"At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste,
darkness over the face of Ocean,
rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters -
God said: Let there be light! And there was light." Genesis 1: 1-3

In This Issue:

NEWS - NATIONAL/Regional

  • January 6, 2004 - National Review Board (NRB) releases the results of the diocesan audits commissioned by the USCCB to monitor compliance with the Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children. (Another USCCB-commisioned survey that will catalogue sexual abuse cases is expected to be released by the NRB on February 27, 2004.) See VOTF's response to this week's release of diocesan audits.

    ****Survivor groups respond to NRB report. See The Linkup response at www.thelinkup.org.

    ****The summary reports of the audits released today by the National Review Board are available at the USCCB website. Dioceses and eparchies are listed alphabetically.

  • New officers for VOTF National represent the beginning of a move away from a Boston-centric profile. Read More.

  • In December 2003, VOTF President Jim Post recapped VOTF's history and mission for the Annual Meeting of the MA Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. His talk "Lemons to Lemonade" is the story of knowing where to stand and standing precisely there.

  • VOTF Representative Council Minutes - Another ban lifted. Good news announced at the December Council meeting. After great perseverance by VOTF members, the Archbishop of the Portland, ME diocese Bishop Gerry announced that VOTF affiliates may meet on parish property, if the pastor approves. Read VOTF statement. Read More.

  • Wording of Goal #2 to undergo broad affiliate discussion - priests and general membership will explore the meaning and implication of the current wording. Read More.

  • Parish Voices - The emergence of Boston VOTF is a little like your oldest child leaving home - finally! Leadership has emerged in this affiliate to lead and speak for VOTF Boston as the RCAB continues to struggle with its epicenter image. Read More

  • Structural Change Working Group to present document on a first-step response to Goal #3. This national effort has brought together Catholics from all over the US to develop the Primer on Parish Pastoral Councils. Read more

  • Nashville, TN VOTF is talking with their bishop and making suggestions for greater lay involvement. Some suggestions have been taken up, but not with VOTF collaboration. Read More

  • A first-time meeting took place between the Archdiocese of Boston and VOTF despite a continuing partial ban on the use of Church property for VOTF meetings. The meeting between representatives of the RCAB and the VOTF Protecting Our Children working group identified several areas of mutual concern and prospective collaboration. Read More

  • Archdiocese of Boston - planned parish closings in Boston could establish a model for closings all over the US. VOTF notes concerns for adequate parishioner involvement and poses questions Catholic parishioners might ask. Read More

Prayer of the Month - a prayer for all seasons

What Do You Think? A widely distributed letter written by three MA priests challenged VOTF's Catholicity. Theologian David O'Brien responds in our first point-counterpoint page.

Letters to the Editor - One writer feels that VOTF is falling off track and another found Peter Steinfels book A People Adrift wanting.

Catholics looking for greater spirituality - will find hope and opportunity around the upcoming National VOTF Conference on Lay Spirituality planned for April in Chicago, Il. See the November 2003 issue of In the Vineyard or contact PrayerfulVoice@voiceof thefaithful.org.

Whole congregations have been hurt by the crisis in the RC Church - A Vineyard reader and survivor recommends the book Restoring the Soul of A Church. Read More

Events coming up include the continuation of the Boston College initiative, "The Church in the 21st Century." Conferences on healing wounded congregations; the role of women in the Church; and ecclesial ethics. Read more in Events.

Editor's Choice - two books that might be read in tandem. They are compact, scholarly and telling: William D'Antonio et al., American Catholics - Gender, Generation and Commitment (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2001) and Jay P. Dolan, In Search of an American Catholicism - A History of Religion and Culture in Tension (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) Read More

 

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  • REMINDER: To contact an affiliate in your area, just go to  VOTF Parish Voice, identify your state by region, click appropriately and you're there.

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  • Copy deadline for the February 2004 issue is Friday January 30.

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In the Vineyard
January 2004
Volume 3, Issue 1
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Happy new year to all of our readers as we move together into VOTF's third "new" year. What a comfort to be moving beneath "the rushing spirit of God"!

At this time, we regard the issues in front of Catholics and those yet to come as the driving force of the VOTF movement toward meaningful lay involvement in our Church. The recent release of the compliance audit by the NRB is helping all Catholics, most especially those whose dioceses have not been touched directly by the sexual abuse of their children by clergy and its subsequent cover up by Church leadership, to recognize the desperate need for reform in the Church.

While VOTF is studying the NRB report and anticipating the John Jay College of Criminal Justice survey in late February, we are also responding to critics and standing by our goals as well as our right to exist. VOTF is finding growing understanding among Church leadership and parishioners all over the globe. At the same time, we are gaining fresh insight into the minds of our critics. A recent letter written by three diocesan priests on Cape Cod, MA made its way to the Vatican Web site and was distributed widely. The letter's misinformation, innuendo and challenge to VOTF have helped us articulate a response we will build on and share on our Web site with members and readers who may face similar inquiries. The priests' letter and a response from theologian David O'Brien are the subjects of this month's "What Do You Think?" column. As always, we encourage your response to leaderpub@votf.org.

Finally, a review of the past twelve months of In the Vineyard tells us what it is you want from this newsletter - let us know if we've got it right, yet! We've added an Editor's Choice page as part of our education effort. Again, your feedback is welcome at leaderpub@votf.org. One experimental page in the past year appears to be a keeper - Prayer of the Month. Maybe that tells us all we need to know.

Peggie L. Thorp, editor