Let the Parishioners Decide
			A Press Release From VOTF-Tucson, 9.23.2005
		As part of its agreement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Tucson diocese is planning to incorporate 74 parishes as separate non-profit corporations. Each parish will have a five-person board: the bishop, the vicar general, the pastor, and two lay people, both of whom the pastor will appoint. The plan calls for the bishop and his priests, who have taken a vow of obedience to the bishop, to retain management and financial control of all parishes. Thus, after the parishes are incorporated, there will, in effect, be no genuine change. We will still have the same system of church governance we have today. It’s a system that has covered up child sex-abuse crimes by clergy. It’s a system that has contributed to a large number of Catholics leaving the church. It’s a system that has cost Tucson parishioners at least $36 million ($22 million in 2005 plus $14 million in 2002) in settlements to survivors of clergy sex abuse. It’s a system in which lay people provide the money but have no decision making say in the finances and management of their parishes. In effect, it’s a system of taxation without representation. VOTF-Tucson believes it’s time for a fundamental change. We believe now is the time for parishioners, who contribute their hard-earned money to their church, to begin to make the key parish management and financial decisions that affect their religious lives. We believe parishioners should vote for the members of the new parish boards. Therefore, we call for parishioners to conduct an open and fair election for all members of their new parish board. We do not challenge the authority of the bishop as spiritual leader of the faithful. But we cannot accept the current system of governance, which has failed us significantly and repeatedly in the past. All we ask is: Let the parishioners decide. Frank Douglas Coordinator, VOTF-Tucson (520) 579-9575 (520) 404-2489 (cell) frankdouglas62@yahoo.com