National News

VOTF recently corresponded with Archbishop Timothy Dolan on the occasion of his election as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and with Cardinal William Levada, prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, following his presentation at the meeting of the world’s cardinals in Rome in November.

As Archbishop Dolan assumed leadership of the nation’s Catholic bishops, VOTF expressed its hopes for open dialogue with him on issues including:

• Accountability from bishops for transferring priests, credibly accused of pedophilia, from parish to parish, and

• Support for Voice of the Faithful’s proposal for bishop selection that had been sent to him earlier.

VOTF also communicated with Cardinal Levada after he said in Rome that his congregation was developing new guidelines for handling clergy sexual abuse cases. VOTF asked to be part of that development, specifically requesting:

• Timely lay involvement in developing these guidelines,

• Oversight of such cases independent of Church hierarchy, and

• Mandatory reporting of accused clergy to authorities.

These efforts continue VOTF’s policy of seeking constructive dialogue with Church leaders wherever there is an opening to initiate change in hierarchy-dictated rules.

The letters were sent too recently to expect a reply, but VOTF will report any results or follow-up activities.

Doing your Christmas shopping yet? If you are buying online, please go through VOTF.org and click on the Amazon link. A percentage of everything you buy is given to VOTF. This year, to date, VOTF has made $1,000 on Amazon purchases! What an easy way to support a cause you care about!

Cardinal Newman on Consulting the Faithful
by Christine Schenk csj, Executive Director, FutureChurch

On Sunday September 19, Pope Benedict beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman before a crowd of 60,000 gathered in cold and rainy Birmingham, England. Newman, an intellectual giant of the 19th century, was a prominent Anglican vicar and leader who converted to Catholicism at the age of forty-four. He brought many Anglican intellectuals into the Church with him.

Continued: http://votf.org/vineyard/Dec9_2010/schenk.html

Site Seeing

Father James Connell’s letter to his fellow priests on the need for accountability within the Church
http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=11253

Where is parish life headed?
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/outline-new-life

Archbishop apologizes to families of predator priest
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/archbishop-apologises-as-paedophile-predator-jailed-2450401.html

Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

Part VII in a series that looks at Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church from 1984-2010
By Tom Doyle J.C.D., C.A.D.C

Around the country few if any of the diocesan review boards received any acclaim from victims. The boards, the membership of which is determined by the individual diocesan bishops, have mixed reviews. Some appear to be compassionate but are ineffective and no more than window dressing. Others are reported to be non-responsive, cold or even defensive. One of the more offensive steps taken by some bishops is the appointment of lawyers to occupy positions on diocesan boards or even worse, to serve as diocesan victim outreach liaison.

Continued: http://votf.org/vineyard/Dec9_2010/doyle.html

Letter to the Editor

Dear Voice of the Faithful:

I, too, would like to see VOTF take the forefront on the proposed changes in the Liturgy. If I understand correctly (perhaps you could investigate), several conferences of English-speaking peoples have taken serious umbrage with and refuse to initiate the changes. South Africa, Australia, Ireland, are a few. I believe Canada and Scotland also are thinking about not going along with the changes. There are a variety of reasons.

Needlessness of changes, i.e changing merely for verbatim to the Latin and giving up relevance to English speaking people. Cumbersome wordage is another reason. And in one part of the Eucharistic Prayer, at the elevation of the cup, the wordage has been changed from "It (the blood) will be shed for you and for all" to "It will be shed for you and for many." There are at least four and I think six instances in scripture that say Christ died for all." The Gospel of John, 1 John, Romans, and Titus I believe are the places I've found this. Can't quote you chapter and verse right now, but if you're interested and can't find them there and I think a couple of more places, let me know and I'll do some more research.

Jerome translated and gave us the Latin in the 4th Century; the Gospels and Letters were finished long before that. To alter language in the Mass that at least implies, if not directly states, that Christ did NOT die for ALL, to me is borderline heresy. I am a deacon, not a priest, but if I were, I would refuse to make the change. Anyway, something you might want to investigate. God bless and much peace.

Deacon D. Watson

Questions, Comments?

Please send them to Siobhan Carroll, Vineyard Editor at Vineyard@votf.org. Unless otherwise indicated, I will assume comments can be published as Letters to the Editor.