Minutes of the Regional Meeting

Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Manhasset, New York

February 12, 2004

The meeting was opened with prayer led by Gene Zirkel and hymn by Sue Baer.

Patricia Zirkel was introduced. Her remarks follow.

I have been speaking on these occasions about becoming holy; about first knowing the truth of who we are, and then living that truth as best we can. We all know that it’s easy to speak about holiness, and about developing a fundamental spirituality; it's a bit harder to put that into practice. So tonight I'd like to concentrate on two practical and positive aspects of developing a spirituality: these are gratitude and passion.

Last month my husband and I escaped to Florida for almost the entire month. While we're traveling, Gene often reads to me in the car, while I drive. One of the things we've been reading is "A Revolution of the Heart," by Brother Sean Sammon. Sean is the Superior General of the Marist Brothers, and his little book is meant to stir the brothers to look deeply at themselves and at their identity as a religious congregation for the coming century of their mission. A lot of what he has to say is very relevant to our own struggles for holiness as we attempt to reform our suffering church; and, he does a bang-up job of describing a spirituality that is meaningful to our times.

He says:
What do I mean when I use the word spirituality? (p. 45)
To
... is that a saint or a horse? (p. 46)

His point is that "spirituality has more to do with being grateful for the gift of God's unconditional love than with any pious practice." (46) Spirituality also has to do with what he calls "the unquenchable fire that burns within us." In other words, look for your own spirituality in that place within you that is the source of your drive. What motivates you to be here tonight, or to be active in Voice of the Faithful? Spirituality comes from, and is related to this very place, your passion. According to Brother Sean, it is passion that "fuels the love, creativity, and hope that we bring to life." It is also passion that sometimes leaves us dissatisfied and hungry. He says that spirituality is what you do with your passion, your drive, your hunger. (47) In the coming weeks, think about passion and drive and ask yourself what you want to do with that passion. You’ll be taking a step in developing your own unique spirituality.

Let's go back to gratitude. The sixteenth century saint and mystic Teresa of Avila advised people who sought her counsel "that when they lacked words for prayer" they should simply sit before the Lord and let Jesus "look on them with love." (47)

Continuing this idea, Brother Sean says, "Our hunger and thirst for Jesus (that is, our passion for Jesus) is nothing more than a mirror of his for us. But ... few of us are willing to believe that God loves us in such an unconditional way. Yes, we will say, 'God loves us unconditionally,' ... " Then we throw in the word "but." (48) He goes on: "Why try to tame God's love by pretending that something given so freely must be earned? In this life, we alone stand in the way of our accepting God's unconditional love."

It strikes me that it's very "Catholic" of us to try to earn God's love, or earn our way into heaven. We still hear this message from our pulpits from time to time, and the idea can be very deeply ingrained. Therefore, another aspect of developing one's own spirituality is meditating on God's love for you. We are called to a journey of understanding and acceptance of the great love that Jesus has for each of us. The beginning of this journey is acceptance that Jesus is the answer to the question that is each of our lives.

As we work toward the reform of our church, we need to stay focused, not on the current leadership, and not even on hierarchical, institutional issues, but on Jesus, who told his apostles to feed his flock. And out of our personal and communal spiritual quest will come a clearer and clearer demand to our Bishops that we hear no more untruths and defensive strategies for evading charges of harboring pedophiles. Instead we are demanding that we be fed with the message of Jesus, who said that he came not to be served, but to serve (Mk 10.45). When we have leaders that can do this for us, guided by that “Spirit of Truth” which Jesus said he would send (Jn 14.17; 15.26), then they will be faithful to the mission that Jesus left to them.

Dan Bartley was introduced. His remarks follow.

Good Evening. I am Dan Bartley, co-chair of LIVOTF.

We are please to have Laura Ahearn here tonight to present us with her findings from her research in Boston.

You will hear from her shortly and we only ask that you keep an open mind and draw your own conclusions.

Of all the events that have happened these past few days the one that disturbs me most is not Laura Ahearn's findings, as disturbing as they are.

No, it was the response to her findings that the diocese has been presenting in the media.

