Dear Friends in Faith:
What has brought us all to Voice of the Faithful? Certainly, the
sexual abuse scandal in the Church provided the impetus for the
creation of Voice of the Faithful, and remains a major focus of
our efforts. But the reason for our continued existence extends
beyond even this. Through the Holy Spirit, our faith challenges
us — the laity — to be more engaged in our Church in new
and different ways — ways originally envisioned by Vatican
II, but long delayed. Now, hopefully, through your efforts, the
Church of Vatican II will become the Church of today.
In the last several months, you have given your time and energy
to plan listening sessions and prayer services; to welcome, hear,
and support survivors; to reach out to priests of integrity in their
faithful ministry; and to develop our organization and its structure.
Some of you took a small prayer group of a few local parishioners
meeting in the basement of St. John the Evangelist Church in Wellesley,
Massachusetts and in a few short months turned it into a worldwide
organization of over 25,000 members.
Yet this is only the beginning. Much more needs to be done if we
are to be successful in maintaining our momentum. We must move quickly
to professionally staff the organization and provide sufficient
resources to support those on the front lines. We need a full-time
staff that will train and assist those working to establish and
maintain Voice affiliates. We must continue to enhance our Web site
— the source of our ability to communicate with our worldwide
membership. Finally, and most important, we must build a membership
database that can be used to develop new affiliates, service existing
ones, and establish a fund-raising base.
All of this takes money — $500,000 over the next six months
— with a critical need now.
Therefore, we must give you — our faithful members and friends
— a challenge. To voice our unity, we seek maximum participation
in our grass roots appeal, at the maximum level your means allow.
Please help us continue to grow and fulfill the promise of Vatican
II — ever attentive to the Spirit, ever supportive of the survivors
of the hurt our Church has inflicted.
Voice of the Faithful is recognized as one of the most promising
lay organizations to evolve in the Catholic Church. Your support
is absolutely necessary for us to continue. We appreciate your commitment
to Voice of the Faithful. The online
donation form and the mail in donation
form are both quick and easy ways for you to participate, and we
are most grateful.
Our heartfelt thanks,
Jim Post, President
Jim Muller, M.D., Founding President & Trustee Chairperson
If you have any questions about donating to VOTF, please contact
donations@votf.org.
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