Voice of the Faithful, the Catholic lay group that formed in response to the priest sex abuse scandal, is facing its own crisis: lack of money.
The national organization said it is "at the crossroads of financial survival" and needs $60,000 in donations by the end of July to keep going.
The news struck a chord at a local affiliate.
"I'm not terribly surprised," said Jolene Guerra of Topsfield, co-coordinator of the North Shore-Seacoast affiliate, which has members from Salem to Newburyport. "I'm certainly disappointed. I think financially the national organization has been struggling."
"I've already been receiving e-mails from many of the members of the group, and they feel very sad about the situation," said John Gould of Peabody, a longtime member.
Gould said he and his wife plan to send a check. As of yesterday, VOTF said it has received more than $30,000 in donations.
The North Shore affiliate is independent but grew out of the national group, which began in a church basement in Wellesley in 2002 when the scandal exploded in the Boston Catholic Archdiocese. Voice of the Faithful says it has 30,000 members worldwide.
The national group said it needs to raise money to keep going until it puts a strategic plan into operation starting in August. If it fails and has to fold, the impact on local affiliates is unclear.
"Without the national entity, who knows what would happen?" said Brendan Walsh of Salem, a member of the North Shore affiliate. "We would probably press on with what we do."
Although it still holds occasional programs with abuse survivors and priests, the North Shore group's most active program is a religious education series, featuring lecturers from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and others. Those half-dozen talks a year draw crowds of anywhere from 20 to 100 people, an official said.
It also ran a panel discussion last year with three North Shore pastors, who talked about their lives before and after ordination.
The North Shore affiliate is run by a strong core group but has not grown much in recent years.
"I will tell you quite frankly we have not had a lot of new people coming in," Guerra said. "I think (many other Catholics) look askance at us. ... A lot of people look at us as just big mouths."
Voice of the Faithful originally formed to help the survivors of priest abuse, to support the majority of hardworking priests and to try to change the church by increasing lay involvement and power.
Several members pointed to the recent scandal in Ireland and continuing abuse cases in this country and around the world as a reason to keep holding the church hierarchy's feet to the fire.
While crediting Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, with improving financial transparency, Voice of the Faithful members say there is a long way to go.
"It's a long, tough slog," Walsh said. "People with power do not like to give up power."
"We have made some strides," Guerra said, but "we really haven't been accepted by bishops across the country, except a few, as an organization. ...
"I think our current bishop has done some good things ... but it is still a pretty closed club."
One of their most important contributions, she said, is showing "a way for thinking Catholics to speak out."
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