Is VOTF’s Agenda Still “Ultimately,
Anti-Catholic?” By Fred Martinez
“On
the papal teaching office, Father Orsy renews his plea (made in several other
places) that Catholics should be free to dissent from definitive
teaching.”
Archbishop
John Myers of Newark, N.J. on Oct. 11, 2002 wrote “Voice of the Faithful
[VOTF]...has used the current crisis in the Church as a springboard for presenting
an agenda that is anti-Church and, ultimately, anti-Catholic.”
Myers
is considered one of the most pro-life and orthodox members of the American
Bishops. When bishop of Peoria, IL, he published a pastoral letter calling it
"morally illicit" for Catholics to vote for pro-abortion candidates.
In
the October column called “A Voice Not Rooted in Faith” printed in
the Catholic Advocate, the archdiocesan newspaper of Newark, the Archbishop
said that VOTF “has as its purposes: to act as a cover for dissent...and
to openly attack the Church hierarchy. Myers wrote:
“[A]
ltering Church teaching on sexual morality, and defiance of the apostolic
authority that has guided the Church since its founding 2,000 years ago by Our
Lord Jesus Christ, have all found a place in the ranks of Voice of the
Faithful.”
I
contacted Voice of the Faithful’s central office so they could respond to
critics of their agenda.
The
VOTF receptionist said Steve Krueger, the Interim Executive Director, would
call this reporter back shortly. After not getting a return call, I again
contacted the central office a second time, but the receptionist said Krueger
was not available. Krueger never called back.
When
the publisher as well as editor of Crisis Magazine and former professor of
Philosophy at Fordham University, Deal W. Hudson was asked if he agreed with
Archbishop Myers’ criticism on VOTF.
The
former philosophy professor concurred that “absolutely” Voice of
the Faithful’s agenda is still “ultimately, anti-Catholic.”
He
has for months been warning Catholics about VOTF through his Catholic monthly
published in Washington, D.C. and other publications. Hudson in a recent
interview with this journalist said:
“I
think it’s anti-Catholic in the sense that they are trying to change
fundamental Church teachings, which are at the heart of Catholic
identity.”
Deal
Hudson said that orthodox Catholics who join VOTF “are being fooled. They
are falling for a bait and switch tactic, which is being used throughout the
United States. Voice of the Faithful leadership well know what they are doing,
but they are willing to practice a deception for the sake of spreading a
dissenting agenda.”
One
day before Archbishop Myers’ statement that VOTF “has as its
purposes: to act as a cover for dissent,” VOTF president James E. Post
wrote a letter and did an interview with the Boston Globe on October 10, 2002
where he claimed “we are not a dissident group.''
The
Globe article said that Post's letter “posted on the group's Web site
asserts that ''we accept the teaching authority of the church.”
However
the VOTF site then and now also states that they do not ''advocate ...the
exclusion of homosexuals from the priesthood,” which is contrary to
Church directives.
On
December 5, 2002 the Catholic World News reported that the Church reaffirmed
the Sacred Congregation for Religious in Rome in 1961 statement: "Those
affected by the perverse inclination to homosexuality or pederasty should be
excluded from religious vows and ordination."The Catholic World News
wrote: “In a letter dated May 16, 2002, Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez--
who was, at the time, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship--
said: ‘Ordination to the diaconate or priesthood of persons with
homosexual tendencies is absolutely unadvisable and imprudent, and from a
pastoral point of view, extremely risky.’”
When
Hudson was asked why Voice of the Faithful appeared to be covering up the fact
that 90% of the sex abuse scandal was homosexual priests acting out on
adolescents, he said:
“Because
their agenda is being supported by priests in the Boston [Archdiocese] who
themselves do not want the homosexual dimension of the scandal addressed. And
these are the members of the Boston Priests Forum.”
In
an article on Voice of the Faithful’s agenda, the Notre Dame Magazine
website called Keep the Faith, Change the Church Richard Conklin wrote:
“It
is the third objective -- structural change in the church -- that holds the
seeds of divisiveness that some bishops have accused VOTF of fostering.”
“’It
is a struggle to keep traditional Catholics in VOTF," [Voice of the
Faithful founder Jim] Muller concedes, "but we must keep 'structural
change' undefined until its specifics can be determined by a lay voice that
includes all spectrums.’
"
VOTF
founder Muller despite claiming “structural change” must remain
undefined in the Notre Dame Magazine said:"The problem is a concentration
of power in the hierarchy," he asserts. "It is as though the
executive, legislative and judicial branches were combined. We want...more
'democracy' in the church. Muller makes it clear it is not a democracy of
theology he envisions -- there will be no votes on the Nicene Creed.”However,
when Hudson was asked what are the structural changes that Voice of the
Faithful wants to make he said:“They’ve never defined them in any
way. So the only conclusion you can come to is that the kind of structural
changes they want are those represented by the people they invite to address
their meetings,” Hudson said.
“Which
are those who want ordination of women, married priests, to end priestly
celibacy and finally to end Vatican authority over the parishes in the United
States.”
The
VOTF website (www.votf.org/Structural_Change/structural.html) said that the
Structural Change Working Group (SCWG) ”has been working to define what
VOTF means by its Goal 3.”
According
to the site “The group [SCWG] has also consulted with Fr. Ladislas Orsy,
S.J., in an effort to ensure that its conclusions are sound, and that none of
its statements could be misunderstood. Fr. Orsy has been retained as a
professional outside consultant in canon law and related matters by
VOTF.”
It
appears that Fr. Orsy might be a questionable choice as a consultant according
to the American Cardinal Dulles and Cardinal Ratzinger of the Vatican.
The
American Cardinal in a November 25, 2000 America article
(www.bigbrother.net/~mugwump/Dulles/dulles_online.html) said of the priest:
“On
the papal teaching office, Father Orsy renews his plea (made in several other
places) that Catholics should be free to dissent from definitive
teaching.”
Cardina1
Ratzinger in an article published in Céide May/June 1999 (found at
www.womanpriest.org/teaching/ratzing1.htm) said:
“Father
Orsy assures us that the new canons were not needed because the category of
definitively proposed teaching “as it appears now in official documents
had not developed yet”...How the author could have come to this thesis is
inexplicable.“
A
few paragraphs later the Cardinal wrote:
“I
do not find it objective that Fr.Orsy constructs an opposition [contradiction]
between Ad tuendam fidem and Vatican II. [He writes that] the Council intended
no threats and penalties because the Fathers of the Council “trusted that
truth will attract by its own beauty and strength” ... In fact, a large
number of the bishops of the world wish today for the “sharpening”
of the penal law; this is a consequence of the cases of priests guilty of
paedophilia. The protection of the rights of the accused priests has become so
strong that the bishops feel powerless in cases when for the sake of the
faithful they should have the power to intervene.”
(Fred
Martinez is the religion editor of the Conservative Monitor, a former columnist
with NewsMax and a reporter with the San Francisco Faith as well as a former TV
broadcaster. He has been a pro-life activist and speaker for many years. In
1985 he founded the Juan Diego Society through which hundreds of babies under
threat of abortion were saved. His new book “Real Axis of Evil:
Clinton/Sex Abuse/Abortion” is available for a prepublication price of
$3.95 if purchased as an ebook from The Real Axis. The book will be available soon on
amazon.com and at Catholic bookstores.)