VOTF Structure
Our members, both individually and in affiliates, work locally within their parishes and dioceses to enhance lay participation in the governance of the Church, to make accountable those local Church entities that benefit directly from our contributions (both financial and personal), and to install programs that aim to protect our children and to carry out VOTF goals and mission.
Members participate in VOTF working groups and committees, according to their own time and abilities, to help develop resources for carrying out our projects, supporting survivors, supporting priests of integrity, helping shape structural change, and educating ourselves to be responsible members of the Church.
Members also elect some of our trustees, who then elect the National Officers. The Officers spearhead VOTF efforts to reform and renew our Church, supervise day-to-day operations carried out by VOTF’s Executive Director and national staff, and articulate for the public VOTF policies developed in conjunction with members and the Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees, which is responsible to the entire organization for its financial health, works with the National Officers and the Executive Director to develop policies and ensure project financing.
An Advisory Council offers analysis and recommendations to the Board on issues relating to the mission and goals and advises the Board on issues the Council sees as pertinent to VOTF’s success.
Finally, VOTF’s Executive Director and the national staff provide the framework needed for daily operations and maintain the communications infrastructure necessary for an internationally dispersed membership to work together.
Within and through each of these elements, VOTF members commit themselves to working in a collegial and collaborative manner and to working within the Church to attain our goals.
Bylaws (as amended March 2012; see 2006 bylaws here)