Money, media and Mel Gibson: Coalition for Canceled Priests uses aggressive tactics in bid to reinstate sidelined clerics
A curious trio of billboards went up across Rockford, Illinois, in November. They showed five men in Roman collars bracketed by angry red type: “Not one more penny! Until you reinstate our priests.”
The appeal to withhold contributions from the collection plate was the latest in-your-face gesture from the Coalition for Canceled Priests, a group that formed in the Chicago suburbs last year to advocate for clerics it says have been unfairly removed from the Roman Catholic ministry by bishops.
Its provocative tactics, which have also included a Lincoln Park rally and a viral endorsement from Mel Gibson, reflect its belief that public and financial pressure are more likely to get results than working through the church hierarchy.
“I’m not saying that all bishops are bad, far from it, but there’s a lot of corruption going on,” said co-founder the Rev. John Lovell, who has been sidelined for nine years. " … There are priests being victimized who have done nothing wrong, and who don’t deserve the treatment they’re getting from church officials.”
Lovell said none of the 20 or so priests the coalition
