the Feast of the Epiphany? I suspect that the epiphany the Globe brought that morning would have been followed by another “wake-up call” of cosmic proportions. Bernard Law might have found himself propelled, not to a palace in the Vatican, but to the outer reaches of Greenland to teach catechism to the natives on the edge of the North Pole.
In addition to the anger, distrust, frustration, disillusionment and spiritual aridity the institutional Church has caused because of its totally inept response to the evil of clergy abuse, there has been another equally toxic reaction and that is the profound feeling of nausea in reaction to the self-serving public relations campaign of the U.S. hierarchy by which they continue to try to flip the whole mess around, make themselves look like victims and demonize anyone who has ever challenged their collective stupidity, cruelty and total lack of compassion.
Is there hope for change from within?
As far as reform etc. is concerned, I have lost all realistic hope that the institution will change for the better in my lifetime. The present crop of bishops, courtesy of John Paul II, is far less pastoral, less theologically educated and more clericalist and monarchical than any I can remember. I see no hope and only constant signs of discouragement. I believe in VOTF but I do not believe that they will ever accomplish any meaningful structural change. It’s simply impossible for any such change to happen unless it starts at the top. The Catholic Church is a monarchy. Period! Getting a pastoral council up and running here and there is nothing. Sitting down to tea with a bishop is no more than a sop to keep the activists. They are not able or willing to bend or change their approach in something as vital as clergy sexual abuse so why expect them to even think about giving up any of their power in anything else.
The hot button issues that the popes have told us we can’t even talk about will remain discussed by lay and clergy alike and closed in the minds of the pope and the bishops. All you have to do is look at the stream of Vatican decrees re-introducing the pre-Vatican II version of the Latin mass to stomping on theologians to get the picture. The young conservatives lap it up and seem to play at church as if it’s some sort of surreal dress-up game. What many fed-up people are doing is simply walking away and finding an alternative faith/worship opportunity that is less toxic and more Christ centered.
I am not much interested in working for internal church reform anymore mainly because my experience within the structure over the past two decades has been so painfully revelatory for me. It is way too toxic. Life is short and being part of the Christian community is supposed to be joyful and not poisonous. I have turned to reading the books of John Shelby Spong and find they give me hope and a voice to my theological ideas and related feelings. I do not expect everyone to be where I am at because no one else has been on my journey. As a matter of fact, one of the more painful breakthroughs I have had is that it’s not only inappropriate but simply wrong to project that we are all on the same spiritual wave length and that some are right and some are fundamentally wrong about the way they believe.
I don’t see any hope in trying to bring about meaningful reform of the structures. One or the other group may convince a local bishop to take an enlightened approach, but then the day will come when he retires and is replaced and then it’s a crap shoot as to what happens.
VOTF has pledged to support Priests of Integrity. There has to be a lot more to this than words and an annual award. There are plenty of good, decent, hard-working priests out there, the center of whose mission and life is not the bishop, pope or Vatican but Jesus Christ. They will never be bishops. They need to be encouraged but not pitied because these men have an inner strength that is grounded in something far deeper and stronger than loyalty to the monarchical system. Maybe what VOTF needs to do is challenge the thousands of priests still in denial who continue to moan and groan because the identified sexual abusers make them all look bad. Not so! What makes Catholic priests look bad is apathy, fear and apparent subservience to a system that is outmoded, unproductive and enabling of those who would victimize others. How many priests have looked at the landscape and privately expressed shame, disgust and anger at the sexual abuse nightmare and the bishops leading role in it….and how many of these same priests have refused to speak out even to a small group for fear of retaliation by the bishop who can’t see past the walls of his imaginary kingdom.
VOTF has pledged support for the victims of clergy sexual abuse. This should be the number one priority. Why? Because everything about the clergy abuse nightmare is everything that is wrong with the institution. This is not one of many problems. This is THE problem. People are now getting excited over the revelations of embezzlement and financial mismanagement in Church throughout the US and the world. This is terrible, but we are talking about money here and not human lives. The sex abuse nightmare is a culture of emotional and physical devastation and spiritual murder. If the local VOTF chapters can’t make support and defense of victims their first priority, they should close down. If the national leadership equivocates or cowers in fear of what the bishops will think if they take strong and courageous stands, they need to quit.
A word of wisdom from my military days: “Either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.”
I respect those who continue to work for internal church reform. I am on the board of ARCC (Association for Rights for Catholic in the Church). I respect my fellow board members. I don’t believe the institutional Church cares one bit about individual rights or due process when it comes to lay people or lower ranking clerics or anyone who thinks creatively. It cares greatly about protecting the rights and assuring due process for those who are bishops and above…..There are exceptions however. If a bishop stands up for what is right and has the courage to express his stand, he will quickly find himself cast out of the sacred club and into the real church with the rest of us. Tom Gumbleton, probably the only real bishop in the U.S., publicly has stood with victims. The Vatican acted quickly. He was fired on orders from the top because he “broke communio with the bishops.” Bravo for Tom! He did what Jesus would have done.
