home


A Resource Guide
for
Prayerful Discernment and Action

As a movement, VOTF was born grounded in the Spirit and steeped in prayer. As we find our Voice in this time of ongoing crisis, we must be mindful that prayer and centering in Christ is our foundation. We must continue to pray to understand the issues that confront us. We must continue to pray to understand the path to which we are called. We must continue to pray for the ability to forgive as Jesus did. We must continue to pray for the strength and courage to fulfill our baptismal promises in building up the Reign of God together as One Holy People.

This resource has been developed to inspire us to stay grounded in prayer individually and communally, to aid us in our search to find the quiet that will allow us to discern the Spirit, so we may be led through this time of change. Prayer, centering ourselves in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, will enable us to stand firmly in our resolve to grow the Reign of God in the "today" of our own lives and our church. 1 Grounded in the Spirit, we can trust that we seek and speak the truth.

As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.”

Therefore, as your affiliate or VOTF group formulates means of prayer and discernment that you find valuable in this effort, please share them by sending an email to prayers@votf.org.

All files are in PDF format. Adobe Reader is required to view, please click here for a free download of Adobe Reader.

“Gathered together in the People of God, … the laity… have, as living members the vocation of applying to the building up of the Church and to its continual sanctification all the powers which they have received from the goodness of the Creator and the grace of the Redeemer.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #33)

" The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly...Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, the faithful are 'consecrated to be...a holy priesthood. The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of the faithful participate 'each in its own proper way, in the one priesthood of Christ....The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1456-7)

We are driven by our love of our Church and our love of Christ to speak out. We are called to do so by our Baptismal rites to build up the Reign of God here and now. As an institutional Church, we suffer from a crisis of credibility resulting from abuses of power, sex, and financial stewardship by our own leadership. This betrayal is the bad news that has deeply wounded the Church, but the Good News remains constant. We are being awakened from our slumbers in this incredible period in history where we are called to be Church with and for one another. Too long we have mouthed the phrase “We are the Church” but in this period, we are asked to be Church.

We are Spirit-driven and our call is to rebuild our Church toward a model of Jesus-inspired integrity. As members of Voice of the Faithful, we are centrist Catholics loyal to our teachings, grounded and educated in our faith and regular Church attendees who have occupied positions of leadership in our Church. We grieve over the state of our Church today. We support the Church we love so much but as a human institution we have lost our way. We cannot be satisfied until the justice we preach is also lived. We have discerned through prayer and guidance from the Spirit to be silent no more. It is our responsibility as the Baptized to speak up and be heard.

As we face the challenges of today and tomorrow, we have a vision that soon our living faith will come to life and allow us all to respond to the call to be Church. We have a vision that in our lifetimes we will be able to sit down together as Catholic family at a holy table of brotherhood and sisterhood where love and justice are not only the core of our preaching but become the core of our being.

We envision a Church remolded into a faith that Jesus intended. Our faith will be our guide and prayer, our mantra to change the institution into a beacon of hope for all. We will overcome the discord within our world community and build together an institution free of prejudice and injustice, allowing all to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand up in the light, open and transparent.

We envision a Church that models, lives and promotes the Kingdom message with a Catholicism that integrates Gospel values into everyday life and does not allow power of any kind to sabotage that message. We strive to be authentic, consistent and loving in that message but we will confront evil, abuse and lack of accountability directly as Jesus did.
No longer victim---forever, living in the light of the Promise.


We Are Called
We are called to follow Jesus, to live our baptismal responsibilities as Catholics, and to seek justice in the world. What have we been called to do? We have been called to follow Him

  • Jesus gave his life that we may be saved, and He called us to follow Him.
  • Jesus taught us to care for those in need, and He called us to follow Him.
  • Jesus wept for the innocent children, and He called us to follow Him.
  • Jesus sought justice for the oppressed, and He called us to follow Him.
  • Jesus spoke out in righteous indignation against injustice, and He called us to follow Him.
  • Jesus asked us to pray always, and He called us to follow Him.

We too are being called to use our voice, and to follow Him.

We Are Voice of the Faithful

For four years, we have spoken out boldly against clergy sexual abuse.

For four years, we have worked tirelessly to achieve justice for survivors.

For four years, we have strived to support priests of integrity.

For four years, we have struggled to make structural changes in our Church. Our objective has been to return the lay voice to a meaningful place in the guidance and governance of our Church.

For four years, we have poured our energy into fostering an accountable Church so that trust and integrity will again mark our community of faith.

Today, we are prepared to take the next step together.

Love In Action

We meet these challenges by transforming our anger, our frustration, and our love into action. We speak up, we refuse to accept, and we work for change.

How do we turn love into action? How do we create a Church that would please Jesus? The answer is to mold our love of Jesus, love of people, and love of Church into engaged Catholicism. We must embrace gospel values and recognize that those values can be brought to life in the modern world. We are the ones to do it!
 
 
 
Subscribe to VOTF Newsletter
Email:
 


Visit votf.org for more information about Voice of the Faithful.