NEW HAVEN, Conn.—As people left a pancake breakfast at St. Mary's Church here recently, they wore lapel buttons that read “In Solidarity With Our Priests.”

And in that way, they became part of a nationwide effort to show that, despite months of headlines about clergy sex abuse, parishioners still have faith in their priests.

The campaign is being led by the Knights of Columbus, which is based here and was founded at St. Mary's, near Yale University, in 1882. The breakfast was sponsored by the Father McGivney Council, named for the organization's founder, Father Michael McGivney.

“We did it for two reasons,” said Jim Moyer, grand knight of the council. “First, to support priests who are faithful to their vows, especially at this time, when so many are attacked for the actions of a few; and second, to show that we support vocations and our priests.”

The council has also distributed vocation awareness bookmarks with the slogan, “In Solidarity With Our Priests” and the Knights logo. The card has a prayer for vocations, a photograph of Father McGivney and the tagline, “One good priest can make a difference.”

In response to the sex abuse scandals, Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the 1.6-million member organization, said Catholics must be in unity with their bishops and, through them, with their priests. He called for “greater closeness” between families and their bishops and priests.

“We must not permit our priests to become isolated from those they serve,” Anderson wrote in the May issue of Columbia, the Knights' monthly magazine.

The supreme knight asked local councils to continue hosting “clergy appreciation nights,” a practice for a number of years.

“You are something special, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with you,” New Jersey state deputy William Birtwistle told 89 priests of the Diocese of Trenton, N.J., at one such recent gathering.

Another, held in the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., drew more than 250 people.

“This year's affair has greater importance than usual,” said Rory O'Donovan, grand knight of the Santa Maria Council in Palm Beach Gardens, a month after the March 8 resignation of Bishop Anthony O'Connell over sex abuse allegations. His predecessor had also resigned over a sex scandal. “We need to show our priests, deacons and all religious our continuing love and support,” O'Donovan said.

Father John Mericantante, pastor of St. Mary's parish in Pahokee, Fla., told the gathering that the Church has survived other difficulties over the course of her history but that the current crisis is difficult for good priests. He spoke of the need of lay faithful to encourage their priests to be faithful to their prayer life—he said that some priests have given up saying their breviary, even though the Church still requires it of the clergy—and avoid bad habits such as drinking beyond their capacity.

The renewed focus on holiness is one that the Knights are also supporting. Lay Catholics, responding to the crisis, “must follow the path of renewal and pursuit of holiness set by the Second Vatican Council,” Anderson said. “The key to renewal of the Church in our time is the embrace of the new evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II. The blueprint for this renewal already exists in his writings, especially his apostolic exhortations on the priest-hood (Pastores Dabo Vobis), on the laity (Christifideles Laici) and on the family (Familiaris Consortio).”

No Rush to Judgment

Moyer, a neuroscientist who works in the psychology department at Yale University, is concerned about the effect headlines regarding the sex abuse scandals are having on those who have a shaky relationship with the Church. He said he has heard of people who say they will not go to confession anymore because of the bad press the Church is receiving due to the misconduct of a few priests.

“Instead of saying the proportion [of pederasty] is lower among priests than among married men, [the press] says that we've got a problem because of celibacy,” Moyer said.

“The Church will have to recover from the bad press. Some people might never be brought back in, and that's costly.”

“The general impression is that we're getting hammered pretty hard for this, harder than other groups,” said Randy Schroeder, grand knight of the Tara Council in Jonesboro, Ga.

Also, some are conscious of the danger of sensational press coverage in which even unsubstantiated accusations get front-page exposure. Some of those accusations turn out to be false, but the priest's reputation is ruined.

Moyer related an incident in which a priest who was accused of using excessive physical force in disciplining a grammar school student also became the subject of rumors of sexual abuse. The diocese transferred the priest, not to cover up sexual abuse but because the lawsuit brought against the parish school and the media coverage of it was disruptive of parish life.

Father Mericantante, in his talk at the Palm Beach clergy appreciation night, quoted T.S. Eliot, who once quipped that the press is more interested in getting a story out than getting it right.

But, in general, parishioners of St. Mary's in New Haven have been “very supportive,” said the pastor, Dominican Father William Holt. “Attendance has remained steady, and a number of people have sent cards and letters of support.”

Father Holt said people understand the scandals as a “tragedy” but realize “how important their life with the Lord is and where they get support” for living that life. That support comes from attendance at Mass, he said, “and naturally, people need priests for the sacramental life.”