I don’t want to expend much more energy tilting at windmills in the world of Catholic Church reform. I have no hope that it will happen. I don’t want to spend any more time trudging through what can best be described as a swamp of toxic waste. I believe change will happen because it has happened over the past few years. It has not taken place through dialogue with the hierarchy however. It’s happened when the Church office holders (I intentionally don’t use the word leaders) have found themselves face to face with powers greater than themselves like the law enforcement agencies or the civil court system. That’s where the change will take place. That’s why I have consistently urged VOTF leaders to totally support all efforts at legislative change that will provide greater protection to victims.
There has been a vast amount of change and progress since I first became involved in 1984 and especially since 2002. The institutional Church and its bishops would have done nothing to stop institutionalized sexual abuse and done nothing to help the victims it has known about were it not for the fact that we have forced them to do something. If good people back down and believe the nonsense propagated by the public relations machines of the individual dioceses and the National conference of bishops, then we will be back on the road to returning to where we were in 1983. It happened before and it could happen again and it happened before because the hierarchy had too much power, too much influence and too little accountability. That has changed but it hasn’t changed enough. There are still countless men and women of every age who cannot come forward to disclose the devastating abuse they have suffered. As long as the clerical-celibate system remains basically untouched, there will always be victims of sexually dysfunctional priests and spiritually dysfunctional bishops.
Is there any hope at all? Yes! The hope is not in the institution or in bureaucratic policies, programs or empty pronouncements. The hope is in the ever increasing number of deeply committed men and women who are being compassionately present to people in need and in pain. These are the men and women of any denomination or belief system or of no denomination but still with a powerful belief system who work with each other to get right to the heart of Christ’s message without stopping at any denominational door to get approved by any bishop in order to express charity.
31 Responses to “Must Read: Tom Doyle on VOTF and Structural Reform of the Catholic Church”
January 8, 2008 at 7:28 pm
The Vol. 4, No. 1, January 2008 issue of the Solidarity, Sustainability,
and Non-Violence (SSNV) Research Newsletter has been posted. The theme
this month is: “Religious Dimension of Sustainable Development.”
The link is: http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv04n01.html
The summary (abstract) is pasted below. I would be grateful for any
feedback (positive/negative/in-between). Specifically, note the
linguistic analysis of Genesis 1, 2, 5, about the original unity of man
and woman. Any comments?
With best wishes for a good 2008,
Luis
—————————————————————–
SUMMARY
The theme of the month is “religious dimension of sustainable
development.” There is a religious dimension to the United Nations’
“Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs), and there is a religious
dimension to human nature and everything we do. Religion is both
indispensable and dangerous. It is indispensable to attain full human
development beyond the physical, biological, and intellectual levels. It
is dangerous when it degenerates into fanatical delusions about the
absolute superiority of any particular religion, and then leads to
religious intolerance and religious violence.
Many consider religion to be a controversial topic. But, after millennia
of misconceptions about religion, we now have scientific evidence
(initially via the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung) that religion is
essential for human beings to become fully human. This being the case,
our 2007 analyses of the MDGs is incomplete as long as some insight of
the religious influences on the implementation of the MDGs is not
provided. A difficult subject, but it cannot be avoided.
In particular, religion is often an incentive (positive or negative) for
the transition from patriarchy to solidarity, sustainability, and human
development. Granted that financial gain (or loss) will probably remain
as the key incentive for people to change behavior during our lifetime,
futures research entails considering all conceivable possibilities. For
instance, Abraham Lincoln once stated: “When I do good, I feel good;
when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” Lincoln’s “religion”
many not qualify as religion in some quarters, but it points to the fact
that, deep in the human psyche, there is the voice of conscience; the
voice of God who abides in us but is bigger than us.
After a brief summary of the MDGs (or “MDGs+1″ when religious
development is considered), evidence is presented that a cultural
transition is needed to support both social justice and environmental
justice at all levels. This cultural transition will entail changes in
human behavior that often cannot be accomplished even when there are
financial incentives. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any such transition
happening without incentives that are stronger than financial gain
and/or resources for domination. Since the power of religion as
incentive for changing human behavior (for good or bad) is pervasive, it
seems reasonable to research this angle next. This religious dimension
has not been absent from any of the previous issues of this newsletter,
but now it will become central.
