Re-organization
On Saturday, September 23, 1995, the Archdiocese of Washington announced it wanted to make changes of leadership in Mother of God Community. Cardinal Hickey visited the community, first holding a private meeting with the Difatos and then a public address to several hundred community members.
In the private meeting Joe Difato urged the Cardinal to change his plan of giving a public address to community members (who were then waiting for him to arrive) and to give the community time (90 days) to make a transition to new leadership and perhaps avoid sharp divisions in the community. However, Cardinal Hickey, after consulting with members he intended to appoint as interim leaders, rejected Difato's proposal.
In Cardinal Hickey's public address, he called the Community "a gift from the Lord" that allowed members "to take your faith much more seriously, to grow in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ." However, Hickey raised concerns about the teaching, pastoral practices and leadship of the Community.
Firstly, the Cardinal raised concerns about Community teachings, citing that many were too Protestant, or not Catholic enough. However, Mass was celebrated each day in the MOG chapel and the Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Communion, Confirmation and Marriage were administered by the priests of the community. He expressed concern about the Community's teaching especially with regard to baptism in the Spirit and its relationship with the seven sacraments of the Church; the centrality of the eucharist to Catholic worship rather than just prayer meetings; the authentic Catholic understanding of the essential goodness of creation and the dignity of the human person in that though men are sinners even those who are not yet in the Church are not evil or depraved; the sacrament of marriage and equality of spouses; and some aspects of the Toronto Blessing such as being 'slain in the Spirit' or resting in Spirit which was being practiced by many in the Community at the time.
Secondly, he had concerns with the pastoral practices of the Community. Lay people within the Community, he said, had too much personal authority over other people’s lives. Some Community children were told that the Community had more authority than their parents. Hickey said that because of Mother of God's pastoral practices, members were led to speak of very personal things in a manner that did not protect their right to privacy and confidentiality and which had the effect of leaving them vulnerable. He was concerned about the children and young people within the community. He was afraid that some had been seriously harmed by what he saw as the systematic undermining of parental authority. Furthermore, he requested that anyone who had personal information about other members-"in notebooks, in computer files, in whatever form, that you destroy it, lest it be the source of future embarrassment or harm." Written records were kept of members and visitors spiritual interests, growth, level of experience in discipleship classes,etc.
Lastly, Cardinal Hickey reiterated the request he made in 1993 that the leadership be changed and he appointed some interim leaders who were charged with responsibility to lead the Community until such time as new leaders were formally elected under Community statutes that were finalized and approved by the Archdiocese. After the Cardinal's address, many of the members most loyal to the Community's older leadership left the Community immediately and eventually formed a new community outside of the Archdiocese called the Triumph of the Cross. After a while many other Community members also left leaving perhaps 100 members. On February 1, 1996, the Difato family formally left the Mother of God community. A year later, on Wednesday, February 14, 1997, a much smaller Mother of God Community, operating under new procedures, a more democratic leadership, won formal approval from the Archdiocese of Washington. Since the Community's restructuring allegations of abuse in the Community have discontinued.
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