Events, Opportunities & News

VOTF National

National Parish Voice has identified four US regions for purposes of affiliate coordination, communication efforts and future regional definitions and representation. These are as follows:
WEST
Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico
Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska
CENTRAL
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan
Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
SOUTH
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida
EAST
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia

National PARISH VOICE Report - For the past 2 months, Suzy Nauman and Mary Ann Keyes have held national conference calls with coordinators by region – West, South, Central and East. The purpose of the calls is two fold:

1. educational, listening and sharing (this month our focus was goal#1, for example) and
2. to enhance and nurture leadership within the regions in the hope that the coordinators in each region will continue these conference calls and stay connected.

We are pleased with how well received the calls were, and at the connections made. How wonderful it was to hear the many and varied voices interacting! The plan is to continue to hold one call per month, per region.

The growth of Parish Voices continues to be significant. We are now at over 182 affiliates, and counting. This week brought the news of affiliates in Western Oregon and Baton Rouge, LA. The winds of the Spirit are blowing internationally as well, with two affiliates now in Australia, and affiliates in the making in New Zealand.

Print Media Coverage – Be sure to check the website at www.votf.org for reprints and links to recent interviews with Jim Post and articles on VOTF in Newsweek, Commonweal, National Catholic Reporter and St. Anthony Messenger, AND the Herald Sun in Melbourne!, to name but a few.

VOTF East
VOTF Long Island, NY to sponsor a “FAITH CONVENTION” on Saturday, September 27, 2003 at the Huntington Hilton Hotel, 598 Broadhollow Road (Route 110), Huntington, NY, 8:30 am to 4 pm. Keynote speaker: Richard McBrien. Inspirational speaker: Sister Pat Duffy. See the LI-VOTF website for additional information.

October 25, 2003 - VOTF NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY and CONNECTICUT will jointly sponsor “Being Catholic in the 21st Century: Crisis, Challenge, Opportunity” at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, 8AM – 6PM. We invite you to mark your calendars and join us for a day of stimulating, thoughtful dialogue about our past , present and future Church. For our friends who had already marked a November date, the new date allows us to access the Fordham University Gym (and a greater seating capacity).

Our diverse speakers, panelists and breakout sessions will explore a variety of timely topics including priestly sexual abuse, accountability of bishops, supporting survivors and building the church of the future. The conference day will end with a mass of healing and hope.

Registration, hotel, travel and other information will be available on our conference website which will be accessible in the near future. Save the date and come join us in New York on October 25th, 2003…the place to be for concerned Catholics in 2003!

October 6-8, Boston, MA invitation: It is with great pleasure that I invite all VOTF members to attend the PASTORAL SUMMIT 2003 at the Marriot Copley Hotel on October 6-8, Boston, MA. This Lilly Endowment-sponsored event brings together both Protestant and Catholic pastors and lay leaders for three days of workshops, worship and powerful keynote speakers. The project is the result of a two-year study conducted by Paul Wilkes, the director/founder of Pastoral Summit, and author of Excellent Catholic Parishes (Paulist Press) and Excellent Protestant Congregations (Westminster/John Knox Press). Paul would be the first to admit that there are many parishes in Boston that would qualify for the book, but time limited those he and his team could visit. In 2001 the following Massachusetts churches were listed: St. Rose of Lima in Chelsea, St. Mary's Immaculate Conception in Lawrence, St. Mary of the Assumption in Milford, OLHC in Newton, Sacred Heart in Roslindale, and St. Patrick in Whitinsville. Father Walter Cuenin and Father Bill Waters, OSA will be presenting workshops. Lew Finfer will also co-lead a workshop about faith-based community building (those of you who were at the June Council meeting know how effective his approach is). AND VOTF WILL BE THE FEATURE OF A WORKSHOP ENTITLED "THE FLOWERING OF LAY INITIATIVES, Voices Rising from the Wilderness" with Jim Post as the presenter. There will be an opportunity to spread our news at a table set up during the conference. What a great time to gather VOTF members (and we don't have to organize the event!!!).