Incentives from a religious perspective are discussed for overcoming
patriarchy and fostering social solidarity, environmental
sustainability, and human development. In considering this material, it
is essential to distinguish between “religion” and “religious
institutions.” Authentic religion is the expression of our relationship
with God, and it is “good, good, good.” Institutionalized religion can
be “good, bad, or some mix of good and bad.” Some specific religious
institutions are mentioned. The intent is never to deny the significant
amount of good done by those institutions. However, nothing human is
above criticism. Religious institutions often need reformations, just
like all other human institutions often need reformations. Some
religious persons may feel uncomfortable. As always, we shall adhere to
the principle of analysis based on objective evidence. Updates of the
SSNV-MDG knowledge taxonomy and links database continue as time permits.
The current version shows the links sorted by mega-disciplines, and
within each mega-discipline by MDGs. This is “work in progress” but you
are cordially invited to take a look at this resource and download it
(free) for your own use (two options: HTML Web Page or EXCEL Spreadsheet).
This month’s invited paper is “Two Wings of a Bird: The Equality of
Women and Men,” a reflection by the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha’is of the United States, published in 1997. The Baha’i religious
tradition emerged in Persia (now Iran) in the 18th century. It is the
first major religious movement that explicitly includes gender equality
as a core belief.
January 8, 2008 at 7:42 pm
All I can say is this leaves we Catholics feeling helpless and sad. I do believe what the above says is correct. What I can do about it is the question?
January 8, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Don’t give up, Father Doyle. You are still my hero. Take a breather instead. And come back to us. You are a light in the darkness. Love and peace. Andy Tracy
January 9, 2008 at 12:50 am
What was that exceedingly long piece — ———- on Opus Dei infiltration of VOTF??
Certainly not woth 10 nanosec or the space it takes up here.
January 9, 2008 at 12:51 am
How about an American Catholic Church?? How do we start something new and pure?? No need for a pope, monarachical hierarchy….who can help us?
January 9, 2008 at 2:00 am
1/8/08, 6:00 PM, PST
Father Thomas Doyle, OP, MARK MY WORDS, should be, and perhaps one day will be, CANONIZED for
his truth, courage, as well as salient and cogent analysis, in the above essay.
We should all pray to live the example of Fr. Tom Doyle.
Fr. Tom Doyle is a modern St. Peter Damien, and a shining credit to the Dominicans and our Church!
There is indeed a solution, perhaps one of many, the brilliant Canon Lawyer and Dominican did not mention (by the way, Canon Law offers zero relief in any real justice or curial accountability).
Simply, there are 1.1 billion Roman Catholic laity on this globe, to less than 3,500 curial, overt and
ongoing criminal, ENABLERS (Bishops & Cardinals)…look no further than the truly EVIL Roger M. Mahony.
The laity pay 100% of all the bills. Any representation to the contray is a FLAT OUT LIE.
By merely refusing to subsidize any revenue stream the Church cowards can steal from, or lay their
hands on, from any source (there is always a ’skim’ they take) including, but not limited to: offetories, second collections, holy cards, bonds, mutual funds, gift shops, bar and sacramental wine funds, free laity labor in ministries, rectory funds, annuities, mission appeals, annual appeals, bishop appeals,
Peter’s Pence or other pences, wills, trusts, endowments, building funds, rennovation funds,
construction funds, famine funds, disease funds, holy land/shrine and cruise tours funds, seminary funds, shrines, convents, orders, secular and vocation funds, basilica funds, cathedral funds, propagation of
the faith funds, charities, Universities, hospitals, soup kitchens, saint soceities, poor boxes, parishes, parochial schools, monestaries, retreats, orders, convents, gifting, ecumenical funds, concerts, tax dodges, real estate holdings, rentals, pensions, slush funds, equity management, insurance, retirement funds, auctions, tournaments, diner dances, raffles, art donations and restoration funds, relic trade, etc., picinic funds, carnivel funds, casino nights, bingo, giving trees, or WE shut the CROOKS down. despite th the daily laundering of illicit criminal monies (Yallop’s IN GOD’S NAME) across the Tiber, at
Banco di Spiritus and other Holy See owned banks (daily and current).
Bernard Law of Boston was only ousted after revenue in the Boston Archdiocese fell by over 75% for
two years straight, and has stayed down since, despite flat out LIES by Shawn O’Malley to the contrary, and the PROOF is in the Boston Archdiocese having to sell real estate.
The correction of this Boston embezzlement, exactly at the time Law left for Rome, (some $14.3 million
US Dollars) of secular Boston Archdiocese priests pension money, has yet to be resolved either.
Only when all these guilty miters and red hats are forceably removed from office from lack of revenue (the one thing Rome ‘gets’, despite pretending to understand little), and are also canonically censored
(like Marciel the known serial pedophile and enabling founder of the Legionnaires of Christ in Mexico) and sentenced to a life of hard labor, bad food, and little rest, preferrably in a cold, dark, and
remote monestary prison cell, will justice begin to be served, and reform, ever so slightly, begin.
