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Please
send comments and inquiries to pthorp.ed@votf.org.
“When
Frank DeMonico became a delegate to the first synod
of the Diocese of Metuchen, he soon realized this was
not the church he grew up in.” See DIOCESE/State
Watch for the Metuchen synod story reported in the Home News Tribune
NATIONAL/International
News
VOTF issued a press
release on Jan. 29 protesting the
dismissal from his parish of Bishop Thomas Gumbleton,
outspoken supporter of clergy sexual abuse victims
and survivors. The Bishop was also banned from speaking
on church property in the dioceses of Tucson and Phoenix
AZ. For the Arizona story, go to MichiganLive.com; the Arizona
Star website;
and Arizona
Daily News. VOTF Tucson AZ letter to the editor
published in the Tucson Citizen.
VOTF to award Bishop Gumbleton a VOTF Priest
of Integrity Award. See National
News Update.
See VOTF National
News for an update on the Executive
Director Search process.
Looking
for the VOTF Bylaws? Go to "Officers,
Trustees and Incorp. Documents" and then choose "Bylaws.”
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Also, in this issue:
World Synod of Bishops 2008 (this page) is just
getting started.
Eyes
on New York NY: New Yorkers look to Boston for
advice on parish closings; VOTF NY working
with parishes; also, see “Report from New
York” by Francis Piderit of VOTF NY
Diocese/State
Watch: VOTF Delmarva
DE is making
legislative progress; Is the Los Angeles
CA archdiocese
parish closing approach an improvement over others?
Many think so; Davenport IO archdiocese
extending for four years the reporting to civil
authorities
of clergy sexual abuse allegations; Bridgeport
CT still reeling from a second episode
of “questionable” parish
financial management, but parishioners seem willing
to “move on” (also, see VOTF Bridgeport
CT Dan
Sullivan’s take in Commentary); Metuchen NJ had
their own synod and the whole diocese participated;
in Commentary, see a follow-up
report from St.
Louis MO where “a priest was
removed from his diocese in Yakima WA and reassigned
to St Louis,
after allegations of impropriety.”
SITE-Seeing,
Etc.:
links to Lenten reflections, women in the Bible,
SNAP, a pilgrimage to Rome, David Gibson and
more.
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The
October 2008 World Synod of Bishops “The
Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church" called
by Pope Benedict XVI, may be an opportunity for
laity to be heard via their diocesan leadership. For a brief
overview of this and past synods, click
here.
Note: “At their next meeting, the members of the
Synod council will begin preparations for the October
2008 meeting. The first major task is to compose the
lineamenta: the preliminary document sketching
the main lines of discussion for the meeting. The lineamenta is
then circulated among the world's bishops for comments
and suggestions, and the Synod council then prepares
the instrumentum laboris that is the working document
for the Synod discussions.” Catholic
News Service noted that “Pope Benedict met Jan. 25 with the
synod's preparatory council at the end of a meeting to
draft
an outline that will be sent to bishops' conferences
around the world for comment”.
For an idea of past Synods, click
here.
- Read how one diocesan synod evolved in DIOCESE/State
Watch (Metuchen
NJ).
- As various organizations consider the upcoming Synod in 2008, it is instructive
to consider some of the feedback from the 2005 Synod. FutureChurch provides thoughtful
commentary in “Reports
from the Synod”.
SITE-Seeing,
Etc.
Lenten
reflections: Benetvision offers “In New Wineskins – Prayer,
Fasting, Alsmgiving and Saints” for your Lenten
journey; these are readings prepared by Joan Chittister
and Robert Ellsberg for Ash Wednesday (Feb. 21) through
Easter. Order online at benetvision.org or
call 814-459-5994.
The
January 26 issue of Commonweal magazine may
be worth a trip to your library if you are not a current
subscriber. Paul Lakeland writes a spirited defense of
Roger Haight, dismissed by the Vatican in 2005 from his
position at Weston Jesuit School of Theology; a review
of Lisa Sowle Cahill’s book Theological Bioethics (Georgetown
University Press). Lisa is a professor of theology at
Boston College.
Sign
up for the 2007 National SNAP conference,
July 20-22, in Washington, DC.
The Boston
Globe, lauded for its exposure and coverage of
the clergy sexual abuse tragedy in the Catholic Church,
looked to the unsung heroes of the story as it unfolded
and continues to unfold – the .
See “Legal
Legacy” .
On
the Wall Street Journal online site, David
Gibson (author of The Rule of Benedict) wrote “Keeping
an eye on the collection plate”.
Exploring
the Roots of our Faith: A pilgrimage to Rome -
June 3rd to 10th 2007 - Sign up NOW!
While time may stop in the Eternal City, time is running out for those interested
in going on a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Rome. There, we will have the
opportunity to know the Church at its center and to share our hopes and dreams
for its future … all the while enjoying all that Rome has to offer including
its wonderful cafes and loving people. Read
more.
“Changing
the structure of the Church” (VOTF goal #3) means
different things to different populations. Grade-school
Catholic education has been in trouble for decades but
the Boston archdiocese may have hit on a new collaborative
model for hope. Read
the Boston Globe of Jan. 30.
An
excellent introductory text on “Women in
the Bible and the Lectionary” by Ruth Fox, OSB, is on the
CTA website.
QUOTE
for our time: “When Cardinal Bernard
Law resigned for not telling the truth about pedophile
priests, Rome gave him a promotion, a position on five
of the curial congregations of the church, St. Mary
Major, one of the four principal churches in Rome,
and a luxurious Roman apartment. On the other hand,
this bishop, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, told the truth,
even about his having been abused by a priest himself
when he was a young seminarian. Most of all, he took
the position that it is the obligation of bishops to
bring transparency, accountability and justice to the
plight of sex abuse victims, whatever the financial
ramifications for the church itself….the question
looms large for all of us: What is going
on in a church that stamps out the light?” Sr.
Joan Chittister, National Catholic Reporter column “From
Where I Stand” of February 1, 2007.
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