LETTERS to the editor
Send to pthorp.ed@votf.org

“For years I have considered the revelation of God as self-giving love as the greatest legacy we as church can hand on to our children and their children. Said another way, if we but kept this wonderful truth alive among us by our actions we should not be troubled if all our other treasures were to be lost. Obviously I would be deeply disappointed with our leadership if they did not share such priorities -- if they cared more about material treasure, for example, than the spiritual foundation that makes all our ambitions on earth worthwhile for eternity. Voice of the Faithful as a movement can help them to keep their sights on the things that shall endure.

‘Deus Caritas Est’ is very welcome, a constructive voice for us today, though it is about 25 years overdue…. The letter I would like to have seen would keep the firm grounding in the God of Jewish and Christian revelation that this letter proudly possesses. It would also display the following three qualities.

First, we learn to embrace and hand on the self-giving love of God by our own life of sharing in community and our own self-giving. In other words, love is lived more than it is studied and defined. That is the lesson of chapter 15 of John's Gospel. And that has been the lesson in particular of our modern-day martyrs, many of whom had to suffer at the hands of fellow Catholics in positions of power.

Second, such self-giving has been the object of much serious philosophical study by thinkers in many countries and religious persuasions. We Catholics can quote their work with pride, assuring ourselves at the same time that we have no monopoly on this wonderful revelation.

Thirdly and finally, the self-giving to which we are called is the source of the Church's indestructibility. We often allude to our humblest members as the treasures we possess, and then press on to the earthen monuments that bear our names and yet will not endure. We do not reach the fullness of life to which God has called us by knowing what God's love is, but by putting it into practice in imitation of God. To quote the prophet, the truth by which we are to live will be found not in our letters and books and basilicas but in our hearts.” Paul Schlachter, VOTF Miami, FL


“ The new president of Notre Dame University, John Jenkins, says that Thomas Aquinas' greatest intellectual influences, aside from Scripture and Church Fathers, were Aristotle, Avicenna, and Maimonides--a pagan, a Muslim, and a Jew. Jenkins says that part of Aquinas' strength was a willingness to learn from any source he could. And us?” John Chuchman


“The next St. Francis is VOTF. Our Lord told Francis to ‘rebuild my church,’ just like the Holy Spirit has inspired many in VOTF to do. And it will! Stay the path, my dear friends, and keep the HOPE. I pray for you (us) daily.” Bill Freeman



In the Vineyard
February 23 , 2006
Volume 5, Issue 4
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Page One

Letters to the Editor


Commentary and Reflection:

National Representative Council Update (NRC)

In Other Words

COMMUNICATIONS Update


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