In the Vineyard :: July 16, 2024 :: Volume 24, Issue 7
VOTF Attends AUSCP Assembly
Brad Pritts, VOTF Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Donna Doucette, retired Executive Director, attended the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests recent annual assembly in Lexington KY. Donna also serves on the AUSCP Leadership Team (board) and is co-chair of their Vatican II Working Group. She and Brad attended to enjoy the speakers, visit with the priests and with Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv. (Lexington) and Archbishop John Wester (Santa Fe), and tell attendees about Voice of the Faithful’s work.
The theme for this year’s Assembly was “Eucharist: Sacrament of Encounter.” Bishop Stowe led the opening day-long retreat June 24, focusing his reflections and inviting meditations on the four stages of the Eucharist: taken, blessed, broken, and shared. The Eucharist is a sacrament of encounter, he said, and while adoration and reverent ceremonies certainly have a place within Catholic practice, the greater challenge is to bring the Eucharist into the world, to share God’s love with everyone—to live the Eucharist.
Keynote speakers then examined various aspects of Eucharistic encounter for the more than 200 attendees and dozens of additional guests who participated over the three days.
Fr. Michael Driscoll, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, spoke of how the Eucharist “schools us for action” on Monday evening. He reviewed the significant papal documents related to liturgical celebrations these past 25 years and urged priests to emphasize a participative, shared liturgy balanced among its key elements.
Tuesday, June 25, attendees heard Fr. Tom Reese, SJ, prolific author and a regular columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, connect the ongoing process of synodality—key to our being Church in the 21st century—with the Eucharistic Congress the U.S. bishops have touted as a counterpoint to the Synod. It’s not a competition, Fr. Reese said, because Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality (communio, participation, and mission are the three aspects of synodality).
Wednesday’s keynote featured Dr. Kim R. Harris, assistant professor of African American Thought and Practice in the theology department at Loyola Marymount University, who led the assembly in a singing, clapping, energizing illustration of how Eucharist and all liturgies can serve as witness to our faith.
PIESS encompasses the major ways we bear witness, she said: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Social, and Spiritual. Note: When the AUSCP videos of the Assembly are posted, I urge you all to check Dr. Harris’s keynote; it’s a combination spoken, sung, danced presentation I know you will enjoy.
In the meantime, you can find additional notes on the Assembly at Today’s American Catholic online report from each day of the Assembly.
In addition to the keynotes, Assembly highlights included reports from all of the working groups advancing AUSCP projects, a concelebrated Mass Wednesday afternoon at St. Peter Claver Church in Lexington, and a closing banquet featuring two recipients of St. John XXIII Awards from AUSCP: Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe for his work towards peace and nuclear disarmament; and Sr. Marge Eilerman for her decades of service as a pastoral leader in rural Kentucky and among the poor in Latin America.
Sr. Kathleen Storms, SSND, served as the Contemplative Facilitator, guiding the group in prayer and spiritual dialogue between each session.
The final day, June 27, provided a dozen colloquia topics for the attendees to learn more about AUSCP initiatives: anti-racism, gospel non-violence, mutual support, caring for creation, Vatican II and a synodal Church, and women’s roles. Colloquia also included discussion about preparing St. Phoebe Day events, active nonviolence for daily living, preaching from the Old Testament, and a synodal model for co-leading parishes with lay colleagues.
See more about the assembly here
Celebrate St. Mary Magdalene
Did you know Mary Magdalene is mentioned more in the Gospels than most Apostles, following Jesus during his ministry and remaining near him during the Crucifixion. Famously, she is considered the first person to see Jesus after he rose from the dead, earning her the title “Apostle to the Apostles” by some. Most often characterized as a prostitute, Mary Magdalene has been the subject of much debate and thanks to the work of many women scholars, stories of her life have been corrected and a much clearer (less misogynistic) picture has emerged of a strong woman who was instrumental in the life of Jesus and the Apostles.
We celebrate the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene on July 22. Read more about her life, here
Tribute to Julie McConville
We honor the life of Julie McConville who passed from this life on July 3, 2024. Julie
was one of the founders of Voice of the Faithful. Her deep faith and welcoming attitude
were a guiding presence for VOTF.
Julie is remembered by all who knew her for her kindness, warmth, gentleness along
with her hospitality and generosity of spirit. She opened her home and her heart to
friends and strangers alike: praying together, planning events, standing in solidarity with
victim/survivors, seeking justice and healing for all the members of our Church. She
and her husband Frank were a formidable force for good: a dynamic duo. In the words
of our former VOTF president Jim Post, they worked for a church “that would make
Jesus smile.”
We miss Julie and offer our prayers for her and for Frank and her five children, twelve
grandchildren and one great grandchild! A good and faithful servant, surely, she is
home with God now. And Jesus is smiling.
RIP dear friend.
In lieu of flowers, Julie has asked that donations be made to Voice of the Faithful at VOTF.org. Read her obituary in the Boston Globe.
Press Release: USCCB Statement July 1, 2024
Voice of the Faithful notes with regret the recent actions of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in major staff cuts to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). If these actions were carried out in the absence of full consultation with members of the Conference, there is even greater cause for concern. US Bishops and faithful Catholics across the country have supported the work of the Campaign for Human Development through their prayers and contributions to the annual collections over the years. They must be assured that their contributions will be used as they have designated and that the principles of Catholic Social Teaching will not be abandoned.