You can log onto www.pastoralsummit.org for immediate information (please note that not all the Boston-specific workshops are listed in the brochure yet). Paul Wilkes has asked me to be the Boston Coordinator and I have lots of information I can give to you (there is a six-minute video and background information, as well as written brochures of what is on the website). I ask you to circulate this news widely! Invite your pastor to join you. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the good that is happening at the parish level in our churches, and to share in prayer, in ideas and in friendship with our Protestant brothers and sisters. Contact: Svea Fraser, by email, or at 781-237-7560 or 617-306-3608.

Nashua, New Hampshire hosts Paul Lakeland – For those unable to participate in the tri-state conference (see below), here’s an opportunity to hear Paul Lakeland, the Fairfield University professor who inspired the June 7 Boston gathering in his keynote address. Come to Rivier College in Nashua on Saturday, October 25 for another opportunity to hear Professor Lakeland discuss "Vatican II: Back to the Future" at a 9-3 conference. The $30 cost includes lunch. There will be breakout sessions, one of which is expected to be on canon law as it relates to Church structures, laity, etc. Contact ariggs@rivier.edu for more information.

A Franciscan to lead Boston, MA Archdiocese – see extensive coverage on our website at www.votf.org.

Wellesley, MA – Meeting Tues. AUG. 12: 7:30-9:30 for all working groups at St. John the Evangelist Church in Wellesley, MA. SEPT: No monthly or plenary meetings scheduled. OCT. 14: Monthly working group first meeting; to be held the second Tuesday of each month. MONTHLY PLENARY: the fourth Tuesday of each month; first meeting OCT. 28 will include our 12 Western Region Affiliates: St. Bernard’s, Our Lady Help of Christians, St Ignatius, Natick Affiliate, St. Joseph’s, St. Zepherin’s, St. Mary’s, St. Anselm’s, People’s Promise (Belmont), St. Jeremiah’s, St. Paul’s, St. John’s Contact: jfmcconville@attbi.com.

A Musical Tribute - On September 28, 2003 at 5:00 pm, a chamber music concert will be performed at the Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. Admission to the concert will be free. Concert attendees are asked to make a good will offering to support SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).

The program will be presented by John Ferrillo, Elizabeth Ostling and Elita Kang of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Carol Rodland of the New England Conservatory, and Hugh Hinton of the Longy School of Music. Attendees will hear works by Bach, Schumann, DeBussy, Barber, Loefflre and Messiaen. PLEASE HELP TO MAKE THIS EVENT A SUCCESS! For further information please visit the survivor pages of the VOTF web site or contact Steve Sheehan at: sheehan1777@aol.com

VOTF Maine Hosts Notre Dame Professor Fr. Richard McBrien. Voice of the Faithful-Maine announces that the Rev. Richard P. McBrien will visit the East Coast on Thursday evening, Oct. 2, 2003. In an address at St. Patrick's Church in Portland, Father McBrien will be speaking on "the role of the laity in the Church." St. Patrick’s Church pastor Fr. Tom Murphy has graciously provided the venue for this special occasion. Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, IN, Fr. Richard McBrien is perhaps the most eminent, almost certainly the most widely-read, Catholic theologian in America today. A prolific writer, he has authored numerous books on, among other subjects, ecclesiology, the relationship between religion and politics, and the theological, doctrinal and spiritual dimensions of the Catholic tradition. For more information, contact msweatt@votfmaine.org.

VOTF Central
Chicago, IL VOTF Action for Renewal/Voice of the Faithful is supporting a series of discussions of interest to Catholics. The second meeting focused on the role of the bishops in the Church crisis. The program, "Journey to Integrity," is ongoing and informal. It is held at St. Thomas Becket Parish Hall, Mt. Prospect. For information about future gatherings, call 847-690-9970. Terry O’Connor

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