VOTF Representative Council
Reported by Maura O'Brien, VOTF Moderator

VOTF Representative Council is the elected policy-making body for Voice of the Faithful. Some examples of recent policies adopted by the Council are the Structural Change Working Paper, initiation of a study of the optimal governance structure for VOTF by the Governance Study Committee, and election of VOTF officers and moderator.

The Council was established in June 2002 by vote of the world-wide VOTF membership as the successor to the founding VOTF Steering Committee. It presently consists of 151 voting Council members. The Council meets monthly (alternating Thursdays and Saturdays) and consists of four distinct groups: 1) There are 70 Parish Voice members, currently, who represent VOTF affiliates. Each affiliate that forms is eligible to elect a representative and alternates. Second, there are eight at-large members representing VOTF members who do not belong to affiliates. Third, there are 39 regional coordinator members representing potential affiliates in various regions of the United States and abroad. The fourth group consists of the 36 members of the founding VOTF Steering Committee.

Council plans for the future include exploring ways to make participation possible for representatives outside the Boston area and improving Council communications on the website among Council representatives and between VOTF members and their Council representatives. Future plans also include centralizing and enhancing Council administration and staff support. The Council is regularly experimenting with the use of brainstorming workshops as a creative support for decision-making.

Voice of the Faithful Representative Council
Sat. April 26, 2003, St. Andrews School, Jamaica Plain, MA

9:30-noon - Morning Workshop: Response to Bans
The morning was devoted to a discussion and draft action session on the banning of VOTF from the use of Church property for VOTF meetings. Peggie Thorp presented an overview of the bannings in order to frame the discussion to follow. She introduced guest speaker, Stephen Pope, professor of Theology at Boston College, Newton, MA who spoke on some of the definitions of words used frequently against VOTF - dissenters, schismatic and heretic. By definition, VOTF is none of these.

Marty Green, Action Committee chair, directed those gathered into small working groups to propose possible responses to the bannings. These were presented to the full Council in the afternoon by president Jim Post and would also be taken up by the Action Committee to which Marty invited any additional interested members. Contact Marty Green at greenmahoney@charter.net.

Warrant

1:00 Opening Prayer and Invocation of the Holy Spirit

1:05 Welcome to new Council members and announcements

1:10 Article I President's Report

Report on morning Action Workshop: Bannings
Resolution: VOTF will launch a national campaign to end bans
News of Note

1:40 Article II Setting the Stage for a Response to Bannings: Who We Are (revised statement)

Motion 1: MOVED: that the Council remands the VOTF Statement on Who We Are Revised Working Document to Parish Voice affiliates for discussion and comment in preparation for further action at the June 21 Council meeting and that this Statement be posted on the VOTF web site as a replacement for the VOTF Statement of Beliefs Initial Working Document. (This was passed.) See the Statement of Who We Are on the website at www.votf.org.

2:30 Article I President's Report (continued) National VOTF Program Priorities.

Motion 2: MOVED, the Representative Council shall provide input and advice to the VOTF officers on the determination of our VOTF national program priorities.

At the March Representative Council meeting and Strategic Planning Workshop, participants offered suggestions for our proposed VOTF national programs. Strategy is about making choices. As the next step in this process, the Council is asked to provide guidance on which of our many proposed program ideas should be pursued as our VOTF national program priorities.

3:00 Article III Endorsement of Candidates for Archbishop of Boston, MA. (Needham Parish Voice (Discussion, no vote)

3:30 Article IV An initiative to encourage Parish Voice affiliates to support survivors (Anne Barrett Doyle barrett.doyle@attbi.com Discussion, no vote

Motion 1 MOVED, that VOTF establish the "1,001 Club," an initiative to encourage every Parish Voice affiliate to support survivors.

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