National News
Ideas for Lenten Reflections
As you prepare for Lent, may we suggest some options for your Lenten reflections? Most are suitable either for individual action or for an organized discussion group at your parish or your affiliate.
Voice of the Faithful Has a New Look!
VOTF recently launched a new website. If you haven't seen it yet, click to our new Home Page and take a moment to check out some of our new features:
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Scroll past the main stories and peek at the News box on the left. All day, every day, you can see the latest postings of news about the Catholic Church here – direct from the media sources posting the news. Click one of the story titles to read the story itself.
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For affiliates, there is a new Calendar section that allows you to post information on conferences.
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You can also keep up to date on happenings in Voice of the Faithful with the VOTF Actions feature — in the box adjacent to the News. You'll also find links to the latest In the Vineyard and Focus publications there.
We hope you find these changes useful as we work together to Keep the Faith and Change the Church.
Why Are You Catholic?
As members of Voice of the Faithful, we are “Keeping the Faith and Changing the Church.” Collectively, we are changing the Church, but how are you “keeping the faith?” Please send in any thoughts of inspiration, support and encouragement to vineyard@votf.org. Why do you love being Catholic? Why do you love your Church? Together, we can help each other keep the faith.
News from the Affiliates
News from Palm Beach
John McGovern sent in the following dispatch from his seat in the Palm Beach County courthouse as he watched the trial of Father Francis Guinan.
Priest on Trial: The Anatomy of Triumphalism and Clericalism in the Roman Catholic Church
By John E McGovern, VOTF Palm Beach president
On Wednesday, February 18 at 3:25 pm the State rested its case in State of Florida v Francis Guinan. The defense case will proceed tomorrow at 9 am. Following the conclusion of the State’s case, the defense attorney moved for an acquittal for his client on the grounds that “no persons from St. Vincent Ferrer Parish were subpoenaed by the State to claim that “their money was stolen from them by Fr. Guinan.” A point well taken, I thought to myself. Fortunately, the judge denied the motion to acquit.
Throughout his testimony on Wednesday, February 18th, the Chief Fiscal Officer of the Diocese, Denis Hamel, testified that: (1) Tens of thousands of dollars of expenditures on Father Guinan's personal American Express card were not ordinary expenses of his parish.
To read more: http://votf.org/vineyard/Feb26_2009
News from the New York Affiliate
The New York VOTF affiliate put out a statement about the news that Bishop Dolan from Milwaukee will be the next Archbishop of New York. To read the statement: http://votf.org/featured/2639
VOTF plans to send him a letter after his installation and is interested to see what changes that he will bring to the New York diocese.
Site Seeing
Numerous theologians and Christians in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have begun a petition for the full recognition of the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, and you have an opportunity to be a part of this initiative.
If you support the declaration, your name, town, and function—not your email address—will be displayed on this website immediately after your confirmation. After completion, the lists of signatures will be handed over to the Vatican, and the German Bishops' Conference, the Official Catholic Lay Organization ("ZdK") and the press will be informed about the outcome.
To read this petition, follow the link
http://www.petition-vaticanum2.org/pageID_7327623.html
Read John Allen’s examination of Archbishop Dolan, the new Archbishop of NY at
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/archbishop-timothy-dolan-headed-new-york
US News and World Report’s religion writer, Cathy Lynn Grossman reports on NY’s new Archbishop. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/
religion/post/2009/02/63223847/1
Delia Smith, famous chef and author of several cookbooks, talks about her own personal Catholicism http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4732837/Saint-Delia-Delia-Smiths-Christian-commitment.html
Bail was set at $1 million Tuesday for a Roman Catholic priest accused of stealing more than $400,000 from the collection plates of his Roselle parish.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-priest-theft-11feb11,0,6153614.story
Doing any shopping lately? If so, please shop at Amazon.com! Anything you purchase from Amazon.com by following a link to their site from VOTF means a small donation to VOTF! And we get that donation on books, DVDs, CDs, electronic equipment, apparel, toys and more, even gift certificates.
Calendar
VOTF Bridgeport is sponsoring The Presence of Christ in the Gathered Assembly, a talk by Sr. Judith Kubicki, PhD, Associate Professor of Theology at Fordham University on Thursday, March 5th, a t 7:30 PM at the First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk.
President of the North American Academy of Liturgy and Associate Chair of the Theology Department, Sr. Judith has degrees in English, Music and Liturgy and received her doctorate from The Catholic University of America.
In addition to her book mentioned above, and her doctoral dissertation on Liturgical Music as Ritual Symbol, she has written extensively on liturgical themes. She is especially interested in the meaning and implications of the Church’s belief that, when the community assembles for worship, Christ is in their midst.
For more information go to www.votfbpt.org.
