Newton, Mass. ? Formed by rank-and-file Roman Catholics alarmed at clerical sex abuse, in just 10 months Voice of the Faithful has gone from meeting in a single Massachusetts parish to claiming some 25,000 lay members.

It also has become the most disputed organization in the American church âÂÂ:quot; an institution known for its powerful hierarchy and passive congregants.

Voice, which emerged from January open forums at a Wellesley parish, has reached into 33 states, recruiting many members via the Internet. It has 37 parish chapters in Massachusetts and 41 elsewhere.

The group professes to be loyally Catholic. But conservative commentators call Voice subversive to the hierarchy and church teaching.

Seven bishops, in Connecticut, Maine, Oregon, New Jersey and New York, have banned the group from meeting on church premises. BostonâÂÂs Cardinal Bernard Law went halfway, allowing existing Voice chapters to continue meeting in parishes but forbidding newly formed ones.

Archbishop John Myers of Newark, N.J., accompanied his mid-October ban with a stinging critique.

He said Voice functions âÂÂas a cover for dissent, to cause division within the church and to openly attack the church hierarchy.â The groupâÂÂs agenda is âÂÂanti-church and, ultimately, anti-Catholic,â he charged.

The fight over meeting places is more than symbolic. Though gatherings can be held in other buildings, a parish presence is crucial for recruiting members and giving Voice legitimacy as a Catholic organization.

Voice President James Post, a Boston University professor of management who specializes in ethics and corporate accountability, thinks widespread bishopsâ bans would âÂÂput us out of existence or limit our growth.âÂÂ

Two weeks ago he sent an explanatory letter to all U.S. bishops, saying they may have been misled, and arguing that Voice has the right to exist under church law.

Post informed the bishops that Voice wants to âÂÂshape structural change within the Churchâ and believes that lay involvement âÂÂis central to correcting the causes of the current crisis.â He invited bishops to comment on a proposed Voice plan to promote the laityâÂÂs role in parish government.

In Boston, a Voice delegation last week conferred with an official of the Boston Archdiocese for the first time in four months, and was told Law is willing to hold his first meeting with the organizationâÂÂs leaders.

The agenda will include LawâÂÂs halfway meetings freeze, and the fate of $56,000 that Voice raised directly for Catholic causes in Boston. The cash came from irate parishioners who boycotted LawâÂÂs annual fund appeal, and wanted their money to go straight to the charities. Last July, the archdiocese said church agencies cannot accept Voice gifts because they bypass the cardinal.

All this notoriety is quite an achievement for an organization that only incorporated in June, hired Executive Director Steve Krueger in July, moved into a nondescript office in the Boston suburb of Newton a month later and has yet to win badly needed tax exemption.

Krueger, a financial consultant who took a huge pay cut in his new post, says a spiritual awakening led him to conclude seven years ago that re-energized lay members must âÂÂtransform and strengthen the church.â The abuse tragedy is providing the necessary impetus, he feels.

Since KruegerâÂÂs full-time paid staff numbers three, operations depend mostly on volunteer labor from hundreds of people like widow Mary Ann Keyes, who often spends 16-hour days organizing leaders around the country. Sometimes, she says, âÂÂI think, dear God, give me the energy to get through another day.âÂÂ

Post, who works on Voice up to 30 hours a week, has given up gardening and other hobbies. HeâÂÂs seen one movie this year.

Voice has worked hard to cultivate a moderate image âÂÂ:quot; for example, it hasnâÂÂt demanded LawâÂÂs resignation. But moderation isnâÂÂt always easy. At its October council meeting, for example, delegates spent an hour debating caution versus militancy in handling the bishopsâ bans.

Council membersâ anger was barely submerged at Our Lady Help of Christians parish that night.

âÂÂWe have been insulted. The bishops have allowed the rape of our children, and they have excused themselves,â declared Bill Sheehan, a Voice founder.

A bigger challenge is avoiding the churchâÂÂs left-right splits. Post says Voice represents the churchâÂÂs âÂÂgreat centerâ and welcomes conservatives and liberals if they agree with its vision of lay activism. The organization does not question the hierarchyâÂÂs authority or any church teachings, he insists.

But two small Boston groups contend that VoiceâÂÂs intent is to overhaul traditional teachings on matters like abortion, celibacy and homosexuality.

One of the groups adopted the name âÂÂFaithful Voiceâ and assigned operatives to attend Voice meetings incognito, sometimes putting anti-Voice fliers on activistsâ windshields.

More weighty on a national level is a campaign by editor Deal Hudson of Crisis magazine, who considers VoiceâÂÂs moderate pose deceitful, given the liberals who spoke to 4,000 supporters at the groupâÂÂs inaugural convention last July.

To calm fears among such conservatives and the bishops, VoiceâÂÂs Nov. 21 council meeting will take up a proposed credo that would affirm the authority of the church, the bishops and the pope, and declare: âÂÂWe believe what the Catholic Church believes.âÂÂ

VoiceâÂÂs survival is no certainty.

Cash reserves gave fallen from $130,000 to half that over the past month, and lack of tax exemption could hobble a vital year-end fund drive. More importantly, it has never been possible to enlist substantial numbers of lay Catholics behind any effort of this sort in the long term.

Krueger is undaunted, not only because he specialized in business startups but also because he believes the cause has divine support.

âÂÂItâÂÂs a Spirit-driven movement,â he says, âÂÂso 100 percent of the responsibility doesnâÂÂt rest on our shoulders.âÂÂ

On the Net:

http://www.votf.org