A June 12, 2005, meeting of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF)-Chicago West Chapter at St. Edmund’s Parish, Oak Park, Illinois, generated many surprises—including some for VOTF.

 

Despite being approved, hosted, and promoted by the Archdiocese of Chicago over objections of parishioners, the public meeting drew only 19 people, four of whom were orthodox St. Edmund parishioners.  The VOTF attendees from various parishes shared their anti-Church agenda, and revealed their links to the dissident group Call to Action.  Most surprisingly, Susan Jordan—a new St. Edmund parishioner, and one of the national co-founders in 2002 of VOTF in Boston—openly challenged the organization.

 

Billed as a planning meeting for the July, 2005, VOTF national convocation in Indianapolis, the meeting in Murphy Hall of St. Edmund’s Parish began with comments by chapter leaders Wayne Vanek from St. Giles Parish, and Joyce Gradel from St. Edmund’s Parish.  Gradel serves on the Parish Pastoral Council of St. Edmund’s.

 

Vanek recapped the national history of VOTF since its founding in Boston; an organizational meeting at Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois; and two previous meetings at St. Edmund’s.  The local Chicago area chapters of VOTF are North, Northwest, West, Joliet, and Rockford.

 

Vanek then introduced Janet Hauter of Holy Family Parish, Inverness, Illinois.

 

The VOTF Agenda Revealed

 

Hauter said that VOTF nationally is organized in “the very way” that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is.  Region Seven of VOTF includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.  VOTF views the Chicago area as the “beginning of a new era” because of its critical mass.  Across the country, Hauter said, there has not been consistency of structure and operations of VOTF chapters, but the “new model” that is being introduced should move the organization “in the right direction.”

 

Hauter said that the VOTF “brothers and sisters” in Rockford, Illinois were “having trouble” meeting with Bishop Thomas G. Doran [whose Metropolitan is Francis Cardinal George of Chicago].  She recounted that, through a spokesman—“verbally, of course”—the bishop refused to meet with VOTF-Rockford because it is not a “sanctioned group.”  When VOTF-Rockford asked what it took to be “sanctioned,” Hauter said that they were told “Don’t go there.  It won’t happen.”  Bishop Doran consistently has refused to allow the group the use of Church property for its meetings.

 

Hauter recounted how, in defiance of Bishop Doran, members of VOTF-Rockford attended the 11:00 a.m. Mass in a Rockford church this past Pentecost Sunday, and, after the Mass, held an impromptu 15-minute meeting right in the church.  Hauter recounted how members of the group felt “stared at” by the concelebrants during the Mass.

 

Hauter recounted a second operation against Bishop Doran.  Beginning one recent Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m., VOTF members telephoned Bishop Doran’s office every 15 minutes, requesting a meeting.  This continued until 1:00 p.m. the next day, a Wednesday.  The callers left their names and phone numbers.  Within 10 days, the bishop’s office called to obtain full names and addresses of the callers.  As of June 12, no meeting with VOTF has been scheduled by Bishop Doran.  Hauter threatened that VOTF-Rockford may do the same calling campaign “again and again and again” until Bishop Doran agrees to a meeting.

 

Hauter outlined another campaign.  She said that a [former?] priest, Mark Campobello, is serving an 8-year prison term for sexual contacts with two then-14-year-old females.  There will be a hearing in this case on June 16, 2005, in the Kane County, Illinois, courthouse.  Hauter said that VOTF Rockford is talking about “packing” the courtroom either on this date or on June 30, 2005, when a subsequent hearing in this case is scheduled.

 

Hauter said that it has been discovered that the Diocese of Rockford has not had just three cases of priestly sexual abuse [time period unspecified], as officially reported, but thirty-three cases of priestly sexual abuse.

 

In her summary, Hauter jokingly referred to these incidents as examples of “a little mischief” that VOTF Rockford has been up to.

 

Vanek interjected to say how the five VOTF chapters in this area have begun to do biweekly telephone conference calls in order to share information, to coordinate their activities, and to “find a focus.”  Hauter confirmed this fact.

 

Hauter said that, within a week, VOTF will be mailing a letter to Francis Cardinal George, asking him to start “dialogues” with VOTF on the recently-concluded reports of the USCCB.  Cardinal George will be approached in his dual roles as archbishop of Chicago and as vice president of the “College of Cardinals” [sic: USCCB].

 

Hauter said that a major concern of VOTF is financial transparency.  She bemoaned the fact that there is no standard financial reporting format used by dioceses across the United States.  She said that this enables some dioceses to hide payments made to victims of priestly abuse.  She cited the Archdiocese of Atlanta, which allegedly hid $267,000 in such payments under the category of “Playground Equipment.”

