In March 2010, the Bishop Initiative Committee of the Universal Church Reform Team wrote to Pope Benedict XVI with a proposal for injecting meaningful lay input into the selection of bishops for local dioceses. This VOTF proposal would restore to the bishop selection process many of the lay-involvement practices followed throughout the first and well into the second millenium, while recognizing the authority of the Pope (affirmed in Canon Law and Vatican II) to make the final appointment of a bishop, generally from the recommendations submitted for each diocese.

Follow the links below to see the document Consulting the Laity on Candidates for the Episcopacy, the letter to Pope Benedict describing the proposed improvement in bishop selection, and the letters to key bishops within the hierarchy asking their assistance in promoting the VOTF Proposal.

Consulting the Laity on Candidates for the Episcopacy

Letter to Pope Benedict XVI

Letter to Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State

Letter to Francis Cardinal George, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Letter to Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Letter to Most Reverend Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio United States