FL Catholics reach out to priests who stood up to bishop

The CTA chapters in SW FL and Peace River have long been one of the strongest voices speaking up against a bishop who has mismanaged funds, abused his power and made the working conditions of priests and church workers nearly unbearable. In addition to letters and actions expressing the hardships Bishop Dwayne has placed on laity and parishes, they've often spoken up on behalf of priests and staff who've come to them for help, knowing that speaking up themselves would be a risk. So when they heard that a letter sent by local priests was being sent to the Nuncio, they knew they needed to show their support.10 local priests wrote a letter to the Nuncio detailing the financial mismanagement and abusive leadership style of Bishop Dwayne.

When they didn't receive a response for months, they anonymously leaked the letter to the press. "Aware of many letters of concern which have been sent to both the Apostolic Nunciature and the Congregation of Bishops in Rome, we come before you now as a united group to say our situation worsens with time and has become intolerable," wrote the priests, and then detailed incidents of financial mismanagement and canon laws broken by the Bishop. These men courageously signed their names on the letter to the Nuncio, but haven't yet publicly revealed their names, fearing the retribution they know would come.

CTA leaders in Florida decided the best approach was to send a thank you note to each of the nearly 200 priests in the diocese, expressing the laity's support and gratitude for the priests' action. "We know these are difficult times for priests, for those of you who support the bishop and his actions and those who do not. We want to especially reach out to the ten courageous priests who wrote the letter to Archbishop Vigano. Not knowing who you are, we are sending this to all the priests in the diocese, many of whom we know, agree with the letter’s assessment of the bishop’s abuses. We know of many more priests and even more lay people who agree with you, but are slow to go public, especially those who work for the diocese," read the letter.

Of her work, chapter leader Ellen says, "We want to make our contribution to making a more Jesus-like church and to make our diocese a more peaceful and fulfilling place for all its members, especially our priests and diocesan employees. Our long lives have been dedicated to the church and we don’t want to see it to cause suffering for anyone."  

Read more about the great, prophetic work Catholics in the Venice, FL diocese have been persevering in on the chapter webpage.  And stay tuned to this blog for more on their ongoing work to heal their church!