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AFFILIATE
Update – VOTF Boston, MA
SUMMARY OF JANUARY 16TH MEETING WITH RCAB VICAR GENERAL
Attendees:
Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General and Moderator of
the Curia
Fr. Robert Kickham, Secretary to the Cardinal
Sr. Marian Bathos, CSJ, Cabinet Secretary for Regional
Services
Terrence Donilon, Cabinet Secretary for Communications
Dorothy Kennedy, President of the BAVOTFCouncil
Sheila Connors Grove, Vice-President of the BAVOTFCouncil
John Hynes, Founding President BAVOTFCouncil
Elia Marnik, Member of the Board of Directors, BAVOTFC
Council
On August 4th, 2006, after repeated requests for a
meeting, our Council representatives met with Cardinal
O'Malley and his staff. At the end of that meeting,
we agreed to a second meeting with archdiocesan officials
which took place on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007.
Fr. Erikson said he was speaking for the Cardinal
and himself when he started the meeting by noting how
impressed they are by the work we are doing for the
Church as VOTF members. We are pleased they recognize
our work.
We spoke initially on a new proposal to collaborate
on staffing parishes in the future and suggested a
pilot project to begin this effort. It is our belief
that parishioners should participate in choosing our
pastors.
We again spoke about our primary concern, the protection
of children. We presented a template for a program
to inform every parishioner about parish and diocesan
policies, practices, and programs that are in place
and designed to insure the safety of children, young
adults, and adults.
We asked again to include on the RCAB website a registry
of priests who have substantiated allegations of sexual
abuse against them. At present, Fr. Erikson believes
the announcements already made in these cases are adequate
but he understood the breadth of our request and promised
it will be reviewed again.
There was mutual agreement to meet again. In the meantime,
we will follow up on some items. We ran out of time
to discuss the VOTF ban and are writing a letter asking
for a formal answer to this issue.
The meeting was very interactive, with Fr. Erikson
taking the lead for the archdiocese. He was forthright
and listened. He wants to continue our interaction.
Time will tell if this bears fruit. In the meantime,
there is still much we can do.
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