VOTF Palm Beach 2009 Conference
Adult and Catholic: How the Laity Can Save the Church
March 28, 2009 - 9:30 am - 3:00pm including lunch
Registration: Advance - $25; at the door on day of conference: $30.00
Conference Site: Knights of Columbus Hall - West Palm Beach (1155 S. Congress Ave)
Speaker / Facilitator: Paul Lakeland, PhD - Fairfield University Distinguished Professor of Catholic Studies. For more information http://www.geocities.com/votfpalmbeach/VOTFPalmBeach.html
The Paulist Reconciliation Ministries and the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry present The Road to Reconciliation: Theological, Pastoral, and Psychological Dimensions
Presenter: Robert Schreiter, C.P.P.S. (Thursday and Friday lectures), Catherine Dooley, O.P. (Friday lecture), and Pastoral Workshops by P. Denio, P. Fink, S.J., R. Helmick, S.J., D. Leckey, J. Loftus, S.J., R. Petersen, T. Ryan, C.S.P., T. Stegman, S.J., C. Williams, C.P.P.S.
Thursday, April 16, 2009, 7:00 pm and Friday April 17, 2009, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Symposium
Co-sponsored by Paulist Reconciliation Ministries and Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
Location: 129 Lake St., Boston College Brighton Campus
Fee: Thursday is free; $25 for Friday includes lunch. Mail-in-Registration by April 1
For More Information, http://www.bc.edu/schools/stm/meta-elements/pdf/reg_form.pdf
Letters to the Editor
I have been with VOTF since the July 2002 conference in Boston, and my admiration and respect for the wonderful participants and attendees has not lessened. I was fortunate to be able to attend both the 2005 and 2007 conferences in Indianapolis and Providence - but am almost 83 now and probably will not be attending the next one.
The three goals of VOTF were certainly prayerfully chosen. It is sad to see the survivors still struggling for support from the laity and accountability from the bishop; the priests enduring the hardships of their lessening numbers; and the continued stonewalling of the hierarchy against any changes in a system that corrupts its clergy (the awareness that healthy change will not take place seems to be reality).
In spite of all of the concern about and criticism of VOTF that takes place, I still have faith that there are many persons working hard for us and that we should hang in there doing whatever we can for as long as it takes. It is refreshing to recently read the two articles from In the Vineyard highlighting the activities and successes of groups like Bridgeport Ct and Louisville KY. They keep on keepin' on no matter what. I am looking forward to other affiliates publishing their VOTF stories.
The Bishop's ban has hurt VOTF in the Fall River Diocese, but we still have one enthusiastic and very successful group left that is continuing to exist. I will continue to support VOTF prayerfully, financially and personally, as long as I can, and encourage you to do all you feel able to do - for as long as it takes.
Estelle Roach
Fall River Diocese
It was August of 2003 or 2004. While driving, I listened to WCBS radio in the New York-New Jersey area. They reported that Archbishop John Myers of Newark had shuffled around at least 7 pedophile priests in Peoria, Illinois, before coming to Newark, NJ.
I checked The Record every day for a week and never saw this reported in print. The next July, there was a general article about the National Conference of American Bishops and it mentioned that Bishop John Myers had resigned his position on the committee of bishops who were to oversee the recommendations for protecting children, but no reason was given.
Name withheld upon request
It is easy to lose heart when faced with continuing headlines of priests that steal from their flocks and bishops that place the protection of their own authority over the safety of our children. The embracing of holocaust deniers and the excommunication of people endorsing women’s ordination could not have done more to disillusion the faithful than if they were part of a strategy to do so.
We cannot lose heart. This is our Church. We must look beyond the actions of the few. My father, an acknowledged sinner, put it more bluntly: “Don’t let those “so and so’s” drive you away from YOUR Church.”
Name withheld upon request
Book Review
Submitted by John Ryan
Doors of Hope: Paths for Renewal in the Catholic Church
By John J. Dietzen, TempleGate Publishers, 153 pages, $18.95
For those of us who grew up in the pre-Vatican II church, one which we thought of as being unchangeable and rooted forever in the Council of Trent which took place centuries ago, this is a book that offers what I view as the most refreshing and coherent account of how we came to where we are and why we should have hope for the future. For those of us who have grown up since Vatican II this is a book that will help us understand why there is so much divisiveness among Catholics, lay and ordained, in these troubling times for the church.
Even those among us who may believe themselves to have a firm grasp of their faith and what is going on in the church will benefit from reading what is more than just a refresher course on change in the church. This book is an incisive re-assessment of certain fundamentals of our faith, a re-assessment which does in fact open many “doors of hope”.
To read the rest of John’s review:
http://votf.org/vineyard/Feb26_2009/review.html
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.
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