Far From Rome

Three years ago, Father Walter Cuenin and his parishioners at Our Lady Help of Christians participated in the Catholic equivalent of the Boston Tea Party -- helping launch a revolt against church authority.

As they protested Cardinal Bernard Law’s failure to act against priests accused of sexual abuse, the parishioners ignored warnings from church officials and refused to join in a $300-million archdiocese fundraising drive, saying that to do so would violate their conscience.

At one point, Cuenin and 57 other priests signed a letter calling publicly for Law’s resignation. Their efforts contributed to his decision to step down.

As the worldwide church celebrates the election of Pope Benedict XVI, many here are declining to take part.

“What happened in Rome was a story on television,” said Rosa Buffone, a psychotherapist who helps direct the church’s Gay-Lesbian Faith Sharing Group. “It certainly won’t be affecting my life here in this parish.”

Many of the 10,000 parishioners at Our Lady respect the church’s authority but dissent on issues such as abortion and birth control, homosexuality, the role of the laity, the place of women in the modern church, celibacy for priests and how to handle lingering issues from the sexual abuse scandal.

On each of those issues, Benedict, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, has spent years enforcing Catholic doctrine. He has insisted that many of the topics debated by American Catholics are not open for discussion within the church.

Given the gulf between their views and papal edicts, some Our Lady members voice little hope that they will find common ground with Benedict and the Vatican anytime soon. For them, the divide doesn’t really matter.

“In your average Catholic experience, whoever is the pope doesn’t interact directly with your life,” said Cuenin, 59, at the start of a busy morning in his office. “Your main connection is to your parish, and I suspect that in a place like this, with our efforts to create a modern community, none of what we’re doing” will be affected by changes in Rome.

Margaret Roylance, an engineer and an outspoken member of Voice of the Faithful, a lay group created in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, certainly hopes Rome’s impact will be small. She strongly believes in a broader role in the church for women and for the laity.

“It’s unlikely that this pope, who worked very closely with the last pope, would want to make such changes, especially with regard to women,” she said.

But despite the Vatican, her parish will stay the course, she said. “The pope is not the church,” she said firmly. “We are the church, and we are changing.”

Nestled in the heart of Newton, a solidly middle-class suburb, Our Lady boasts a growing membership at a time when the Boston archdiocese is closing 65 of the region’s 357 parishes, in part because of demographic shifts and declining attendance.

The church has room for 800 worshipers, but more than 1,500 are said to pour in on major holidays. The sprawling parking lot is nearly always filled to capacity, which some members say is a sign of the parish’s vitality.

When Our Lady recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, church officials emphasized the theme of inclusion. For Buffone, that has been life-affirming.

She grew up in the Catholic Church but said she left for 10 years, angered that church doctrine did not respect her right to live openly as a gay woman.

“I went away because I felt the church didn’t understand me, and I was hurting, I was in pain,” she said. “But when I learned about this parish, and Father Cuenin’s welcome, I felt I had found a new home. I came back, and my voice is welcome.”

The lesson she offers to other parishioners, Buffone says, is that “we are gay and lesbian people, and we are sitting in the pews with you every week. We have children, just like you do, and we are a very important part of this church community.”

But some are leery of the pace of change. Annie Gaudet, 84, has been attending Mass -- and doing volunteer work -- for decades. Although she’s slowed by an artificial knee, she opens the church’s door at 6 o’clock every morning for Mass.

It has been a tradition with her, as has loyalty to the pope.

“I’m not bitter or angry at the church,” Gaudet said, referring to the behavior of local archdiocesan officials in the sex abuse scandals. “I really loved Cardinal Law, and I prayed for him every day. Why should we crucify him? Nobody’s perfect.”

Gaudet concedes that modern life has forced her to adjust some beliefs: She thinks gay men and lesbians have a right to live their own lives, although she’s opposed to gay marriage. She sympathizes with laypeople who want to play a greater role in the church, but also believes priests should be the ones in control.

“You need to have authority in the church, just like in your family,” she said as she puttered around the old house where she was born and still lives. “If you don’t have a parent to listen to for advice, children will be running things.”

But her belief in clerical authority is not the dominant view at Our Lady Help of Christians. Cuenin jokes that technically he has the power to hire staff by himself, but wouldn’t dare do it without the approval of lay committee members who play a central role in parish affairs.

Sister Marie LaBollita, pastoral associate, believes the role of the church is to give parishioners a voice -- and listen when they are in crisis. On the issue of abortion, for example, LaBollita believes church officials must consider a family’s needs and the health of a woman.

“You don’t just give someone an either-or answer,” she said. “You encourage people to pray; you urge them to consult their physicians. People have a right to make their own decisions about their own life, because life is not black and white.”

LaBollita realizes that her thinking puts her at odds with Catholic teaching. But she believes in the power of her faith -- and hasn’t given up on Benedict.

“I will try to be open to this new pope,” she says. “God’s spirit has the power to change all of us.”

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What’s on their minds

On several issues, the views of large numbers of American Catholics depart from church doctrine. Here are results from a recent CBS News national poll in which Catholics were asked a number of questions related to church practices:

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Q: Are you in favor of or opposed to letting Catholic priests get married?

Favor: 67%

Oppose: 27%

Don’t know/NA: 3%

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Q: Are you in favor of or opposed to letting women be ordained as Catholic priests?

Favor: 60%

Oppose: 35%

Don’t know/NA: 4%

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Q: Are you in favor of or opposed to the use of artificial methods of birth control?

Favor: 76%

Oppose: 16%

Don’t know/NA: 8%

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Poll was conducted April 13-16, 2005; 1,149 adults were surveyed (margin of error +/- 3%), including 242 Catholics (margin of error +/- 6%)

(Answers shown are responses from Catholics)

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Numbers may not total 100% where all responses are not shown.

Source: CBS News. Graphics reporting by Julie Sheer