Absolution for Curial sins, as exsemplifed by the latest PR stunt from Cardinal Hummes? Not in his, or
his co-conspirators life time will this wash; as Hummes in the next breath LIED and said that less than
1% of all priests are sexual perpetrators globally (the NCCB’s own commissioned JJ Criminal Justice Report places the number at 4.8%, as a bare minimum, and IS UNDER REPORTED).
I recommend to my fellow laity the daily vetted global coverage of:
http://www.bishopaccountability.org/abusetracker
As well as Leon Podles recent book: SACRILEGE.
Or a free viewing to the 2006 US Academy Award Winning Nominee In The Documentary Category: DELIVER US FROM EVIL, to be found at: http://www.youtube.com
No Bishop Accountability? No Laity Monies!
Respectfully submitted,
Russ Bianchi
Lay Member of the Diocese of Monterey, CA (Under the LA Archdiocese)
Mr. Bianchi is a daily Mass Penitent, Lay Communion Service Presider, Family Man, & Mass Lector.
Mr. Bianchi is the Managing Director & CEO Of ADEPT SOLUTIONS, INC, a global food, beverage and pharmaceutical product develop corporation, and travels the globe, annually, for his company.
Mr. Bianchi has seen first hand the overt and ongoing criminal cover up and protection of sexual
abuse ordained perpetrators in our Church directly by the bishops and Cardinals, to this very day,
at laity expense. Fr. Doyle also UNDER reports the real books (in Roma) cost, thus far, by SEVERAL Billion
US Dollars.
Mr. Bianchi is NOT a sexual abuse victim, has never personally met a sexual abuse victim of our Church, and is not a member or donor to any sexual abuse victim advocacy groups, nor in any litigation with,
or agaisnt, the Church.
Mr. Bianchi has direct family, and close friends, that are vocationed, seminarial, missioned, ordained, ordered, academic scholars, secular, cloistered, monastic, and yes, even Curial, in our Church.
January 9, 2008 at 2:15 am
Sooo, is it hopeless? Do we need a new “branch” of the church? I’m very discouraged. Father Doyle, do you have any ideas to give us? There are so many questions and so few answers. Jesus did not mean for His church to be like this.
January 9, 2008 at 3:01 am
I have admired Tom Doyle for a long time now because of the courage and persistence he has shown. I appreciate all the work he has done for victims/survivors of the clergy sexual abuse and want to thank him personally for that. The last time I heard him speak was at the SNAP conference, and it was his talk that gave me some hope. I agree that in our lifetime the church will not change – Pope John Paul II saw to that – but I hope that the laity will someday realize what the hierarchy of the church is doing – protecting itself, not the people – and show enough outrage that they will finally take come action. That is where it has to begin. Obviously, the clergy is not interested enough in actually DOING anything, so the laity has to take matters into their own hands.
January 9, 2008 at 3:56 am
The “Institutional Church” will never change. It didn’t at Luther’s time and so people left to start their own – unfortunately patterned after the RCC. It will not change now either. The evil and corruption must end. The church or real followers of Jesus are the people of God – that includes me sinful as I am. So why should I leave? Kick the bishops out – all of them. They are the evil. Don’t agree? What kind of father would allow his children to be abused? I believe bishops are not successors of the apostles but rather successors of the pharasees, masters of deceipt, experts at puting on a front. Consider their lies and the crap they spue, the pretenses – the hireing of attorneys to protect themselves and P R guys to deceive the laity and make them look good. If you have a problem with valid ordination select some of the saintly x-priests that have left to marry, otherwise select saintly friends to do the liturgy in “closed” parishes. This may be a crazy idea but speak out.
January 9, 2008 at 5:28 am
This article by Fr. Tom Doyle articulates exactly why I had to leave the church after 35 years. Rather than being a source of strength and refuge, the church had become poison to my spiritual journey. Life is too short, and the church is not going to change. I weep for those lives that were destroyed by leaders of my church. I refuse to particpate any longer or provide financial support to this organization. This is where thinking and acting like an adult in the Catholic church has brought me, and I will say that this decision brought me peace with myself and my God.
January 9, 2008 at 6:38 am
I loved Doyle’s essay and agree with it completely. I decided three years ago to go inot exile from active priesthood cause I’d tried for years to chane the system from within with no success. The change will come but only through prophetic action by many people.
January 9, 2008 at 7:54 am
Yes, John Wirtz, you might be right. The institutional bishops might be successors of the Pharisees. Their hypocricy about clergy child abuse is similar to the hypocricy criticised by Jesus. And , remember, they wear the little skullcaps just like the direct successors do. Thanks! You have opened my mind to this possibility.
