Edwina Gateley to Speak at VOTF Convention

If you have been involved in VOTF for any length of time you will have noticed one of our great challenges: to hear the voices of people who are at different stages in their life with the abuse crisis. Navigating through the challenges of this stage in our movement requires deep and sustained spiritual nourishment. Like many people in VOTF, Edwina Gateley was animated by Vatican II to respond to the call for full and active participation in the life of the Church.

Her own discipleship has taken several forms. In the1960's she founded the Volunteer Missionary Movement. VMM continues its work today from the United Kingdom and the US. She is also an author and lecturer and retreat-leader. In addition to that work, she currently works through Sophia's Circle in Evanston, Illinois to provide support for prostitutes who want to make changes in their lives. Ms Gateley's enduring theme is discipleship. We have asked her to share her insights with us.

Ms. Gateley will speak on Saturday October 20th about the spirituality that has animated her involvement in lay movements. Ms. Gateley has dedicated her life to following the call of God in her life. VOTF emerged because people in our Church felt similarly called to respond to sorrow and suffering. VOTF sought to give love where it was so badly needed.

Gateley describes her own call this way: "We who have received the love of Christ through the spirit cannot contain it. It must reach out to others, spilling out and touching the world in which we live." We are convinced that she has a message for all members of VOTF, no matter where you are in your life in the movement.