Members of St. Dominic Church of Oyster Bay, concerned about falling church attendance and issues relating to the recent Suffolk County Supreme Court Special Grand Jury Report of May 6, 2002 on the sexual abuse of children by priests met on Tuesday, April 27 in an open forum. Of concern to the organizers are insights in the report on how the Diocese of Rockville Centre dealt with the alleged abuse cases.

The forum was originally scheduled to be held at the Oyster Bay Town Hall but Supervisor John Venditto cancelled that permission after he received numerous calls questioning the use of town property for the forum. As a result the meeting was held at the Brookville Reformed Church. At the same time, St. Dominic parishioners were meeting in the chapel, in prayer in support of the church.

As people entered the Brookville Reformed Church they were asked to sign in and only if they were members of St. Dominic's were they allowed to enter the church. Members of the press, and parishioners from other churches were told to go to the Brookville Reformed Church education hall where there were two large TV screens and loudspeakers set up. Before the meeting began the overflow crowd filled up the room.

Members of Voice of the Faithful from St. Joseph's Parish in Babylon were in the hall and were willing to be quoted. Grace and Bill Smith of St. William the Abbot of Seaford said, "We are Catholics who want to change the Catholic Church."

"We want openness, accountability and no more secrets. We are fully supportive of all the teaching of the Catholic Church," said member Tom Myles. "We support the church hierarchy," added Anne Kerrigan.

Mr. Myles had a copy of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops held Dec. 16, 2003. He underlined passages he believes the church hierarchy needs to apply. The bishops said in the preamble to the document, "We acknowledge or need to be in dialogue with all Catholics, especially victims and parents, around this issue. By these actions, we want to demonstrate to the wider community that we comprehend the gravity of the sexual abuse of minors."

Mr. Myles said Voice of the Faithful wants the church to follow their statements made at the conference. He marked off Article 1: "To Promote Healing and Reconciliation with Victims/Survivors of Sexual Abuse of Minors." It states, "Dioceses/eparchies will reach out to victims/survivors and their families and demonstrate a sincere commitment to their spiritual and emotional well-being. The first obligation of the Church with regard to the victims is for healing and reconciliation. (He underlined the following section.) Where such outreach is not already in place and operative, each diocese/eparchy is to develop an outreach to every person who has been the victim of sexual abuse as a minor by anyone acting in the name of the Church, whether the abuse was recent or occurred many years in the past."

"We want to be heard," said Ms. Kerrigan.

Inside the Brookville Reformed Church, the first speaker seen on the TV screen introduced Brookville Reformed Church Pastor Allan Ramirez who lit a candle and said, "The light of Christ will lead us and guide us. We are here for something holy and sacred because each of us has brought what is in our heart. All of us have been in the midst of darkness. Christ will bring the light and guide each and every one of us."

The first speaker said he was sorry the meeting couldn't have been held at the St. Dominic campus. He cautioned the speakers saying, "There is tremendous passion in the topic. We are all one family and have to live with one another, let's not burn any bridges."

St. Dominic's Associate Pastor Father Malcolm Burns was in the audience and was congratulated on his 50th birthday. He became a priest at age 31, and was thanked for coming to listen. The first speaker said the evening was "off the record." He said, "This is a private parish dialogue and there should be no transcripts. We want a silent majority."

The evening progressed as people told what they did in the church, how they loved St. Dominic's and how concerned they are as many of their friends are no longer attending but are going to neighboring churches or no longer going to church at all. Various views were mentioned that they believe need addressing.

At the end of the meeting people were offered a copy of the Suffolk County Grand Supreme Court Special Grand Jury Report from May 6, 2002. A letter accompanied the document that concluded, "After reading this, a thoughtful person can take the evidence and facts and come to their own conclusions. There may be an incubation period to digest this evidence as the Grand Jury report runs counter to much of what we have been led to believe."

The day after the meeting the phone in the parish office never stopped ringing and people were telling the monsignor they were behind him 200 percent, said a parishioner. He sent out a letter to the parishioners that was expected to arrive on Monday. In the letter he addressed questions about his involvement in the abuse scandal that has affected the Catholic Church in the United States. He said some parishioners wanted him to leave St. Dominic's. He wrote, "Their reasons for seeking a change in pastoral leadership centered on my previous role as a diocesan official. They contended that, even if I was not personally culpable for the Church's failure in the area of sexual misconduct, I was "tainted" by my prior positions and was therefore the wrong person to come to St. Dominic, which has suffered so much in this area. I called it "guilt by association." They disagreed. I explained that their perception of my role in the Diocese was faulty; it was not real. They responded that "perception is reality."" He said in the letter that mass attendance has been stable since he arrived. He said weekly collections have declined, in almost every parish, but he said he has noticed an increase over the past three months. School enrollment is also up, he said.

The Monsignor criticized the Suffolk Grand Jury Report for blurring the time line of cases. "It makes it sound as though things that were happening in the 50s, 60s and 70s were in fact happening in the late 80s and 90s. It was in the early 90s that Bishop McGann set up a procedure to be followed in addressing all complaints about sexual misconduct."

He said his job on the Intervention Team was as chancellor "to give canonical advice about the treatment of the priest - especially whether the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state could be imposed." He said, "During the 90s I was part of an effort to change canon law in order to make it easier to remove abusive priests permanently from the priesthood. Twice, I went to Rome with delegations of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops for this very purpose. We made some headway, but many of our proposals were not accepted until very recently." He said when Bishop Murphy was installed in September 2001 he instituted a "zero tolerance' policy.

The monsignor said when he knew he was assigned to come to St. Dominic's he made certain he had no access to nor involvement in any aspect of the diocese process regarding Msgr. Ribaudo to avoid a conflict of interest. "Recently, I had the occasion to speak with Msgr. Ribaudo, who informed me that, while maintaining friendship with some parishioners, he is also continuing his efforts to be sensitive to the wishes of those who are upset with him," he explained. He ended saying the issues are difficult and complex. "Some have lost confidence in the church in general and I am caught up in that. I will work hard to gain their trust by being a good pastor in every way possible."