Resources

CCOC Public Documents
General Resources

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a web page of resources related to “Child and Youth Protection” (including a link to the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People”):
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/index.cfm

America magazine has a collection of links to articles on the sexual abuse crisis: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/08/22/church-sex-abuse-crisis-what-you-need-know

America has also sponsored a series of twelve podcasts called “Deliver Us” on various topics related to the crisis.
https://www.americamagazine.org/deliverus

History of the Sexual Abuse Crisis

The following video of a panel sponsored by Lumen Christi Institute in Chicago includes a helpful brief summary of the history of the crisis in the U.S. by Kim Daniels:
https://www.lumenchristi.org/event/2018/11/catholic-church-in-crisis-a-panel-discussion-kim-daniels-russell-hittinger-fr-michael-sweeney-op

“What caused the crisis? Key findings of the John Jay College study on clergy sexual abuse,” by Kathleen McChesney, America magazine, 6 June 2011
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2011/06/06/what-caused-crisis-key-findings-john-jay-college-study-clergy-sexual-abuse

The Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report

Report and related materials on the PA attorney general’s website: https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/report/

Peter Steinfels wrote an important critique of the Pennsylvania grand jury report for Commonweal:
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/pa-grand-jury-report-not-what-it-seems

Perspectives on Reform

“Confronting a Moral Catastrophe: Lay Leadership, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Sexual Abuse Crisis”. Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. 
Video of 25 September 2018 event:
https://catholicsocialthought.georgetown.edu/events/confronting-a-moral-catastrophe

FutureChurch seeks “changes that will provide all Roman Catholics the opportunity to participate fully in Church life and leadership.” Among the many resources on their website is the 2019 teleconference series: “Power to the People: From Clericalism to Collaboration.”
https://www.futurechurch.org/2019-teleconference-series-power-to-people

Leadership Roundtable is an “organization of laity, religious, and clergy working together to promote best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications, and human resources development of the Catholic Church in the U.S., including greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity.”

Leadership Roundtable resources related to the “twin crisis of abuse and leadership” can be found here:
https://leadershiproundtable.org/what-we-do/our-resources/resources-for-catholic-leaders-to-prevent-and-respond-to-abuse-crisis/

The Movement to Restore Trust is a group of Catholics based in Buffalo, NY, who seek to “assert the laity’s rightful role in the Church and to help lead a movement to restore trust and confidence in the Church.”
https://movementtorestoretrust.org/

The Movement to Restore Trust released a 58-page report titled, “The Initial Reports of the Movement to Restore Trust Working Groups” that contains much worthwhile analysis and thoughts on actions needed in our Church. Many of their ideas parallel those of CCOC:
https://movementtorestoretrust.org/initial-reports-of-the-workgroups/

Voice of the Faithful is a lay organization of Catholics organized in 2002. They seek to “provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church.”
https://www.votf.org/

Liturgy & Prayer

“Prayer for Angry Catholics”
by James Martin, S.J., America magazine, 6 June 2012
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2012/06/06/prayer-angry-catholics

Resources related to the work of CCOC Focus Groups

Supporting Abuse Victims/Survivors and Their Families in Our Church

Did you know?

  • Trauma can be genetically transmitted
  • The science of Epigenetics teaches that toxic stress changes the way DNA is expressed
  • Trauma will be the health crisis of the 21st  century
  • The body remembers trauma and creates significant health issues
  • The hope is in the resilience of the survivor, learning new responses to historical tragedy and our support of this process

When the institutional church and some of the faithful minimalize the trauma of survivors, or are convinced it is in the past, further harm occurs. Let’s take a few minutes to better understand the impact of sexual abuse. Let’s become trauma-informed. With permission from the nonprofit organization WQED, watch this WQED documentary to learn the long- term effects of abuse.
https://www.wqed.org/childhood-trauma

Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea wrote a series of articles on the experiences of abuse survivors for the National Catholic Reporter in 2016.
https://www.ncronline.org/feature-series/hell%2C-hope-and-healing/stories

Financial Transparency in Our Church

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published a guide to best practices in financial management:
http://www.usccb.org/about/financial-reporting/upload/diocesan-financial-management.pdf

The Leadership Roundtable has prepared a parishioner’s guide to understanding parish finances:
https://leadershiproundtable.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ Parishioners_Guide_to_Understanding_Parish_Finances-2018_R02.pdf

Addressing Clericalism in Our Church

The BridgeDialogues—a collaborative effort of Voice of the Faithful, the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, and FutureChurch—”provides the resources to begin a dialogue in your parish or community to look at the subtle ways that language and pastoral relationships can feed clericalism and how all Catholics experience those barriers.”
https://www.bridgedialogues.org/

“To Serve the People of God: Renewing the Conversation on Priesthood and Ministry”. A paper prepared by the Boston College Seminar on Priesthood and Ministry for the Contemporary Church:
https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/faith-religion/ministry/seminar-report-on-priesthood-and-ministry.html

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is developing a Lay Advisory Board linked with parish pastoral councils:
http://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/lay-advisory-board-takes-shape/

“Can laypeople lead a parish? Look to Louisville for a thriving example”
National Catholic Reporter, 11 July 2019
https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/can-laypeople-lead-parish-look-louisville-thriving-example?clickSource=email

Lay Oversight of Diocesan Functions in Our Church

“Consulting the faithful: Why bishops should use review boards and how they work,” a US Catholic interview with Nicholas Cafardi:
https://www.uscatholic.org/church/2012/06/consulting-faithful-why-bishops-should-use-review-boards-and-how-they-work

Strengthening and Diversifying Clergy in Our Church

“Catholic Women Preach” uses modern technology to bring the voices of diverse Catholic women to the proclamation of the Gospel through web-based resources.
http://catholicwomenpreach.org/

Mary Katherine Tillman wrote an insightful and discerning article about institutionalized traditions and practices of exclusion that deserve scrutiny and could be remedied without any major doctrinal or ecclesiastical issuesShe focused attention on three areas worth looking at for empowering women in our Church: the Lectionary, the diaconate and Church leadership in her article titled “Unheard Of” published in Notre Dame Magazine.
https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/unheard-of/

Andrew Sullivan wrote a many-layered article on gay priests:
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/gay-priests-catholic-church.html

Pathways for Lay Leadership in Our Church

 

Code of Canon Law
Table of Contents
See Particularly:

“How Catholics Can Realize the Royal Priesthood of the Laity and Rebuild a Church in Crisis” by Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP of the Lay Mission Project
Lumen Christi Institute, Chicago

Video of a 15 November 2018 talk:
https://www.lumenchristi.org/event/2018/11/how-lay-catholics-can-realize-royal-priesthood-of-laity-rebuild-a-church-in-crisis-fr-michael-sweeney-op

“Lay Leadership for a Wounded Church and Divided Nation”

Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Video of a 14 June 2019 event:
https://catholicsocialthought.georgetown.edu/events/lay-leadership-for-a-wounded-church-and-divided-nation

Engaging and Empowering Youth and Young Adults in Our Church

“The Research Group of Saint Mary’s Press is particularly interested in the personal narratives of youth and young adults and their reasons for affiliating and disaffiliating with the Catholic Church specifically, and religion generally.”
https://catholicresearch.smp.org/

In the spring of 2018, after a weeklong meeting in Rome with Pope Francis, young Catholics called for an authentic and empowering church where they would feel welcomed. The call came in a 16-page document approved by the 300 young people from all over the world who participated in a meeting preparing for the Synod of Bishops in October, 2018.
http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2018/03/24/0220/00482.html

CCOC Progress Report commemorating the Third Anniversary of the Release of the PA Grand Jury Report