National News
Dear Friends,
We are preparing to introduce our new strategic plan, the Voices in Action campaign—a five-pointed campaign focusing on transforming the church through local, regional and national action.
Starting next week we will be sending you information about the campaign via email. The emails will include complete campaign facts, the financial plan for the coming year, a web presentation, details on specific exciting initiatives, and information on how you can get involved.
Keep an eye on your email inbox for all of this information. We will be sending it in “pieces” as to not overwhelm your inbox (or your display monitor!), so please open all of our emails in the coming weeks. We’ll also post many of the documents online, and the emails will include links to them so they are easy to find.
We are grateful to all those who have worked so hard to launch this campaign. We could not have gotten to this point without the generous support of your time and your treasures. We hope all our members will join us in putting our Voices in Action today, tomorrow, and in the months to come.
Sincerely,
Donna Doucette
Executive Director
Voice of the Faithful
Reminder:
Catherine of Siena Distinguished Lay Person Award
The 2009 National Conference Committee is seeking nominations for this year’s Catherine of Siena Distinguished Lay Person Award. This award was established by the 2005 VOTF Convocation Steering Committee and approved by the Board of Trustees at that time. Click here for nomination requirements; deadline for nominations is Aug. 28.
REGISTER NOW!
Featuring SR. JOAN CHITTISTER, O.S.B., and
FR. THOMAS REESE, S.J.
Join in lively discussions as we come together to reflect on the state of our church and how we can be part of the changes that will renew our faith. For registration, check the additional info here.
We are asking affiliates, members and supporters to make their presence known at VOTF's conference on Long Island in October. How? Please consider taking an ad in our conference program book. It's easy; just fill out the ad reservation form and return it to the address on the form by September 15, 2009.
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Update on the Investigation into Women Religious
Contrary to initial reports from the Vatican, the investigation into the lives of women religious seems to be looking more and more like an inquisition into loyalty and politics. Apparently, the investigation is focusing on the U.S. nuns who are social workers, teachers, and work in society. It will not focus on those nuns who are cloistered.
In the National Catholic Reporter, Ken Briggs calls this investigation the “last major struggle over what it means to be Catholic.”
http://ncronline.org/news/women/us-women-religious-leadership-crossroads
In an AP article entitled “Catholic Sisters Queried about Doctrine, Fidelity” there is confirmation about the Vatican’s concern over U.S. sisters’ “drift to the left.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5jSTgCugNoam_XAJxjVUwnFMBz6XQD99SCRGO0
NCR details the information the Vatican is collecting...
http://ncronline.org/news/women/
women-religious-study-include-soundness-doctrine
And the Washington Post recently ran the following article: “Vatican Scrutiny Makes US Sisters Uneasy.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080703265.html
News from the Affiliates
Chicago: The Chicagoland VOTF affiliate released the following statement about the Church’s response to Bishop Goedert’s deposition regarding priests who abused children:
A July 2009 internal document (Background Information for Pastors Regarding Upcoming Legal Document Release) continues the ongoing failed secrecy and spin with which the archdiocese addresses the clergy sex abuse crisis. The document was issued for “...responding to the inquiries...” regarding the recently published deposition (taken November 2007) of Bishop Goedert. The bishop was the Vicar for priests in 1987-91 and cooperated in moving pedophile priests to unaware parishes. This deposition describes the abhorrent behavior that led to continued abuse of children.
Continued
http://votf.org/vineyard/Aug14_2009/chicago.html
Bridgeport: In Connecticut, the Bridgeport VOTF had the following letter printed in the Advocate.
LET THE LIGHT SHINE IN
The Diocese of Bridgeport, forgetting its past pronouncements of accountability, continues its effort to stonewall the publication as ordered by the Connecticut Supreme Court of court documents relating to priestly sexual abuse and the cover-up by the bishops (the Rosado case).
Continued
http://votf.org/vineyard/Aug14_2009/bridgeport.html
We would love to hear about other affiliates across the country! Please send your updates to vineyard@votf.org
Site Seeing
Inside Higher Ed reports on the impact of college majors on religion in its article “God and Majors.”
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/28/majors
The Middletown Journal examines the life of Bishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk as he prepares to retire. Katherine Ward, local VOTF member, comments on Bishop Pilarczyk’s handling of the sex abuse scandal.
http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/
academic-freedom-sex-scandal-parts-of-pilarczyks-legacy-245159.html
The Irish Times reports on the status of requests to open to the public the report on abuse in the Irish dioceses.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/
0804/breaking38.htm
The Courier-Journal reports on a pastor from St.Ignatius who has been put on leave after an allegation of abuse.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090730/
NEWS01/907300346/
St.+Ignatius+pastor+on+leave+after+abuse+claim
Letter to the Editor
Dear VOTF,
I am happy and relieved that the financial crisis that VOTF had faced has seen a generous, well deserved, out-pouring of generosity, and will remain “afloat.”
I was a Catholic all of my life (44 years), until the ultimate betrayal and abandonment by my Church in 2005. That was when I discovered that my Catholic Church Hierarchy acted with complete disregard and recklessness in allowing a priest with approximately twenty years of behavioral concerns and sexual misconduct with minors to remain a priest, and work in a youth leadership position and therefore to have access to my son, in 2001-2002 and sexually abuse him. That abuse derailed my son’s young life at the tender age of 13-15. It injured our whole family enormously. It has been a long dark, difficult, lonely road.
Continued
http://votf.org/vineyard/Aug14_2009/letter.html
BOOK REVIEW
Disputed Truth - Memoirs II by Hans Kung, Ph.D
Reviewer: Tony Wiggins
Available at Amazon.com (follow the link on votf.org)
In his recently -written book, Hans Kung immediately gets to contrasting his career with that of his fellow professor at Tubingen University, Joseph Ratziinger, when he says, “There is no doubt that the last papal election has considerably increased the importance of these memoirs, and also my responsibility as an author. Almost all of my great comrades-in-arms in the fights for renewal and change at Vatican II are dead or inactive, with one exception, and he has become pope. Joseph Ratzinger is Benedict XVI.”
Continued
http://votf.org/vineyard/Aug14_2009/book.html
Have a book to recommend to your fellow VOTF members? Please send your recommendations to vineyard@votf.org. Thanks!
Questions, Comments?