January 9, 2008 at 11:15 am
Tom Doyle’s analysis is 100% on target except for one important area: embezzlements. When he states “People are now getting excited over the revelations of embezzlement and financial mismanagement in Church throughout the US and the world. This is terrible, but we are talking about money here and not human lives.”, he inadvertently ignores the connection between embezzlements and the ability of wayward clergy to finance their deviant pursuits, especially the seduction of children and adolescents. A look below the surface of embezzlements committed by members of the clergy often reveals the presence of deviant behaviors.
For the past 20 years or more, the “Church office holders” have rejected all calls for the nationwide implementation of secure procedures to protect the Church’s principal source of revenue: the Sunday collection. For more on that, go to http://www.ChurchSecurity.info.
January 9, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Way to go Tom! Now all you have to do is study and teach God’s holy word, found in the bible, and your churches will be bursting at the seams with people hungry for the spiritual food that is found there. No demoninational rules, no phoney baloney non-biblical based doctrine. Just the truth. Simple huh? Kurt Gladsky Founder: Greater Baltimore SNAP, regular attendee: Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, calvaryftl.org
January 9, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I did leave the RCC to find a better way. Now I belong to the PNCC (Polish National Catholic Church). They broke off in the late 1800’s and now have 137 parishes in America, 25,000 parishioners. The reason I joined was because this church was very catholic and belongs to the people. Each parish is in total control of it’s own destiny and we can still follow the catholic traditions.
One of the most refreshing things about the PNCC is having a priest sheperd us who is married and having one of his two sons assist at mass. He can SO relate to our trials and tribulations.
As we tell anyone with questions, Come and Experience. That’s all we ask. I know you will find that Family Parish that you long for and are not finding in the RCC.
January 9, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I have had the pleasure of meeting Tom Doyle on a couple of occasions and find him to be a man of great integrity. Anyone who knows his story would understand the message in this piece. If the Bishops had listened to him in the mid 1980’s the sexual abuse crisis in the catholic church would have been solved. The only reason it has not is because of the Bishops who are only concerned with their own reputations. I hear too many lay catholics ask what can they do? For one stop dropping your hard earned money in the collection basket and demand accountability. Every catholic who goes to church every sunday who is not demanding changes is part of the problem. If your waiting for the Pope and the Bishops to make changes than your wait will never end. The catholic church is the largest “good old boy network” in the world. Pope John Paul knew how bad the sexual abuse problem was and did he do anything about it? He looked he other way and now catholics want to canonize him a saint. And now we have Benedict who was the head of the doctrine of the faith prior to getting a bigger hat and staff, and what did he do, NOTHING. He protected many a pedophile priest and is rewarded with a new wardrobe. Catholics, wake up and stop drinking the KOOL-AID!!!!!
January 9, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Dear Rev. Doyle,
Even though much of what you say about the RC hierarchy is right on, your solution seems to be to walk away. One of the three primary virtues is hope. Where is the hope in that? You talk about what Christ would have done. The same Christ who said, ” Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The same Christ who left us with His Eucharistic Presence to encourage us to prevail against sin and evil.
Popes and bishops do not keep me in the Church. I remain because of the sacramental life, the humble men and women doing daily acts of charity, the sacramental needs of our children. I still feel at home in the rich liturgical heritage of Mother Church. The bishops cannot take that away. The Church is so much more than old men robed in purple. The Church is people like you who continue to fight the good fight against all odds.
Obviously you are tired, discouraged and feel defeated. but do not despair. When I walk into St. Edward’s Catholic Church in a poor section of Nashville, TN, and see Father Breen ministering to his flock as Christ would have done I am filled with hope that there is much good in such a place. Father Breen speaks of universal truths and worries not about what his local bishop thinks. Father Breen welcomes everyone at his altar and doesn’t get hung up on doctrinaire nit-picking. He is a true priest of the people, a hope, a beacon of light in the darkness. I’m sure there are many such priests serving in today’s church. They need our support, not our backs on the way out the door.
Respectfully,
Sharron Jaskunas
January 9, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Fortunately, after developing 13 outreach ministries from scratch with the work of 30, die-hard advocates for love and justice, and having a new priest come in to kill most of the programs and run off the hundreds of volunteers, I work with 70+ different congregations, so I can worship as I work and search for truth in faith as I work. I run a faith-based mentoring program for people trying to transform their lives by connecting in faith – http://www.phope.net to read about our work.
