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Please
send comments and inquiries to pthorp.ed@votf.org.
Lent
among Christians was originally “the period of
prebaptismal preparation, later of public penance.
Finally it became a forty-day devotional preparation
for Easter traditionally based on Jesus’ wilderness
fast (Mark 1:13).” from the Bible Dictionary,
ed. Paul Achtemeier
NATIONAL
News
VOTF
National Representative Council (NRC) welcomes
Bob Schwiderski as the new Region 8 (MN ND SD) representative.
For additional Council news, see NRC
Update.
On
Feb. 24 VOTF National will present Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton with a Priest of Integrity Award.
The presentation will be made at the Washington Plaza
Hotel in Washington DC. The event is sponsored by the
VOTF at Holy Trinity affiliate. (Watch for a report
on this gathering in the next Vineyard.) As
reported in the Feb. 8 Vineyard, the Bishop
was not given permission to speak in the dioceses of
Tucson and Phoenix AZ; he cancelled engagements there.
Nonetheless, Bishop Gumbleton was heard. See the Tucson
Citizen.
The VOTF
National office has some powerful DVDs
to share with affiliates. See VOTF Office Notes.
For
details on our Executive Director search, click here.
Also
in this issue:
For everything you always wanted to know about conscience, but didn’t
know where to look, see Theologians’ Corner. SITE-Seeing,
Etc. links to Boston College C21 opportunities; Eugene Kennedy
on baby boomers and VOTF; NCR on Tiananmen Square and the Bishop Gumbleton
shunning; an article on diocesan reorganizations throughout the Northeast;
and more reflection ideas for Lent. DIOCESE/State Watch covers
New York City NY, Bridgeport CT, Palm Beach FL, Richmond VA and San Diego
CA. Affiliate Highlight – VOTF Regional conference (Ohio,
Kentucky and Indiana). Commentary on the New York City parish closings
process and the end of a vigil; and the VOTF
St. Louis commentary missing
in the Feb. 8 issue (from VOTF St. Louis MO on the story of a Yakima WA
priest’s transfer to St. Louis MO). |
DIOCESE/State
Watch: Highlights. See more inside.
Breaking
News in Lincoln, Nebraska: The
Vatican has answered the Lincoln, Nebraska Call to
Action appeal.
Catholic News Service reports in National Catholic
Reporter "The
Vatican's highest court said it has no jurisdiction over
a decision by Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of Lincoln
that Catholics in his diocese who are members of a dozen
organizations were automatically excommunicated." Subscribers
can access the full
story. New
York NY - According to the New York
Times, Feb. 12: “A score of parishioners
began a protest vigil inside a 120-year-old Roman
Catholic church in East Harlem yesterday and vowed
to stay until the Archdiocese of New York reverses
its decision to close the parish as part of a broad
reorganization. The protest at Our Lady Queen of
Angels apparently took the church and the archdiocese
by surprise ….” Subscribers can see the full
text. The article notes David Gibson (author
of The Rule of Benedict), who said that “he
saw little prospect of a successful prolonged protest
against the New York Archdiocese closings. The …Boston
closings came amid ‘an almost perfect storm’ of
anger over priest sex-abuse scandals. In New York,
the closings were decided with ‘much greater
care’ and over a much longer time.”
- VOTF
NY issued a press release and VOTF NY’s Francis
Piderit reports on the forced ending of a vigil.
See Commentary – “Eyewitness to Irony”;
also, see Chris
Schenk of FutureChurch on parish
closings.
Bridgeport
CT – The tragic unraveling of another
gifted pastor continues to draw passionate response
from parishioners at St. Michael’s Church in
the Archdiocese of Bridgeport CT. See recent commentary
in the Stamford
Advocate. Also see links to this story and
commentary from Dan Sullivan, VOTF Bridgeport, in
the Feb. 8 Vineyard.
- The
Bridgeport CT diocesan newsletter the Fairfield
County Catholic published a markedly defensive
editorial in which it noted, “The Op-Ed pages
are also the favorite haunt of dissident groups
like Voice of the Faithful, who jump on any contrarian
bandwagon to gain publicity. They offer nothing
constructive or even accurate, only vitriol.” VOTF
Bridgeport is preparing a correction to the editorial’s
misinformation.
SITE-Seeing,
Etc. Boston
College/Church in the 21st Century program will present “Called
to Be Catholic: Religious Practices that Nourish Women’s
Spirituality” on Feb. 24. For details and registration, click
here.
- The
much-praised C21 lectures that have anchored this
program are now available in a set of five paperbacks
(with more to come as the program continues). The
Church in the 21st Century program is now a permanent
center at Boston College. For reviews and ordering
information, click
here.
- Tim
Muldoon, director of the Church in the 21st Century
Center at Boston College has written a user-friendly
and practical introduction to Ignatian
spirituality: The Ignatian Workout – Daily
Spiritual Exercises for a Healthy Faith, Loyola
Press, 2004 is available at the Boston College
bookstore and Amazon.com.
A National
Catholic Reporter editorial finds a message
in comparing events at Tiananmen Square in
1989 and the recent U.S. diocesan cold shoulder
toward Bishop Gumbleton in 2007: “China
is a far stretch from the Tucson, Ariz., diocese
or any other U.S. diocese, and information flows
as freely here as anywhere. The comparison, however,
dramatizes the futility of insisting that Catholics
not think, discuss or entertain dissident notions
about teachings such as women in the church and homosexuality.” Read
more.
According
to NCR, “Faced with rising costs and
shifting populations, several dioceses in the
Northeast United States announced reorganization plans in
mid-January that involve closing or merging many of
their parishes and schools. Read
more.
The
Feb. 23 Commonweal magazine editorial weighs
in on financial accountability referencing the Richmond
VA situation (see DIOCESE/State Watch). Read
more.
SensusFidelium.org is
the creation of VOTF’s Stan and Eileen Doherty
of Hingham MA. It was created “by some people
in the Boston area to capture the experiences, voices,
and visuals of Roman Catholics resisting the unjust
closure of parishes.” The Dohertys also post
reflections on scripture and prayers written by people
in small faith communities, vigiling parishes, and
other faith communities. These are truly the “voices” of
the faithful.
In
a commentary on baby boomers, Eugene Kennedy,
Loyola University professor emeritus of psyschology,
says, “Boomers will also change the approach
of such reasonable Catholic groups as Voice
of the Faithful or Call to Action, who seek
not only accountability but dialogue with their bishops
in order to modify church structures. They make very
little progress. The boomers who remain will simply
put their demands on the table. They do not negotiate,
they expect their needs to be met. This would change
Catholicism more than any other initiative now under
way by traditional reformers.” See the Atlantic
Journal-Constitution. Let us know what you
think. Write to pthorp.ed@votf.org.
QUOTE
for Our Time: “What makes the Spiritual Exercises
a helpful guide for us postmoderns is its insistence
that we can come to know God by coming to know ourselves
better.” from The
Ignatian Workout – Daily Spiritual Exercises
for a Healthy Faith
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