 

Hauter said that “accountability” will be a major discussion topic at the upcoming national convention of VOTF in Indianapolis in July, 2005.  Hauter described this conference as a “watershed event.”  Accountability will be targeted to bishops, laity, and financial. 

 

Hauter said that there is a discussion underway at the national level of VOTF to change the organization’s “corporate location” from Boston, where it started.  The movement of headquarters to another city would reinforce the national identity of VOTF, she said.

 

In order to show its “clout,” Hauter said, VOTF may stop donations for a week.  In response to a question, she replied that this could be at the local, regional, or national levels, or all—at the sole option of VOTF.

 

She cited a recent case involving a parish in Northbrook, Illinois, where the parishioners had “trouble with the pastor.”  She said that 176 parishioners signed a letter pledging to withhold their financial contributions, since, Hauter said, “we know that they [the Archdiocese of Chicago] will listen to money.”  Hauter said that last week the pastor in question resigned.

 

Vanek mentioned that he “went to school” with “Bishop Bill Levada.”  [His Excellency William Levada was just named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.]

 

Gradel said that VOTF members have been at a disadvantage in dealing with certain bishops who may be very knowledgeable in Canon Law.  In order to overcome this, VOTF will be “taking the summer” to assign work groups on specific topics in Canon Law so that VOTF will be better able to debate bishops.

 

The Open Challenge to VOTF

 

The biggest surprise of the meeting came from Steve and Susan Jordan, orthodox St. Edmund’s parishioners, who recently joined the parish after moving to Oak Park from Boston.

 

When Gradel said that VOTF would be working on ways to honor “priests of integrity,” Steve Jordan asked for a definition of that term.  Gradel acknowledged that as a good question, and said that the answer still needs to be worked out.

 

A few minutes later, Susan Jordan asked whether the National Lay Review Board of the USCCB had not already addressed many of the concerns that VOTF claims it is addressing regarding victims of priestly abuse.  Gradel replied that the National Lay Review Board had stated a policy, but “whether it is being enforced is another thing.”

 

Susan Jordan identified herself as one of the founding members of Voice of the Faithful, national organization, when she and her husband Steve lived in Boston.  Susan recounted her impeccable bona fides as a founder of VOTF—from co-chairing the organization’s finance group to crafting the Voice of Compassion Fund.  She said that she had been repeatedly approached in Oak Park by the national headquarters of VOTF about becoming active.  Disillusioned with the group, she has declined, and is no longer even a member of VOTF. 

 

She stated her concern that VOTF is “not doing the job.”  Susan asserted that LinkUp and SNAP—two victims’ groups—are fulfilling one of the three “goals” of VOTF as stated on the handouts at the meeting.  Susan mentioned the National Roundtable Group—founded by Geoffrey Boisi, a former Wall Street investment banker—as being perhaps the best engine for reform in the areas of financial accountability and transparency—another of the stated goals of VOTF.

 

The third goal of “Structural Change” in the Church seems to be the real reason for VOTF’s existence, she charged.

 

When VOTF was founded in July, 2002, Susan said that its adherents were not mainstream Catholics but “leftists.”  She continued that it took VOTF eighteen months to come up with a statement of beliefs—raising severe issues of credibility against its putative goals of helping victims of priestly sexual abuse.  Furthermore, she said, there has been no growth of VOTF.  Membership was about thirty-five thousand (35,000) in 2002, and is still at about thirty-five thousand (35,000) three years later.

 

Susan handed out to all attendees a one-page green sheet with trenchant observations and questions about VOTF.  As measured by their facial expressions, Vanek and Gradel were caught completely off-guard.  Gradel launched into a damage control monologue in front of the group.

 

Even without the Jordans’ effective rebuttal of VOTF, the facts speak for themselves.  Despite promotion in local parish bulletins, the meeting at St. Edmund’s drew only 15 VOTF participants, with ages ranging from 45 to 70+, with the exception of Gradel’s 20-ish daughter.  The average age of the gray-haired group was around 60 or higher.  Janet Hauter admitted that only 300 people have registered so far for the national convention in Indianapolis, and that the goal is a paltry 1,000.  This compares to 60,000,000+ Catholics in America.

 

It is intuitively obvious to the casual observer that VOTF is dying.

