One man's journey in faith

[Times photo: James Borchuck] Tim Kelliher sorts trays of food recently at the new food center in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Center of Hope. The center in St. Petersburg will serve more than 200,000 meals to the hungry and homeless this year.

By ROY PETER CLARK
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 20, 2002

After much prayer and discussion, one believer makes a decision in the wake of the crisis in the Catholic Church.

The saddest message I received came from a Roman Catholic mother who wrote: "I once was proud that my youngest son was an altar boy. Now I'm ashamed to admit it."

What have we come to? Perhaps Bishop Robert Lynch said it best in his good phone call to me. We have come to "the darkest moment in the history of the Catholic Church in America."

Of faith and funds A Catholic faces difficult questions: Can he trust his church? Should he honor his fundraising pledge or send the money elsewhere? What would you do? (May 30, 2002)

Three weeks ago in Floridian, I lamented the crisis in the church and asked for your advice. Given the recent revelations of clergy misconduct, should I continue to give money to the Catholic Church? Should I withhold as an act of conscience or perhaps give it to another charity?

Please, I said, tell me what you think.

If the ensuing 350 e-mails and letters are any indication, you are angry. You are angry at the bishop for mixing his personal friendships with the business of the diocese. You are angry at the news media for airing so much ugly news about the church you love. Some of you are angry at me for daring to talk about what goes in the collection basket.

Most of all, whether traditional or progressive, Catholic or not, you are angry with the church hierarchy: at seminaries that breed abusers, at priests who molest, at bishops who look the other way, at cardinals who conceal, at a Vatican in denial.

Pay or withhold? Readers respond Dear Readers: Thank you for the more than 300 e-mail messages and 50 letters you sent me. Even my 82-year-old mother wrote offering her advice! About a third of the messages encouraged me to fulfill my pledge to the bishop's building fund. The rest advised me to withhold it or redirect it to another charity. Here is a sample (a tithing?) of your responses. Opportunities to give My original pledge was to the diocesan building fund, known as "Our Journey in Faith." Bishop Robert Lynch has defended his stewardship of this fund against accusations that he has showed favoritism to the construction company of a good friend.

You feel betrayed. Those of you who are Catholic grew up respecting priests and bishops. Now you wonder whether the hierarchy is corrupt at its heart. You shudder when you read about a bishop in the Midwest who paid $450,000 dollars of diocesan money to settle a single abuse claim against him. As I learned recently, that's half as much as the Diocese of St. Petersburg donates to the support of Catholic Charities in a year.

After my column appeared, Bishop Lynch was the first reader to call. He did not call to scold, but to console. At a moment when my faith was as wobbly as the worst table at the diner, his concern was for my peace of mind, not my bank account. I think he's one of the good guys, aware of his own human frailties, but a leader who can help the Church climb out of this deep, dark hole. Many of your messages expressed the same fervent hope.

The Catholics among you want a voice in your church. You want a forum to express your frustrations and aspirations. You want a say in how decisions are made and money is spent. You want openness and accountability, not secrecy and payoffs. You want an end to a Church that conceals the sexual abuse of children and then scolds Catholic mothers for taking birth control pills.

Most of you consider yourself Catholics from cradle to grave. You say your faith is in God and not men. You express confidence that the Church will be stronger as it learns from this scandal. Many of you say you want more, some reformed version of the Catholic Church in America. Voice of the Faithful, as one Boston group is called, has adopted a three-part mission: to care for victims of abuse, support the work of responsible clergy, and change the way the Church is governed. The Church is for the people of God, you are saying loud and clear, not for the hierarchy. You don't want your prelates to be "princes of the church," you want them to be servants of the people.

As you will see in the accompanying story, you differed on whether I should fulfill my pledge of money to the Bishop's building fund, but you were almost unanimous in your deep concern about the current scandal and profound hope that the Church will become more Christlike in its renewal.

Here's what I'm going to do:

As a vote for reform, after taking your advice to pray, I am diverting the remaining $4,000 of my pledge. In the end, this is an act of conscience, not something I am recommending to others. I admire the fidelity and generosity of those of you who have so little money, but who are giving so much to build Catholic schools.

One message came to me from a neighbor, Sister Mary Jane Herlik. She told me the money I pledged to the bishop would be going for a worthy cause. I met with Sister Mary Jane and learned about her half century as a Dominican nun, and her 20 years working with people suffering from AIDS. With few resources, she runs a support group for women with HIV/AIDS.

[Times photo: James Borchuck] Sister Mary Jane Herlik, center, has been a Dominican nun for 50 years, the last 20 working with people suffering from AIDS. She is the facilitator for an HIV positive women’s support group. Behind her are Linda Hukill, left, and Suzanne Jones, both of whom are HIV positive.

The next day an old friend messaged me and offered this advice: "Give your money to the WOMEN of the Church." It was the sign I needed. I am giving the remainder of my pledge over the next four years to the ministry of Sister Mary Jane. This will embarrass her, but on behalf of the nuns who work thanklessly for the poor, without salaries and pensions, I say: You deserve it, Sister. I know you'll use it wisely.

God writes straight with crooked lines, goes an old saying. My crooked little journey of discovery led me straight to two other worthy charities. The Center of Hope in St. Petersburg will serve more than 200,000 meals to the hungry and homeless this year. The good people who run the place are from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Their work on behalf of the poor is inspirational. I'll be writing them a check.

The money I earn from the Times for writing these two articles will be donated to Catholic Charities, an organization that serves many in need. I will earmark the money for a new fund being developed there. Its purpose is to lend support and counsel to people who have been abused by priests.

-- Roy Peter Clark is senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists that owns the stock of the St. Petersburg Times. He got such a strong response to his original article that he's writing an essay for the Poynter web site about involving readers in the journalistic process. If you'd like to chime in, please visit: http://www.poynter.org/roy.

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