News From National

What Is Vatican II Spirituality Today?
Fifty years ago, in a spirit of hope, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council. He envisioned Divine Providence “leading us to a new order of things.” This Advent, the season of hope and preparation, spend some time reviewing the documents of Vatican II and exploring where the Council has touched our lives. 

Using the final chapters of Bernard Prusak’s study, The Church Unfinished, and selected passages from Vatican II documents, VOTF will provide a week-by-week guide for lively discussion on how this Council has affected us personally and as a church community.

Each week we will provide an outline of opening prayer and scripture, readings, and discussion questions. All you need to do is invite a group of people willing to do a little “homework” to gather for a weekly two-hour session.

Make your Advent a true celebration of joy and hope by becoming more familiar with the possibilities and promise of this great Council.

Another Raffle Winner!
The raffle was a great success, and our second winner is John Boyd of Waterloo, Iowa. John will receive copies of three books, each autographed by the author: Faithful Revolution: How Voice of the Faithful Is Changing the Church; The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See; and Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God.

If you missed the raffle, but like to read, you can support VOTF while doing so. Just visit our website book page. When you click through to Amazon using one of the book links on the page and buy the book, VOTF receives part of the proceeds. Or just click to Amazon from the link on that page—everything you purchase in that session also will benefit VOTF.

Thanks to everyone who supported our book raffle during August. Your generosity is most appreciated.

ACTIONS FOR OCTOBER

• Help us send the “Liturgy of Lament” to a priest. We need your help to mail as many as possible. Find out more here.

• Invite others to join our Advent Vatican-II discussion.

• If you have not already done so, sign the Open Letter to bishops requesting a review of optional celibacy, supported by VOTF in conjunction with other church reform groups. The petition is on the FutureChurch website.

Focus (formerly “Site-Seeing”)

Highlighting issues we face working together
to Keep the Faith, Change the Church.

Lawyers Slam 'Morally Bankrupt' Church Defense
Lawyers for victims of sexual abuse say the Catholic Church has used a legal technicality to reduce compensation payouts to their clients.

Hierarchy Criticized at Priests' First Annual General Meeting
Priests gathered for the first annual general meeting of the new Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland were told that, if people had a vote on such matters, church leaders would be swept out of office.

Why We’re Taking the Pope to The Hague
Regarding SNAP's complaint against the pope at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, David Clohessy, SNAP director, says, "As someone who was molested as a child by a trusted parish priest, I’ve had to wait a long time for any real opportunity to see justice done. But I’m waiting no longer."

Read the rest of Focus…

Calendar

The Tampa Bay Affiliate of Voice of the Faithful will resume meetings from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Oct. 10, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 16550 S. US 301, Wimauma. Featured will be a report and analysis on American Catholic Council Conference in Detroit. Call (813) 634-9904.

2nd Annual Boston Jewish Film Festival, Nov. 2-13, 2011: The Boston Jewish Film Festival will screen Standing Silent, a documentary about child sexual molestation by rabbis, at 7 p.m., Nov. 8, Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline. Standing Silent was directed by Scott Rosenfelt, producer of the hit feature films “Home Alone” and “Mystic Pizza.”

This emotional, unrelenting documentary tracks Baltimore Jewish Times reporter Phil Jacobs on his multi-year mission to uncover child sexual molestation by rabbis in a close-knit Orthodox community in Baltimore. Jacobs, who is the recipient of a Sundance documentary film grant, encounters denial, ostracism, accusations of lashon hara (speaking evil), and demons from his own past, as he pursues truth and justice.

Continued: http://votf.org/vineyard/Oct6_2011/documentary.html

FutureChurch Organizes Priesthood Sunday
On the last Sunday in October (this year, October 30th), Catholics honor our priests who too often must work double duty in this time of priest shortage. Known as "World Priest Day" or "Priesthood Sunday," the day was begun by Worldwide Marriage Encounter and the Serra Club to affirm priests who like St. Paul, embraced the celibate charism in their service to God's people.

FutureChurch's special prayer service honors and affirms these dedicated, hardworking servants of the People of God. For more information go to www.futurechurch.org.

Same-Sex Marriage and the Catholic Church: Voices from Law, Religion, and the Pews
Yale Divinity School Event: October 22, 2011
This full day of presentations and discussions at the Yale Divinity School will reflect the existence of diverse Catholic points of view on same-sex marriage. To stimulate much needed and expanded consideration of this topic, participants will draw upon the law, ethics, theology and the lived experience of ordinary Catholics. They will examine the intersection of individual rights, sexual ethics, pastoral needs in campus ministries and parish life, scripture, and the role of the laity in ‘living fraternally and cooperating with others’ as directed by Vatican II.

For more information http://blog.fairfield.edu/morethanamonologue/?page_id=14

Affiliate News

Many VOTF affiliates are showing Frontline’s documentary on abuse in the Catholic Church at their meetings. If you are interested, please contact Alice Campanella at acampanella@votf.org

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/

Letters to the editor

Regarding the new Roman Missal

The fact that Rome would impose these silly, retro “changes” on us with so many critical and pressing issues facing the church is just one more indication of “grave” (a word they favor) problems with our leadership. It is not clear whether their wrong-headedness comes from simply being fatally out of touch with the faithful and the Spirit or a more ominous power play (pushing the changes forward because they can).

These days I am absent from the church, finding the sacraments in my local Episcopal church when I attend at all. I will always be a Catholic, but, after decades of waiting and hoping for the fulfillment of Vatican II's promises, I have despaired of seeing it happen. I feel no kinship with those in this very conservative-Catholic region who believe they must accept unquestioningly everything Father, Bishop, and Rome decree. Rome cares little for those like me who are sometimes sadly, sometimes angrily fleeing the institutional church in great numbers. The Pope and the Curia will happily accept fewer people in the pews as long as they are more obedient and accepting of the hierarchy's hard-line and refusal to dialogue. When will thinking Catholics realize that Rome will not share power and has become deaf to the whispers of the Holy Spirit? Rome’s agenda has much to do with maintaining status quo and little to do with the needs of the faithful. This sounds familiar. Where is our “Catholic Spring”?

L. Norris
Hamilton, GA

Thanks for your work on Vineyard. I read it every time and click on most of the links.

S. Roll

Questions, 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.