Rev. Doyle is so right on! I truly believe that only the second coming of Christ will change the church. The first arrival doomed the Pharisees and Saducees, who ruled the Jewish faith for their own benefit during the time of Christ. The Catholic Church was ruined when we accepted being “the church of the Roman Realm” and, thus, became “part of this world’s kingdom” the very thing against which Christ spoke about “his kingdom” – it’s not to be “of this world”! Nothing was more “of this world” than the Constantine Church that rammed the trinity (NOT a teaching of Christ or the previous Jewish faith tradition) and many other non-biblical or historical teachings down the throats of the faithful. Hundreds of thousands were condemned to death by “Saint” Benedict the assassin pope, who committed a very grave crime and sin of genecide and then was cannonized for his “work” for the church! How wrong was that! The problems of the church go back to being made the “church of the realm” and accepting, ney, doctrinizing heretical teachings to promote a nation, Rome! The church has followed right along with “earthly” kingdoms ever since! Until the Church as a whole is willing to look at the reversal of direction that occurred against the teachings of the Son of God, our Savior, Christ, we are doomed to constant failure and errors in teaching. Christ taught worship of God the Father, Yaweh, and our duty to minister in justice to our own and the rest of the world WITHOUT becoming a “part of the world” – a difficult task, at best. Now the Catholic Church – the result of becoming part of the world and establishing a Kingdom in this world – advocates for “laws” of protection to prevent justice and true peace in this world. This is because they have been and are part of the earthly kingdoms, where faith is foregone for power, control, protection from accuntability, power over and with money, living the good life, etc. This is why the major part of the world’s people live in poverty, starve for food and water, and don’t share in democratic operation of their world, while the rest of the affluent world bask in obscene opulence! Come Christ! Please take over your non-earthly kingdom soon!
Denis
January 10, 2008 at 8:24 pm
dear father doyle:
excellent article. everyone agrees you have done everything in your power to correct all the wrongdoings and i too love and thank you. you need a break from all this overwhelming crap and rest. it’s society’s turn to pick up the gamet and run with it. it’s societies responsiblity to revolutionize change. don’t be lax; start working on the legislatures; call them, write them, tell them you want change through passage of the bills. get on snap to lobby harder. make change like barak obama says; you can make a difference and you only have to believe you can!
jesus was born a jew and came to reform the corrupt judaism and wanted to include everyone even gentiles and pagans into his revisionist religion. the only apostle that was for this was paul/saul. even the apostles fought amonst themselves over this after jesus was crucified. and once the roman empire took over christianity really got corrupt. then came the crusades and they ransacked jerusalem and what about burning st. joan of arc at the stake. it all makes me sick. it’s one big blasphemous religion.
if jesus ever comes a second time will it ever be right?
rosemary e. miranda
January 17, 2008 at 11:11 am
I am fully aware of the emotions expressed above. I too have observed, listened and watched the church i loved fall into financial and spiritual ruin at every parish. I am extremely sick of what I have seen, i cant even imagine what Jesus would do. The bishop will not budge and while he stands and publically prays at abortion clinics, Others are suffering from discrimination and ommitted from the priesthood because of thier married status. It seems to me that the seminarians and religious of today value religion and power over relationships with their God and People. This is expressed in the fully apologetical homilies that give a false sense of self to the people. How can I live in a church with leaders like that? I live in the diocese of Phoenix, Arizona and the fix it all hero/prince of this diocese is either blind and unconcerned about who he has as his “dressers”. I doubt a bishop would choose to be so ignorant. I just wish catholic followers had eyes to see and feet stand on. At every Mass I remain standing in opposition to a celibate clerical and abusive system. I just wish others would join the stand. I will not bow! I specifically enjoyed your statement: “As long as the clerical/celibate system remains untouched there will always be victims of sexual dysfunctional priests and spiritually dysfunctional bishops. “
January 25, 2008 at 12:00 am
Tom,
I also feel that the Roman Catholic Church is toxic. As a woman, I find it mysogynistic. As a mother i find itanguishing. I have done I still think and care deeply about what Jesus taught, but am in the spiritual process of becoming a Reform Jew. I care about social justice and mourn the loss of Vatican II.
Susan Kieso
January 28, 2008 at 5:29 am
As a Dominican speaking Veritas..the truth is our motto. I affrim Father Doyle,O.P. for his courage and also his hope for e church of justice, peace and love.
February 2, 2008 at 8:13 am
Tom,
I loved your article. I was ordained in 1975, by the Pope, no less and after 20 years of struggle with a church that seemed more interested in itself than the people it was called to serve I walked away. It was the most painful thing I have ever done in my life because I loved the Priesthood and I know I have been “called” to Priesthood.
My big thing was celibacy, rather than the abuse issues. Priests all over the world ignore the celibacy rule, Rome knows about it and simply look the other way, just like they do with the abuse issues. Because I was honest with myself and my God I have been badly treated by some clergy and people,. Other Priests who stay on are held up as heros and yet for some I know they lead a double life. Talk about dishonesty within our church, it’s disgusting.
Tom I know many Dominicans and I have the greatest respect for them, for they are never afraid to speak the truth.
