Please send comments and inquiries to pthorp.ed@votf.org.

Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth, and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God. 1 John 3

We wish our readers a happy, healthy and productive 2008 as Voice of the Faithful moves toward our sixth anniversary in February. To get this year off on the same footing as we did in 2002 – listening – we extend an invitation. See What’s New? in this issue.

ALSO in this issue: VOTF National Officer Elections – Who’s running and why?; SNAP letter to the Pope supported by VOTF as Benedict XVI’s US visit nears; will the Portland OR diocese seek to model how to be Church in the 21^st Century?; review of Robert Blair Kaiser’s new book Cardinal Mahony: A Novel; an innovative VOTF fundraising effort that won’t cost you a dime (in SITE-Seeing, Etc.); survivors and survivor supporters in Ireland dismayed by Vatican’s silence; and more.

VOICE of the Faithful: Impact and Prospects is the title of a “conversation” scheduled for February 27, 2008, at Boston College. BC’s Church in the 21st Century Center is sponsoring the event, which features a panel asked to address two issues: the impact VOTF has made; and its prospects and possibilities for the future from the point of view of each panelist’s experience and expertise.

The panelists are Jim Post, a founder and first President of VOTF; Alan Wolfe, Director of BC’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life; Virginia Reinburg, Associate Professor of History at BC; and Monsignor Dennis Sheehan, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston.

For those in the Boston area, this conversation takes place at Gasson Hall 100 on Boston College’s main campus, 7:00 pm, February 27. The event is free and open to all. For more information, call 617 552 0470.

YEAR in Review page is available from BishopAccountability.org – it’s a compilation, titled “2007: The Year in Review,” that summarizes 19 important stories in 2007 for those who support accountability in our Church and seek to ensure justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. The stories include links to investigative reporting, documents, and streaming video.

SURVIVOR Community Notes:

SNAP letter to Pope Benedict XVI on the eve of his U. S. visit receives VOTF support. Click here to read the full text of the letter.

DIOCESE/State Watch: Could it be? It appears that the Archdiocese of Portland is about to launch genuine dialogue among its parishioners. The aim is reconciliation. Click here for more. We’ll keep tabs on how the process works.

BOOK Review & Notes – Cardinal Mahony: A Novel by Robert Blair Kaiser reviewed by VOTF’s Susan Vogt, Region 5 NRC representative.

• Also, see the “new” news about Australian Bishop Gregory Robinson’s planned U.S. tour.
• And Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea’s book wins American Library Association award.
  

SITE-Seeing, Etc. is so full of things you need to know that we have given it a page of its own. Click here for links to “armchair education”; cost-free contributions to VOTF; National Catholic Reporter Reader’s Survey on “Inspirational Women” results; commentary from Boston’s Fr. Bob Bowers; and VOTF SW Florida’s change of venue for their guest speaker Fr. Charles Curran..

QUOTE for our time: “Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops, like bishops, and your religious act like religious.” Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, before the Knights of Columbus, June 1972