Question:

Bob Kaiser has asked: What does this mean? The following is a quote from my candidacy statement: "At Dan's request, I co-chair the American Catholic Council, a national collaborative initiative to define the national changes we want to see in our Church by becoming the change we want to see."

 

Answer:

Bob, you are the star of flawless communication and have been published more times than most people dream possible!

You have made it clear that I was UNCLEAR in my statement. So let me try again. When Dan took office he wanted an outreach effort toward Catholics to realistically discuss the state of our Church. I was privileged to be offered the Co-Chair responsibility along with John Hushon, a Trustee of VOTF.

After an outreach to over 75 Catholic individuals and organizations we had a core group step forward for this dialogue. We met face to face in Washington, DC to dialogue about whether we, as stakeholders in a variety of Catholic reform organizations, could leave that mission at the door and look for what common ground might exist among us. It was an event similar to herding cats but we did find commonality in the issue of Church governance and pledged to form a national collaboration around it.

Often we reflected upon the fact that if we truly believe we are the Church and co-believe that the Church needs changing, that change must begin with us as individuals. We must become more collegial-less judgemental; collaborative vs. insular and more flexible vs. being rigid in our thinking, methods and dialogue.

OK. How's that, Bob?