I now work in Prison Ministry. Now that’s where Jesus would be if he was about to-day, not talking crap in the Vatican.
Peter Collett.
February 2, 2008 at 9:22 pm
[...] I was shocked and dismayed when I read the letter from Bill Casey, Chair of VOTF’s Board of Trustees to Tom Doyle, a long-time friend of VOTF’s. Casey’s letter responds to Tom Doyle’s essay on VOTF and the Reform of the Governmental Structure of the Catholic Church, carried on this blog previ…. [...]
February 3, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Tom Doyle is a true hero who has been advocating the truth for about 25 years. He has ben ostrazied & stigmatized as a parriha for bringing forward the truth by the figure heads of the institutional church. We survivors have felt these effects as well. I find it to be sad & unfortunate that Tom is now being set aside by the laity as I & most survivors have been. The most irrepairable damage to survivors has not come from the Figure heads whom only seek self preservation but from the laity who blindly follow them & in turn ostrasize us following the example of thier leadership who is niether holy or enlightend by the Holy Spirit. Bill casey writes that the church is a living organisim. In it’s current state I submitt to everyone that the church is quit the opposite. Now the LAITY in the form of the VOTF BOARD is sitting on the coat tails of the ROME POWER STRUCTURE & putting Tom out! an insult to DOYLE, to myself & all survivors. The only possitive thing that has come from my sexual abuse is that I have acuierd the knowledge of the truth & am free from it. The jurney has been painful & I have suffered loses that will never be replaced. Tom Doyle, for all intent & pourpose is a survior like myself who has lost it all because the scales that clouded his sight fell from his eyes like a modern day St. Paul. Tom attempted to reform the church a tall order for one man, but he unknowingly started something that he knew not where it would lead. I am certain that Tom must have felt hope when VOTF was created. The Laity was at long last beggining to understand & would make a true commitment to reform the church, unfortunatly there are folks who want to make nice with the figure heads. This is FUTILE, an unfortunate truth. I have not lost faith in the Lord through all of the crimes perpetrated on me by the priest who molested me, by the figure heads who lied, protected, & participated in these crimes, & yes the laity for thinking that somewhere sometime the silver linning will be that the laity will have it’s day in the future? should that not be NOW? if it is not now than trully NOTHING! I say NOTHING has changed at all. The blind will remain blind. As for myself most good catholic peaple & I say this in a hartfelt way, because bieng blind dose not make peaple bad. Most good catholics pity me for abandoning my religion. Pleadse don’t pity me I am more free than most of them & still have my LORD without living in the shadow of the modern day pharasis. Many faithful still beleive in the word of the figure heads. They just can’t come to terms with the painful reality that the power structure dose not have the laity’s best interest at hart. These are strong words but like Tom Doyle The scales have fallen from my eyes & the unfortunate truth has been revealed to me. I hope soon not later that the laity take back this church not for my peace of mind “I don’t need the catholic Church. but for thier own peace of mind. I believe that salvation is in the harts of men given by Christ. Not in the church or in the the harts of the figure heads. To Tom Doyle who I have personally met. He is a hero & fellow survivor not brcause of sexual molestation but because of the abuse that he has endured & continues to endure. To VOTF I agree with TOM YOU SHOULD FIRST SEEK OUT THE LOST SHEEP!! whom have been tossed out no differently than Tom. Priest of integraty?? show me 20 of them. True integraty not just nice guys who talk a good game. Guys who are willing to openly critize the church leadership directly. I have been all through out the country & have only met three & have heard of one. Tom Doyle speaks the truth Like Christ would have & has challanged the injustice perpetrated by the church leadership following christ example. Is Tom Doyle a tough talking brazen man? yes. But he lives the example christ set forth not the pamby mamby example that others do pretending to try to make a differance. This has been one survivors npoint of view.
February 9, 2008 at 4:17 am
I agree with Tom-internal church re-structuring is hopeless at this time. We need to let the “church” fall apart by it’s own devices. I have separated myself from this sick institutional system of abuse. As a woman the roman catholic “church” has blacklisted me as an abortionist because as a state legislator I voted against bad bills put forward by extremists “pro-lifers” some who threatened to hurt or kill me–where I needed police protection. The Roman Catholic Diocese of the State in which I reside (Maine) told me I’d never work in the RCC as long as I lived because of my voting record. It didn’t matter that I voted with an informed conscience. I have 4 academic degrees, two of which are theological. I have done long term foster care for 20 years and still the Bishop, Vicar General and Chancelor of the Diocese of Maine told me that I would not be allowed to work in the Church for the rest of my life because I was not “pro-life”. My husband and I took care of foster teen boys for 20 years–not an easy task since most of them had experienced abuse and they had lots of issues. If doing this work is not “pro-life” I’d like to hear what is. My exodus from the church as been a great blessing for me. I have experienced a freeing that I have never known before. I minister in a public high school as a social worker and I also provide healing opportunities for people seeking help with physicial or emotional issues–God works in mysterious ways and I am a witness to God’s presence on the fringes of society. I believe I am following the path that Jesus took.