 

The Call to Action Connection

 

The meeting was opened and closed by recital of the five-verse VOTF Prayer.  The final verse begins “We are the Church…” which is the slogan of Call to Action.  The first four responses in the prayer also begin “We are the Church…,” while the final response is “We are your Church….”  In the prayer, the “y” in “your,” referring to God, is not capitalized, while the “C” in “Church,” which is what “we are,” is capitalized.

 

During the meeting, Bobbie, one of the female VOTF participants, mentioned that, at the June 10-12, 2005, national conference of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), there was a panel discussion/meeting involving Dan Daley, head of Call to Action, and Jim Post, head of VOTF national.  She suggested that VOTF can learn tactics and organization from Call to Action.  At another point, Bobbie said that she had attended a recent retreat sponsored by FOSSIL [a Call to Action affiliate] in southern Illinois.

 

During her monologue about future direction of VOTF, Janet Hauter said that the “grass roots” will tell the national board what direction to move in, since, after all, “we are the church.”  Her words, of course, are the Call to Action slogan.

 

A VOTF participant praised Rev. Richard McBrien [the notorious heretic, resident at the University of Notre Dame, whose work has been censured by the Church] who spoke recently at Holy Family Parish in Inverness, Illinois, in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

 

Immediately following the meeting, one of the VOTF attendees passed out buff-colored fliers announcing a demonstration from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, 2005, at the USCCB meeting at the Fairmount [sic: Fairmont] Hotel in Chicago.  At the bottom of the flyer, in fine print, there was the statement: “This flyer provided by Call to Action……..Call to Action was instrumental in establishing this coalition along with members of LinkUp, VOTF, CTA Chicagoland, SNAP, Dignity and the task force on accountability from several parishes.”

 

From their previous activities before involvement in VOTF, it is widely believed that Vanek and Gradel are active members of Call to Action.

 

Sponsorship by the Archdiocese

 

At the VOTF meeting at St. Edmund’s Parish on January 19, 2003, VOTF itself stated that Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, verbally had restricted parish staffs from working on VOTF matters across parish boundaries.

 

So how did it come about that the Archdiocese of Chicago approved, hosted, and advertised the cross-parish meeting on June 12—in apparent violation of Cardinal George’s own verbal guidelines?  Why does the Archdiocese support a group that is attacking its own bishops?  Here is the chronology.

 

On page six of the May 29, 2005, issue of The Echoes, the parish bulletin of St. Edmund’s Parish, there was a 13-line invitation to “Join members of Voice of the Faithful-Chicago West on Sunday, June 12 from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. in Murphy Hall to discuss the upcoming…Convocation in Indianapolis July 8-12….Come meet members, learn more about the Convocation, and join in establishing car pools for the trip to Indianapolis.  For further information, contact Wayne Vanek… or Joyce Gradel….”

 

Upon seeing this, orthodox St. Edmund parishioner Joe Wemhoff sent an email to Rev. John McGivern, Pastor, on the morning of Monday, May 30, 2005, requesting that VOTF be denied the use of Church property for their meeting.  Wemhoff’s email described VOTF in detail and included a link to a January 27, 2003, article on VOTF from the Catholic Citizens of Illinois newsletter.

 

Father McGivern promptly inquired of Father George Rassas, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago, whether VOTF had been sanctioned by the Church.  On Wednesday, June 1, 2005, Father Rassas responded, saying that, to his knowledge, VOTF had not been banned from the use of Church property in the Archdiocese of Chicago.  On June 2, 2005, Father McGivern advised Joyce Gradel that the meeting could go on, but asked her for assurances that the content would not involve any departures from Church teachings.  It is not known what response, if any, there was to this request.

 

On Sunday, June 5, 2005, the meeting at St. Edmund’s was announced in the parish bulletins of St. Catherine/St. Lucy Parish, Oak Park, and of St. Bernardine’s Parish, Forest Park.  That day’s parish bulletin of St. Edmund’s had no mention of the meeting.  The June 5 parish bulletin of St. Giles Parish, Oak Park, did not advertise the St. Edmund’s meeting, but touted the VOTF convocation in Indianapolis; cited the website www.votf.org; and published the telephone number and email address of Wayne Vanek, a St. Giles parishioner.  Significantly, the carefully-worded St. Giles announcement did not “cross any parish boundaries,” seemingly in tacit acknowledgement of Cardinal George’s earlier verbal proscription.

