Tom Doyle’s comment on a recent VOTF-related post on this blog.
Here is Tom Doyle’s comment on a recent VOTF-related post on this blog.
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Is it really helpful to VOTF or anyone else to continue these on-line, public attacks at VOTF national everytime they issue a press statement? I have certainly had my differences with the national leadership and the board but I no longer see any value for continuing the constant bickering. It will only serve to harden attitudes and will also continue to distort anything anyone says. As far as voting is concerned, why is it necessary to attribute bad will and intentional exclusivity to VOTF for a procedure/requirement that is very common in various organizations? The last national election turned into a travesty. Didn’t anyone learn anything from it? Do we need to start the attacks and accusations even before the election process has started? The complaining and back-biting is getting very old and very tiresome. I decided to back off from being constantly critical when I realized that all I was involved in doing was stoking resentments and creating more negative energy. Doing so does not promote communication and trust. It does not help those who have good will and an honest desire to help. It does not encourage people who are working through a different level of distrust for the eccdlesiastical institution and it surely doesn’t help the victims of clergy sex abuse. TPD
3 Responses to “Tom Doyle’s comment on a recent VOTF-related post on this blog.”
November 26, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I agree with you Tom.
I have felt that way since I first arrived on the national representative board before it was dissolved. I supported due process for individual members who were in disagreement with the then existing governing group although I did not have first hand knowledge of the particulars.
I am on the strategic platform committee for child protection and survivor support and chair the sub-committee on SOL reform. I have no knowledge of any previous committees or the work they did. I am also a member of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition and I have written articles that have have appeared under that banner.
My mantra has always been to do all that I can to support victims-survivors and their families, work for legislative change, press for accountability and transparency from the bishops and lobby for those necessary changes in the government structures of the institutional church which will only happen from the bottom up by all of us working in concert.
I have tried to ignore the bickering that has gone back and forth on-line but it has bothered me immensely and I have been wondering for awhile how to say this so I appreciate your doing it for me.
Sister Maureen
November 26, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Tom and Maureen:
I think it’s necessary for you to understand where the “survivors” are coming from. I don’t think either of you is a survivor, so I think it’s crucial to walk a mile in the shoes of survivors who have largely been forgotten by VOTF. The most recent VOTF “national survivor support working group” received nothing but lip service (and that’s kind) from VOTF national, leading most to leave VOTF and start an entirely new organization, the National Survivor Advocate Coalition.
I was uninvited from speaking at a VOTF meeting because I dared to stand up to corrupt bishops and dysfunctional church organizations. VOTF thought I was “too bold” to dare challenge a Cardinal and some bishops. To make matters worse, the affiliate that uninvited me rubbed salt in “survivors” wounds, not just mine, by asking the person who is now President of VOTF to speak in my place. I wouldn’t recommend that kind of treatment to any survivor in recovery.
I have continually offered the olive branch and my “participation” in making things work with VOTF, only to be shot down time and again. The most recent was MY attempt to gather all survivor support groups together in order to make sure survivors were being taken care of by all of us. VOTF told us they would make a national plan work, come hell or high water. Well, hell came and the high waters came and NOTHING was done. Now we have another ACTION PLAN that will lead once again to inaction.
You may have noticed that survivors have largely given up on VOTF because VOTF does nothing for them. Imagine that? An organization that was founded on the backs of survivors of abuse and came into existence because Boston Catholics were fed up with secrecy, cover-up, and dysfunctionalism has, at least on the national level, abandoned them.
I don’t for one minute downplay the work of some area affiliates, but they are few and far between. And, those groups tend to be isolated and marginalized by the rest of the local Catholics because they are “standing with THOSE survivors.”
There were NO survivors or survivor topics keynoting the recent national conference (and its previous national conference in Providence) of an organization that claims as its first goal “to support survivors of clergy sexual abuse.” What an insult to us survivors.
As soon as VOTF returns to all three goals, and not just two, I might be tempted to get back on board. Until then, I am not going to participate. I can’t waste my good time.
I hope you have had a chance to read the Murphy report out of Ireland (released today). If survivors aren’t FIRST, I don’t know who is!
Tom, you and I tried very hard the past two summers to “jolt” VOTF out of its complacency. It didn’t work. If the plight of survivors doesn’t move Catholics to action, I don’t know what will.
Bob Hoatson
November 27, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Many have rightly lowered their expectations of VOTF leadership’s dedication to the pursuit of justice on behalf of sex abuse victims. Many have rightly given up all hope that VOTF leadership will ever become so impassioned about the horrific plight of those who were abused that these VOTF leaders can barely sit still. Many, if not most, survivors have never felt that VOTF’s national leadership has stood in communion with their pain and suffering, no matter the personal cost.
If settling for little instead of getting nothing at all is the criteria for examining the Christian leadership of a group that advertises itself as speaking on behalf of the “faithful,” then we have diminished ourselves as advocates for those who struggle to speak for and defend themselve
The mere fact that almost eight years after its inception, there is still doubt and controversy about VOTF leadership’s advocacy for survivors, speaks volumes about a movement that claims to be Christian.
It is interesting to note that two thousand plus years later, there is no doubt about Jesus’ love, compassion and understanding of those in need. Jesus devoted his entire ministry to speaking boldly and loudly against the political and religious leaders of his time. Sadly, VOTF leadership has spent countless hours concerning itself with its structure of governance, membership drives, fundraising, surveys, elections, committees, and then more committees – none of the things that Jesus concerned himself with. VOTF could have been a compelling and meaningful Christian movement if its elected leadership had held high the gospels in front of every bishop’s Cathedral in the country.
Not everything that is said about VOTF leadership can be so easily dismissed as “old resentments.” Just as I keep calling attention to my bishop’s lack of focus and dedication to the poor and needy in my diocese. VOTF leaders are informed and educated adults. They have every right to stand behind their actions. Whenever my bishop is under fire, he will say that he’s being unfairly criticized, then he refuses to answer the question.
Charging a fee for one to be able to vote in its national elections is but a symptom of VOTF’s lack of mindfulness towards those in need and its preoccupation with itself.
Reminds me of my own bishop.