We recognize the USCCB for posting audited financial reports, and once the 2023 statements are published they may answer some of the questions. That said, a review of the 2022 report raises several questions concerning the use of the funds donated to the CCHD and the operation of the Campaign. The most recently published financial statements of the USCCB show healthy financial reserves for the CCHD as well as the USCCB as a whole. Cash reserves and pledged income for CCHD exceeded grants in progress, for example, by more than $10 million in FY2022, the last published audit. Financial resources in excess of a full year’s operations would represent a sound foundation for most nonprofit organizations. Another question is the rationale for transferring $2.5 million from the CCHD to the general USCCB coffers.
Release of a financial report is only the first step on the path to financial transparency. We encourage those who are concerned about this decision to cut staffing for the CCHD to study the report and ask for any further financial information to clarify the decision and its implications.
VOTF of Greater Cincinnati offering SNAP Conference Scholarships
For over a decade, Greater Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful has been supporting survivors who have interest in attending the annual Survivor Network of those Abuse by Priests (SNAP) Conference.
If you are a survivor, a family member or advocate for a sexual abuse survivor/victim, you are invited to apply for Mark Schmieder Memorial Scholarship funds. Mark was a member of Greater Cincinnati VOTF and a staunch advocate for those harmed by abuse.
Please share this information with others who may benefit from this opportunity. Deadline for application is July 30, 2024.
All questions regarding scholarship application should be directed to Kathy Weyer.
Please read flyer for details.
Voice of the Faithful Focus News Roundup
German bishops once again in Vatican for talks- Difficult framework conditions for further reforms
“The majority of German bishops, led by their chairman Georg Bätzing (Limburg), are pushing for a change in the structure of ecclesiastical power. This is because they have identified the closed system of priests and bishops in the debates of the Synodal Path in Germany as a decisive cause of sexual abuse by clerics and its cover-up in the clerical hierarchy.”
Read more here. The Synodal Times
Amazon religious sister: Francis hasn’t given final word on women deacons
A leading religious sister in the Amazon region believes Pope Francis’ recent interview that seemed to close the door to women deacons isn’t the final word on the much-discussed topic that has repeatedly been raised during the ongoing synodal process.
Read more here. National Catholic Reporter
Synod’s Ordinary Council continues work on Instrumentum labori
After a meeting of theologians earlier this month, the Ordinary Council of the Synod – whose members were elected at last year’s General Assembly – is stepping up work on the Instrumentum laboris (IL)that will guide October’s meeting of the Synod fathers and mothers.
A first draft of the IL was produced in the wake of the consultations with theologians, who considered reports from 108 of 114 Bishops’ conferences and 9 of 14 Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as replies from a wide range of Catholic institutions and individuals “from all over the world, of various ecclesial sensitivities and from different theological ‘schools’.”
Read more here. Vatican News
Explainer: Archbishop Viganò excommunicated himself. What does that mean?
Last Friday’s announcement from the Vatican that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò had incurred a latae sententiae excommunication after he was “found guilty of the reserved delict of schism” raised questions that sent many reporters (and more than a few Catholics) looking for some clarity: What exactly is excommunication? How and when does the church use it? And how often is it used? Read more here. America Magazine
Pope Francis: Listen to women, often overlooked and undervalued
Women, ordained ministry, synodality, the tragedy of abuse: all of these ecclesiastically sensitive themes are all present in the preface Pope Francis has written for a new book entitled “Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church.” The volume is a collaborative effort by three female theologians and two cardinals and is a “literary” dialogue among the authors, based on a real discussion between the Pope and the Council of Cardinals during a notable February 5th meeting.
Read more here. The Vatican News
German bishops once again in Vatican for talks- Difficult framework conditions for further reforms
A delegation of German Catholic bishops will once again meet with leading Curia cardinals in Rome this Friday. Following the meetings on 26 July 2023 and 23 March 2024, this is the third round of this kind. The exchange was agreed after differences of opinion on canon law and dogma came to light in a “top-level meeting” with curia cardinals during a visit to the Vatican by the entire German Bishops’ Conference in November 2022.
Both sides are under considerable pressure this time. In the Vatican, the Argentinian curia cardinal Victor Fernandez is under fire one year after his appointment as chief dogmatist by his compatriot Pope Francis. His reform proposal to authorize informal church blessings for homosexual couples in December 2023 has caused harsh criticism and harsh rejection, particularly in the Catholic Church in Africa and Eastern Europe. Ecumenical dialogue with Eastern churches has also suffered as a result. Fernandez himself had to travel to Cairo to appease the large sister church of the Copts.
Read more here. The Synodal Times.
Synodal Church: ‘Hotel for saints, hospital for sinners’
As the Church journeys toward the second session of the Synod on Synodality, Fr. Cletus Mwilla explores the hope of a paradigm shift toward a more inclusive and participatory Church.
Fr. Cletus described the current movement towards Synodality as a “wind of change” that is calling the Church to embrace listening, humility, and inclusivity. He underlined the need to revisit priestly and religious formation to ensure it fosters these values.
Read more here. Vatican News
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.
Reminder: Please notify office@votf.org if you change your email address