In a move reminiscent of the now infamous General Betray-Us ad which the liberal group Moveon.org ran in the New York Times, A Catholic lay group formed after the priest sex abuse scandal is raising money to run a full-page newspaper ad timed to the Pope’s U.S. visit, says the Boston Herald.

Hello, Pope Benedict Welcome to America!

The Voice of the Faithful says it wants to re-ignite a national dialogue among the laity and clergy by placing the ad in a national newspaper to coincide with Pope Benedict’s weeklong visit.

Methinks this has more to do with raising funds.

The group says the culture of secrecy in the church which helped lead to the clergy sexual abuse scandal still exists and has created financial scandals in some parishes.

Oh no. You mean there are still sinners in the Church? Oh no!

Look, the clergy abuse scandal was awful and I pray that it’s over and the Church has learned its lesson. I also try to remember to pray for the victims of the abuse. But this group which likely did some good when they first formed is now in search of a reason for existing.

I read somewhere recently that all great movements degenerate into businesses and finally into rackets. I fear that’s what we’re seeing here.

The Voice of the Faithful was formed in 2002 in Massachusetts amid outrage over the sex abuse scandal. Since that story has dropped on the national radar VOF then started asking for the Church to end the celibacy requirement and now financial scandals. This seems to me like a group looking for a reason to keep meeting and most importantly…to keep raising money.