Please
send comments to leaderpub@votf.org
In
the Vineyard
Special Edition
VOTF One-Year Anniversary
"This
is what the Holy One asks of you: only this, to act justly,
to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)
No
doubt there are as many ways to note an anniversary as there are
candles on some of our cakes. Once again, VOTF chooses words and
action to "speak" for us as we rededicate ourselves to our shared
mission and goals and as we continue to draw Catholics into the
conversation about our faith and its future in the Roman Catholic
Church. If you have been following our progress on the website,
in the regular editions of In the Vineyard and in the media,
you already know the work that is being done and the work that
lies ahead.
Susan
Troy and the National Prayerful Voice team she leads, remind us
regularly of the place of spirituality in all that we say and
do. (See the Liturgy
of Rededication on our website.) Recently, Susan quoted Ronald
Rolheiser, author of The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian
Spirituality, "Spirituality is not a private search for what
is highest in oneself but a communal search for the face of God.
What shapes our actions is our spirituality."
As
our growing community searches for the face of God, we do so in
a variety of ways - many of these focus on hearing each other
and are well documented in the stream of reports from our 160
affiliates across the U.S. and, most recently, Canada. The written
word is another of our efforts toward Rolheiser's "communal search."
To progress this ambition, In the Vineyard is introducing
some new columns with this issue. Our first Parish "Best Practices"
piece appears; VOTF member Tom Smith has written a book review
(other recommended
reading appears on our website at Prayerful Voice); VOTF member
Mary Hogan begins a "Say What?" column that will "take on" some
of the words we use in our faith journey, how we use them, and
where they come from; Anne Murphy introduces a Q&A - we hope readers
will challenge us! We also introduce the VOTF National office
staff, whose work pretty much defines the how of what VOTF does.
Were it not for our staff, volunteers, parish voices and affiliates,
officers and working groups, VOTF would just be another great
idea. VOTF president Jim Post looks back with gratitude on a year
well spent.
Looking
back, of course, is part of any anniversary so we have reprinted
the whole text of our Convocation statement delivered to Cardinal
Law on March 9, 2002, along with a few reflections by those in
attendance. VOTF president Jim Post looks
back with gratitude on a year well spent.
Right
now, however, we begin where we began and welcome the first voice
of Voice of the Faithful, our founder Dr.
Jim Muller.
Peggie
L. Thorp, Ed.
If you think communicating with members and the
public about VOTF activities is important, donate
now to support our communications efforts.
