Introducing the Winchester Area VOTF Affiliate
Continued
We meet in St. Eulalia's parish hall, Manion Hall, having been grandfathered into meeting on church property before Cardinal Law banned new groups from doing so. Occasionally we have prayer-centered meetings and for those we meet in the church.
We have enjoyed a huge number of excellent speakers from Boston College and Weston Jesuit School of Theology, as well as speakers from VOTF National, and authors of current books on the abuse crisis like David Gibson, Jason Berry and David France.
We have also been fortunate to acquire some very timely DVDs that have given rise to meaningful discussion, and have used some of the Voice of Renewal's Lay Education materials as starting points for some of our meetings.
Some of our most memorable speakers have been two sociologists from Massachusetts colleges. Patty Ewick from Clark University and Marc Steinberg from Smith College studied us (with our permission) and have reported twice to us on their findings. They have become more like members and friends than observers.
We have had many stumbling blocks! How do we carry on in the face of such discouragement? The answer is that we keep on coming for each other. We have formed a really unusual community and care a great deal for each other. We suffered a double-blow when Bob Morris moved with his wife to Rhode Island (because of her ministry in the Congregational Church), and then was recently diagnosed with ALS. He visited us in January, which was a wonderful blessing for us all.
One goal that we set for ourselves several years ago was to have a conversation with a bishop. After much negotiating, we managed to meet for dinner with our local auxiliary and I think it changed his life as well as ours. He has become a dear friend to us and attended our annual cookout for priests last August.
Another high point has been the raising of funds for survivors through the sale of Christmas and All-Occasion notecards, which are designed by our members. We have raised around $30,000 for survivors through this and other fundraisers in the past 7 years.