 

On Monday, June 6, 2005, Joe Wemhoff Fedexed a letter to Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Vicariate IV, Archdiocese of Chicago, asking him to deny VOTF the use of Church property for the upcoming meeting.  Bishop Paprocki’s office signed for the Fedex at 10:05 a.m. on Tuesday, June 7, 2005.  In his letter, Wemhoff included originals of the three parish bulletins.  He cited the “Structural Change” agenda on VOTF’s website, the fact that it has been banned from the use of Church property in other U.S. dioceses, and the CCI article describing Cardinal George’s reported proscription against crossing parish boundaries.  On Wednesday, June 8, 2005, the administrative assistant to Bishop Paprocki emailed Wemhoff to acknowledge receipt of the missive, and to advise that the Bishop would be out of the office until June 15 and would respond on his return.

 

On Thursday, June 9, 2005, in the absence of Bishop Paprocki, Wemhoff personally delivered to the receptionist at the Archdiocese of Chicago, 155 E. Superior Street, Chicago, a letter to Cardinal George, asking him to deny VOTF the use of Church property.  Wemhoff included copies of the packet sent to Bishop Paprocki.  No response was received from the Cardinal prior to the meeting.

 

On Sunday, June 12, 2005, the St. Edmund parish bulletin mentioned the VOTF meeting only as a line item in the day’s schedule.  No other local parish bulletins advertised the meeting.  However, curiously, on page nine of the June 12 bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, River Forest, there appeared an announcement of the VOTF national convocation, similar to what appeared in the St. Giles bulletin.  It did not reference the St. Edmund’s meeting, but gave Wayne Vanek’s name and number.  Again, curiously, St. Vincent’s carefully did not “cross any parish boundaries” by advertising the St. Edmund’s meeting.

 

One Final Surprise

 

One big surprise around the VOTF meeting was that Rev. John McGivern, Pastor of St. Edmund’s Parish, Oak Park, hosted it.  Since coming to St. Edmund’s in July, 2004, Father McGivern slowly has been returning the parish to orthodoxy, after the ruinous 12-year reign of his predecessor saw myriad doctrinal, liturgical, spiritual, and architectural abuses.  McGivern’s predecessor asserted “pastoral authority” to commit these grave abuses.

 

Among other things, Father McGivern has re-instituted proper order of first Sacraments for children; re-introduced the teaching of Catholic doctrine; corrected some liturgical abuses; made changes in parish lay leadership; re-started Marian devotion; and publicized Eucharistic Adoration.  Importantly, he has personally taken part in, and promoted, pro-life activities.  In a recent article in a local weekly newspaper, critical of Church teachings, many “Catholic” pastors were quoted, while McGivern noticeably was not.

 

However, a Centering Prayer group still meets in the rectory; the liturgical dancers still strut; various liturgical abuses continue; and Joyce Gradel, leader of VOTF-Chicago West, serves on the parish pastoral council.

 

McGivern is trying to bring the parish together to face the mountain of debt (over one million dollars) and of deferred repair and maintenance expenses (well over another million dollars) left by his predecessor after the divisive “renovation” of the church building in the late 1990s.

 

In early 2005, valiant efforts lead by Father McGivern and Sister Collette Mary White, Principal, saved St. Edmund’s Parish school from closing, after it had been publicly targeted for such by the Archdiocese.  Through an arrangement with Dominican University, River Forest, St. Edmund’s will have access to teaching resources of Dominican, which will use the school as a lab for training teachers.

 

One Final Non-surprise

 

It is no surprise that the area pastors who promoted VOTF in their bulletins are well-known dissidents.  About two years ago, Rev. Daniel Whiteside of St. Catherine/St. Lucy Parish, Oak Park, hosted and said the first of what were planned to have been a series of “gay-friendly” Masses.  Upon an outcry from the faithful, the Archdiocese cancelled these Masses.  Rev. Thomas Dore of St. Giles Parish, Oak Park, has long hosted the Ekklesia lecture series by non-Catholics and heterodox “Catholics,” and has promoted United Power for Action and Justice. 

 

Rev. Patrick Tucker of St. Bernardine’s Parish, Forest Park, was one of 26 Chicago pastors who signed an infamous 2004 letter blasting Church teachings on homosexual behavior as “vile and toxic.”  His Masses are laden with grave abuses, e.g., altar servers and cantor standing during the Consecration; intinction of Hosts by recipients at Communion occurring as a common practice; his saying an alternate version of the Nicene Creed; the subtle introduction of a water glass into the rite of Mass; etc.

 

Orthodox St. Edmund parishioner Joe Wemhoff commented, “It’s hard to understand why the Archdiocese of Chicago is sponsoring Voice of the Faithful, which is undermining the Church herself and which is generating such unfavorable publicity.”