Voice of the Faithful
Statement on Who We Are
Revised Initial Working Document

Voice of the Faithful, Inc. is an organization composed of Catholics striving to be faithful to the teachings of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Joining VOTF is not a break with the Church but a commitment to strengthen and renew it. The following affirmations are not meant to be a complete statement on who we are. They are primarily a response to those who misunderstand us, including members of our Church's hierarchy and lay Catholics who misinterpret our mission and goals.

The Executive Committee of Voice of the Faithful recommended this Statement for action by the VOTF Representative Council, which remanded it on April 26, 2003 to Parish Voice affiliates for discussion and comment in preparation for further action by the Representative Council. The Statement was also reviewed by Rev. Ladislas Orsy, S.J., an advisor to Voice of the Faithful on canon law and theological matters.

• We are faithful Catholics in communion with the universal Catholic Church.
• We love and support our Church and believe what it professes.
• We accept the teaching authority of our Church, including the traditional role of the bishops and the Pope.
• We will work with our bishops, clergy, and other members to strengthen unity and human moral integrity in our Church.
• We believe that sexual abuse by clergy and the response of bishops, protecting abusers and forsaking the abused, have caused great human suffering and damaged the moral authority of our Church.
• We believe that the laity has the graced dignity, intelligence, responsibility and obligation to cooperate in Church governance in a meaningful way according to the norm of law (cf. Canon 129) to correct the profound flaws that have been revealed in the human institutional life of our Church.
• We believe that the council documents of Vatican II illuminate the pathway for lay involvement in the Church.
• We urge that the openness and mutual respect advocated by Pope John Paul II in Ut Unum Sint ("That All May Be One") be the model for meaningful dialog among bishops and laity.

Please provide your feedback to David Castaldi at dlcvotf@hotmail.com