…for participating in the gay marriage debate

“We look with dismay at bishops who openly criticize the homosexual community and criticize gay rights,” James E. Post, the organization’s president, told about 150 people at a Voice of the Faithful meeting at St. Eulalia Church in Winchester.

In an interview afterward, Post told reporters, “It is discouraging to see the archbishop using archdiocesan resources to run this campaign against gay marriage and to speak out in a way that is so divisive.”

Post said Voice of the Faithful, which claims 35,000 members nationwide, has not taken a position on same-sex marriage, and said “it’s not our issue.”

But, Post said, it was important to speak out because “we can’t do our work without acknowledging the deterioration in the environment in the Catholic Church.”