Cover
story Church in Crisis Priests, current and former, join voices in
New York
By DICK RYAN
New York
Three days before Pentecost, a group composed mostly of priests
and former priests met here to discuss healing and reform needed in response to
the churchs ongoing sex abuse crisis. Organizers spoke of their intention
to form a permanent group to continue the conversation.
We want to be able to speak out on issues, build alliances
with similar groups around the country and invite women and the laity to join
us, said Tom McCabe, a former priest and one of the organizers.
Fifty people had been expected for the May 16 gathering at the
Catholic Newman Center of Queens College (part of New Yorks public
university system), but about 120 showed up from around the city and Long
Island. Another meeting is planned for the fall.
I feel very optimistic about this group, said
organizer Msgr. Bryan Karvellis, pastor of Transfiguration Church in Brooklyn.
Were not clandestine and were not going to picket or make
protests. Our hope is to continue to grow while making the church a better
place, making it gospel.
Another organizer, Msgr. John Powis of St. Barbaras Parish
in Brooklyn, said, Were not looking to challenge anyone but to
start talking among ourselves and perhaps pressuring for change in areas like
optional celibacy, the position of women in the church and the selection of
bishops and pastors.
Eugene Kennedy, author, psychologist and former priest, gave a
talk about the divisions created by the hierarchy and the kind of leadership
that must eventually fill the vacuum: holy, healthy, whole.
Kennedy called the hierarchy the controlling and corrupt
reflection of an organization that has so divided people that it cant
even understand how it has so often demeaned and degraded people. And you
dont have to get them to cooperate with you or give permission in order
to do something about this.
Fr. James Sullivan, an 81-year-old Brooklyn priest who
participated in the meeting, said priests have been the most compliant of
all during this scandal. They have not spoken up. This group could change all
that.
A New York priest who asked not to be named said, This group
of men could be another voice for the future of the church, but one of many
voices. I see them filling the vacuum of credible episcopal leadership that was
lost by the hierarchys failures during the crisis and was lost again at
that Vatican meeting where the cardinals became emasculated Roman
clones.
Cathy Kelly, a former nun, said, As a nurse, I see the
scandal as a wound that is being drained, and the healing could come from this
group that truly loves the church and the face of Jesus.
Fr. Neil Connolly, pastor of St. Marys Church in New York
who has refused the title of monsignor, said, The hard truth is that we
will probably always have bishops, but thats fine as long as there is
consultation and affirmation, and bishops who are better administrators. I hope
this group perseveres in what they have begun.
Dick Ryan is a freelance writer living in New York.
National Catholic Reporter, May 31,
2002
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