VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL NEW YORK WELCOMES DOLAN APPOINTMENT, CALLS FOR TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Voice of the Faithful’s New York affiliate welcomes Archbishop Timothy Dolan as the new spiritual leader in the Archdiocese of New York. We look forward to working in collaboration with him to serve our fellow Catholics and all the people of New York City. Our generation of Catholic men and women includes the best educated, most professional Catholics in American history.  The laity can do great work, if they are given the freedom and the tools to use their talents.

We have heard that Archbishop Dolan is a great communicator. He will need to be. He must be ready to speak clearly and forcefully to the city, and to the nation, about our faith, Catholic values and the Catholic world view.

Archbishop Dolan can begin by communicating vital financial information to the Catholic community. It is a source of great concern to Voice of the Faithful that in the financial capital of the world, the Archdiocese of New York has failed to publish any financial statements about its operations for many years.

Archbishop Dolan must also be open and honest about decisions he made, or failed to make, during his service in Milwaukee. Serious questions have been raised about his handling of clergy abuse cases. These questions need to be fully and carefully explored. We are particularly concerned about the absence of accountability in holding members of the hierarchy responsible for their secret transfers of predator priests. Voice of the Faithful has publicly called for all bishops in the U.S. to examine their consciences; in cases where transfers of predator priests were made in secret without notifying parishioners, we have asked guilty bishops to resign their offices. Civil authorities have determined that such practices occurred in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Archbishop Dolan must explain why he continued to trust auxiliary bishops who protected predator priests.

We also respectfully ask Archbishop Dolan to review the cases of three parishes in resistance to diocesan-ordered closings: Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem; Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street; and Our Lady of Vilnius on the lower West Side in Manhattan. In our view, these vibrant faith communities were unjustly closed in the realignment of parishes directed by Cardinal Egan, who has refused even to discuss these cases with their parishioners.

The Church faces many challenges in a rapidly changing world. At the same time, we as Catholics have much to offer the world in these very difficult times. We are hopeful that our new spiritual leader will be open and accessible to his priests and to all the people, and ready to work in partnership with the People of God in the pews.