DETROIT — When Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with Catholic leaders in early September, he said bishops need to learn from the scandals to take lay opinion seriously.

Lay Catholics in Detroit are wondering what more they need to do to have their opinions heard after protesting a Sept. 13 event held at the University of Detroit Mercy's Ward Conference Center. They say their protests received no response from either the university or the archbishop's office.

The daylong conference, “Women of Conscience: What Does Healthy Dissent in the Church Look Like?” was promoted by Call to Action and sponsored by the Chicago-based National Coalition of American Nuns. The coalition is a group that has publicly chastised the Vatican, advocated for the ordination of women and has supported unrestricted access to abortion.

The conference's speakers represented a potpourri of the country's leading Catholic dissenting feminists. They included Anita Caspary, Agnes Monsour and Christine Vladimiroff, women who have a history of advocating dissenting positions on matters of Catholic faith and morals, and who have been subject to discipline by the Holy See for their dissent and disobedience.

At the end of August, letters, faxes and e-mails from concerned Catholics were sent to Cardinal Adam Maida's office and to University of Detroit Mercy president Sister Maureen Fay in protest of the conference's presence at a Catholic institution.

After notice of the conference appeared on the Web log sites of Father Rob Johansen, Catholic psychologist Gregory Popcak and Catholic writer Mark Shea, many additional letters and e-mails were sent to Cardinal Maida and Sister Fay. The Register received copies of more than 20 letters that were sent to the diocese and university prior to the conference.

However, no actions were taken and the conference went on as scheduled.

At the conference, members of the coalition elected Sister Jeanine Grammick, Sister Beth Rindler and Sister Donna Quinn as the organization's new executive team.

The Vatican suspended Sister Grammick's outreach to homosexuals in 1999. Sister Rindler began an underground women's Eucharist group in 1991 — a group that meets monthly to celebrate Mass without an ordained male priest. Sister Quinn is the co-founder of Women-Church Convergence, a coalition of 32 feminist groups committed to a participatory, egalitarian and self-governing model of church.

“The speakers are women of conscience,” Sister Rindler said. “They were led by God, you might say. Healthy dissent means you don't do something just because somebody else says so.”

Asked whether St. Thomas Aquinas' description of heresy in the Church as gangrene might apply to their actions, Sister Rindler responded, “Hitler was able to do what he did because people followed. I don't think it's always the wisest thing to just follow a so-called leader.”

The conference was originally scheduled to take place at Madonna University in Livonia, Mich. Lay Catholics such as Pamela Gesund of West Bloomfield, Mich., wrote to Madonna president Sister Rose Marie Kujawa in June to protest the conference taking place at a Catholic university.

“Sister Kujawa explained that the scheduling of the event had taken place through their dining room but said she would take the matter into her hands,” Gesund said. “It was eventually canceled. We didn't find out until late August that it would be held at University of Detroit Mercy.”

Gesund was one of the local Catholics who contacted both the university and Cardinal Maida's office.

“Nothing happened,” she said. “That's what is so frustrating. I don't understand the silence in the face of public scandal. The shenanigans that go on are the direct result of the silence from the leaders of our Church.”

Cardinal Maida could not be reached for comment. Ned McGrath, director of communications for the archdiocese, said the archdiocese was unaware of the conference.

“We didn't have any knowledge of it aside from a notice of it in the diocesan newspaper,” McGrath said.

“The conference wasn't sponsored or endorsed by the archdiocese,” McGrath added. “It was an independent free-standing organization that met on the campus of University of Detroit Mercy. People have the right of assembly.”

McGrath would not comment on how many letters or e-mails the archdiocese received.

“We receive calls on all sorts of things,” McGrath said. “If they are from people within the diocese, we deal with them as best we can. They are responded to on a case-by-case basis. If they come in as part of an organized effort, we handle them as such.”

University president Sister Fay did not respond to Register inquiries.

“The communications department has received no phone calls or e-mails regarding the event,” said Gary Lichtman, media director for the University of Detroit Mercy. “If there were people who had comments, this is the first we've heard of these people. I cannot speak for the president or anyone else.”

“We did not sponsor or promote this event. It is not our event and nor did we participate in any way,” Lichtman added. “The conference was held in a banquet room of the conference center. The conference center is run by Sodexho, a separate entity that is hired by the university.”

The rental policy for the conference center states that the university “reserves the right of refusal for any group,” but Lichtman could not say whether the university had refused to rent the conference center to any groups in the past.

On his Web log, Father Johansen, a priest who serves in St. Joseph, Mich., compared the phrase “healthy dissent” in the conference's title to cancer.

“To ask the question, ‘What does healthy dissent look like in the Church?’ is inane,” Father Johansen said. “It is like asking, ‘What does a healthy tumor look like in the brain?’ There is no such thing because it takes a decided, settled position in opposition to the defined faith or discipline of the Church.”

Another concerned lay Catholic found another way to protest. Mary Ann Hart of Southfield, Mich., sent letters via e-mail and regular mail to Cardinal Maida. While she has not yet had the opportunity to draft a letter to the university, she looks forward to doing so.

“As a University of Detroit alum,” Hart said, “I very much wish to explain to Sister Fay why my donations are going to Ave Maria University and Campion College instead of my alma mater.”

Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.