February 12, 2008 at 10:39 am
Hi
I am Bro.Jacob Neryampallil, have seen your article regarding the structural reform of the catholic church
I am a Franciscan Missionary Brother,currently posted in Saudi Arabia, looking for a chance to be a better person so as to bring forth good tidings to the most wanted men and women on earth.
I read some of the article of yours, is there any facility to join you?, and give the best services to the poor,
orphans, unwanted elderly people and more. Hope to get reply from you Tom,Lord Bless you.
June 27, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I just want to say THANK YOU TOM DOYLE for being who you are and saying what is right and just.
As a survivor or repeated rape by a Catholic Priest George nivelle rucker both my sister and I have experienced all the above you spoke about as well as my family members there were once 35 of us whom attended and now theres is only 1. THE PAIN THE BEAURACRACY THE DEVASTATION OF BEING RVICTIMIZED HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL . AS I VOMIT STILL UPON SEEING CLERGY IN THERE GARB I STILL SUFFER THE AFTERMATH OF BEING SO TINY A CHILD TOUNCHED OVER AND OVER AGIN BY A MAN WHOM LED MYSELF AND MY FAMILY TO BELIVE HE WAS A ADVOCATE OF GOD AND BY HIS USING THE BIBLE AND QOUTES TO DIDDLE ME I STILL HAVE A DIFFICULT TIME WITH THE HEARING OF BIBLE WORDS…USING THE SACRAMENTS OF THE MASS TO DO WHAT HE DID AND THAN HAVING ….MAHONEY CO- SIGN SUCH BEHAVIORS BY DOING NOTHING BUT DRAGG ME THROU EXCESS OF 300 QUESTIONS OF THE DISGUSTING DETAILS IS UNFORGIVEABLE CONDUCT BY ANY SOCIAL STANDARD . KEEP IT UP TOM DOYLE FOR YOU ARE AT LAST A MAN WHOM I CAN SEE AS ONE WHOS GIVING ME BACK A TINY PICE OF HEALING BY YOUR DEVOTION TO REVEAL THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH !
July 22, 2008 at 4:01 pm
The writer above who thinks that the Catholic Church is founded upon Peter, the rock, needs to read the scripture and other texts a bit more closely. We read in the Bible that Paul went to Rome (west of Jerusalem). We read in an epistle of Peter that he was in Babylon (east of Jerusalem), with his son Mark. Peter and Paul did NOT get on well, in spite of what some Churches would have you believe. In spite of the hype, Peter probably did NOT go to Rome. What really happened is that the Empire had two capitals, Rome and Constantinople, and after the Christians were allowed out of hiding, both cities vied for the top position. The bishop of Rome was called the patriarch of the West, and Constantinople’s bishop was called the ecumenical patriarch. There was so much war that much of the documentation was destroyed. But look up a good Enchyclopaedia for the “Donation of Constantine” and you will find this was a forgery that pretended that Constantine the Great gave all Italy to the Pope, and offered him the imperial crown. It took humanity until about the 1700s or 1800s to realise that this was a big forgery — in fact, an improbable forgery if you think about it. Many of the pretensions of the Vatican are as paper-thin as the Donation of Constantine.
July 31, 2008 at 9:20 pm
This article strikes a chord with me and brings tears to my eyes. But I must believe that things are not so hopeless as the author contends.
As Catholics, we must not forget the power of prayer. In the past, the “power” praying was done for us by holy women and men in our religious orders. These “masters of prayer” are almost gone, and maybe this is part of the problem of today’s Church.
Now it is up to the laity to provide the dedicated contemplative prayer hours that are so sorely needed!
I am currently participating in a Diocesan lay prayer ministry dedicated to prayer for healing for: victims, families, priests, religious, abusers, and the Church. Anyone can pray more, whether they are in an organization or not.
Prayer CAN bring about the miracles, the healing, and the changes of heart that are needed! I invite Mr. Doyle and all those who are concerned about the sad mismanagement of today’s Catholic Church to join me. Just increase your prayer time by one hour per day.
Have faith, my fellow Catholics! Pray and meditate more. Offer the suffering you experience from your righteous outrage at the injustice, the callous disrespect for laity, the distrust of women, and the self-serving cynicism of the heirarchy.
Miracles will happen. Doors will open. The Way for effective action will be made clear.
Come Holy Spirit!
December 24, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Hi, what blog platform is this? Can I download it for free or..? I would really love it if you could answer this question! Thanks in advance!