Diocesan Leadership

What we are told over and over again is that Bishop Murphy was somehow cleared by the Massachusetts Attorney General's report.

The impression we are given is that the Massachusetts Attorney General somehow gave Bishop Murphy a big pat on the back.

We have also heard time and time again from the Catholic League that based on the same report that Bishop Murphy is somehow innocent, innocent of all things.

As Pat said earlier today, they believe that if they say it often enough people will actually believe it.

More insulting is that Diocesan leadership and the Catholic League assume that Catholics will never actually read the report; they bank on it.

So what does this report actually say, the report that cleared bishop Murphy and found him innocent?

From the actual report — the unspun version:

"And, even with undeniable information available to him on the risk of recidivism, Bishop Murphy continued to place a higher priority on preventing scandal and providing support to alleged abusers than on protecting children from sexual abuse." (p. 39)

Cleared? Innocent?

"There is overwhelming evidence that for many years Cardinal Law and his senior managers* had direct, actual knowledge that substantial numbers of children in the Archdiocese had been sexually abused by substantial numbers of priests. Any claim by the Cardinal or the Archdiocese's senior managers that they did not know about the abuse suffered by, or the continuing threat to, children in the Archdiocese is simply not credible." (p. 25)

"Top Archdiocese officials regularly addressed and supported the perceived needs of offending priests more than the needs of children who had been, or were at risk of being, abused." (P. 30)

Cleared? Innocent?

What disturbed me most is that these lies, these intentional gross distortions of truth, did not occur in some faraway place at some long ago time.

No, they are from the here and now from our Diocesan leaders.

Shame on you!

And shame on us for putting up with it.

Anne Marie D'Angelo introduced Laura Ahearn, Director of Parents for Megan's Law.

To read Ms. Ahearn's presentation in its entirety, we urge you to visit the website Parents for Megan's Law (http://www.parentsformeganslaw.com). Once there, click on "Message from Director" for the presentation.

Ms. Ahearn took questions following her talk.

Q: Isn't the roadblock to accountability the Statute of Limitations? Shouldn't we be working harder to change this?

A: The Statute of Limitations is a problem. The Supreme Court recently made a quiet decision to not make any changes to the statute of limitations retroactive.

Q: Shouldn't Murphy and others be prosecuted for obstruction of justice?

A: They should. But Catholics need to take a stand. "No money" is what will get them.

Q: Was there any evidence of what other priests were doing in Boston while priests were abusing.

A: I saw nothing in Boston about priests speaking out.

Q: Last year I put "000" on the form for the Bishops Annual Appeal. I vote saying no money until Bishop William Murphy is gone.

A: Social justice is accomplished when people take action. We cannot turn our backs on children he allowed to be molested.

Q: I have heard that Msgr. Placa, the point man in interviewing victims, is on the letterhead of Spellman Walsh. Is he a member of that firm?

A: He does have an office in that law firm.

Q: William Donahue attacked our credibility and alleged a contract dispute with Bishop William Murphy. Could you please clarify that?

A: Actually, this hurt my feelings that Bishop Murphy accused me of this. I gave him advice on personnel issues. He said he would not give me "carte blanche with my parishes."

Bishop Murphy asked me for the cost of educating all in the diocese and I did just that. He then used that against me.

He was quoted twice in The Long Island Catholic saying, "I work with Laura Ahearn from Megan's Law."

I asked him in front of witnesses why he didn't call police. His response was that he had no legal obligation. I asked if he had a moral obligation, and he bobbled his head.

Q: Is there a number where we can call to report abuse?

A: Anyone can call the State Hotline Registry. Anyone who suspects abuse should call. The number is listed on the Megan's Law website.

Q: Why was there no information in your presentation regarding Geoghan or Shanley?

A: I did not go into those cases due to the sheer size and the fact that they have been widely reported.

Q: Thank you for enlightening us. Why are we here? What will we do tomorrow? We can't be silent. Come to the vigil the first Sunday of March.

A: If you have a fire in your belly — given by God — you need to move people.

Ms. Ahearn thanked the audience and received a standing ovation.

The meeting was closed with the Our Father.