The Church's Tug of War (Page 2)

For some, the courage of the Erie Benedictines has been an inspiration. Father Walter Cuenin is a Newton, Massachusetts, parish priest who helped to found another reform group, Priests' Forum. The forum gives Boston priests a private, independent venue to discuss the previously undiscussable--from "whether mandatory celibacy should remain" to Church teachings like the birth-control ban. Cuenin remembers the Benedictines' action well. "It had an impact on me personally," he says. "A lot of us have lived in fear--I can't speak because something will happen. If enough people speak, there's nothing that anyone can do."

There is no question that the pedophilia scandal has torn the mantle of sanctity off the Catholic Church. Long subject to a litany of illogical and unconscionable sexual prohibitions--which the Church labors worldwide to have written into secular law--Catholics now see that the hierarchy has failed to live up to even the most basic moral standards. That, explains Catholic University sociologist William D'Antonio, has exacerbated their outrage. His research revealed that only 20 percent of American Catholics look to Church leaders as a source of moral authority, and that was before the scandals broke. Most also believe that the Church should be more democratic. "What our data show," D'Antonio says, "is that people are ready for the reform movement."

And the reform movement is ready for them. The welcome surge of interest, however, has created some internal challenges for the movement, as the influx of new activists has radically changed its composition. Catholics never active before in Church affairs are demanding a voice. Some have joined the progressive movement, while others are mapping out a new middle ground. What's different, says Tom Fox, publisher of the independent National Catholic Reporter, is that "there is a large cross-section of Catholics calling for change. From left to right, Catholics are calling upon the bishops [for] greater accountability. They're saying the Church that we have, the governance we have, is not working."

In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the progressive reform groups embrace a broad agenda. They want women at all levels of ministry and decision-making; married clergy; optional celibacy; acceptance of homosexuals, the divorced and the remarried; an end to Vatican silencings; lay involvement in Church governance and in teachings on human sexuality (though abortion support varies, even among reformers); new forms of liturgy and nonsexist language; academic freedom at Catholic universities; and an affirmation of conscience as the final arbiter in moral matters.

This agenda is embraced by such groups as Call to Action--the nation's oldest and largest, with 25,000 members and forty chapters; the gay rights group Dignity/USA; the Women's Ordination Conference; the reproductive rights groups CFFC and Catholics Speak Out; Corpus, which supports married and female priests; Women-Church Convergence, a coalition committed to feminist spirituality; and FutureChurch, which raises awareness of the priest shortage and of women's ministerial roles in the early and the contemporary Church. All are led or co-led by women.

By contrast, the new "center" is occupied by reformers with a narrower agenda. Like the progressive groups, they support the long-neglected victims of clergy sexual abuse--represented by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Linkup. But they call for change in only one area: Church governance. They want the hierarchy to share power, giving lay Catholics a real voice in administrative affairs such as financial decision-making and the hiring and firing of priests and bishops. Another new group, Voice of the Faithful in Boston, is working swiftly and systematically to move the agenda of Church accountability forward. With 22,500 members in forty states and twenty-two countries, VOTF is building an exploding network of independent, parish-based groups. In addition, VOTF has set up a charitable fund through which Catholics can redirect their donations from Boston's archdiocesan coffers to Catholic agencies--the only real power Catholics currently have.

While VOTF has members who also participate in progressive reform groups, the organization does not consider itself part of the progressive community. Founder Jim Muller, a cardiologist who also founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, describes VOTF as a centrist organization. "We are building a representative structure for the laity that will be more like Congress than the Democratic or Republican Party," he says. According to one insider, however, VOTF has gone to great lengths to make conservatives feel welcome while distancing itself from progressive groups. It has also, observes Call to Action spokeswoman Claire Noonan, "been very careful not to take positions on issues of big controversy, like women's ordination and optional celibacy." Depending on how large VOTF becomes and how its members vote on contentious issues, it could have the effect of either strengthening or marginalizing the larger progressive reform agenda.

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