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Voice of the Faithful 10th Birthday Conference2012 marks a significant milestone for Voice of the Faithful® members, volunteers and supporters, who have been working for 10 years to Keep the Faith, Change the Church. To help mark our decade-long commitment, we are gathering this September for a 10th Birthday Conference. Join us to Celebrate our mission, Rejuvenate our commitment and Accelerate our work. The conference takes place Friday and Saturday, Sept. 14 and 15, 2012, at the Marriott Boston Copley Place Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here now for information and to register. See you in September in Boston! Where to Find Academic/Government Reports on Clergy Sex AbuseWe have gathered the various reports conducted by academic and government investigators and placed links to those reports on one of our web pages. You can see the page link on the left, in our site menu--it's labeled "Government and Academic Reports" so it's easy to find. Latest addition to this page is the report from The Netherlands and what the Commission of Inquiry found there. So far only the summary is available in PDF format. After 10 Years of Clergy Sexual Abuse Headlines Voice of the Faithful Sees No Certainty Children Are Safe"More than 130 people had come forward to tell their stories of childhood sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priest Fr. John Geoghan, reported The Boston Globe on Jan. 6, 2002.
"Over the next decade, around the world and as recently as last month in The Netherlands, came revelations that thousands of Catholic priests had abused tens of thousands of children in the last half of the 20th Century.
"Voice of the Faithful, comprising thousands of concerned mainstream Catholics, has dedicated the last decade to supporting survivors and conscientious priests and trying to change Church structure and governance to help prevent scandals like child sexual abuse. Sadly, in spite of the Church hierarchy's numerous apologies to survivors and wide variety of mandated programs, we cannot be sure our children are safe..."
So begins Voice of the Faithful's national statment on the 10th anniversary of the first news reports of widespread clergy sexual abuse in Boston. The revelations in these reports would lead, in only about a month, to the first meetings toward forming Voice of the Faithful. Read VOTF's full statement of Jan. 5, 2012 here, and read here The Boston Globe's coverage of the clergy sexual abuse scandal from January 2002 through January 2003.
Assessing the New Missal TranslationAfter more than a year of objection and resistance from English-speaking Catholics, including several bishops and many liturgists and translators, the Vatican has imposed its new translation of the Missal for regions where English is the predominant language. Many of you also are familiar with the various opposition efforts, letters, and petitions developed internationally in an attempt to halt or at least delay the implementation. Some groups hope to continue the objections. There are many resources for those who made the changes necessary for it. The following sites provide information on the changes themselves as well as a few thoughts on the utility of the new translation. Liturgy Training Publications and OCP (Oregon Catholic Press), which both sell music, worship aids, and related services, have a variety of resources and descriptions on their web sites. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has several web pages devoted to the changes, including one that provides a side-by-side comparison with commentaries on the old versus new language, and another that gives you a printable PDF of the changes in the words the people say. An article in Commonweal magazine summarizes many of the concerns about the awkward translations, and a blog post by Jesuit Bernard Lee explores the difference between "literal" and "literary" language. You can watch a video by another Jesuit, John Baldovin, who describes the history of various translations (fair warning: it's mostly a "talking head" experience). You also may find interesting some observations by David Haas, a noted composer of liturgical music who is well-known as a conference and workshop speaker, consultant, concert performer, and recording artist. Voice of the Faithful Finds Serious Flaw in John Jay Causes & Context ReportVoice of the Faithful has concluded, after a comprehensive review, that the 2011 John Jay College report on the causes and context of the clergy sexual abuse scandal failed to emphasize how much a clerical culture substantially contributed to the abuse by hiding, enabling and minimizing it. VOTF has prepared a lenghty set of conclusions that were reached during its review and has issued a news release nationally. You also may read the entire causes and context report by clicking here. Ten Steps to Reforming the ChurchWhat can you do to help reform the Church? Voice of the Faithful has developed a list of 10 reforms with suggestions for working to carry out each step. Get involved at your local level; work with others at the diocesan and national level. Every step forward is a step towards reform.
If you print this at home, follow these simple instructions.
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VOTF™ Mission Statement To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church.
For information about VOTF and the American Catholic Council, click here.
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Become a 21st century disciple! We encourage lay Catholics to participate fully in transforming our Church at all levels—especially by increasing lay input into its governance and guidance. We hope each of you will download and print our brochure and distribute it in your parish church, to friends, to relatives, to everyone who cares about addressing the reforms we need. 
